16" Shad @ Mullet Lake Park

Happy Valentines Day! For some odd reason, I think the following song is appropriate for a day like today LOL. Brad Paisley "I'm Gonna Miss Her"

Oh, lookie there, I've got a bite! =)

A late morning trip to Mullet Lake Park for some shad and also tried some catfish. For catfish, I used cut bait on a small hook. I'm pretty sure I got a nibble but that was it for catfishing. I'm going to bring some cut shad next time. The shad is really stinky which is more attractive to catfish anyway. I did a little shad fishing as well. It was just relaxing being out by the water today. The sun was out all morning and the weather was just right. I got one bite and landed a 16" American Shad. This one bit the top jig on my double jig rig. It was a homemade 1/8oz pink jighead that David gave me a few nights ago, with a 2" chartreuse squirmin' grub from Bass Pro Shops.

So with that shad caught today, I've now caught 10 American Shad so far this year. Today also marks the last 2 weeks of the annual shad derby, which ends February 28th.

17" and 13" Shad - Arkie Rigged Twirl Tails

Mullet Lake Park is still producing nice shad action in the early evenings. I went there around sundown from 4:00PM-6:15PM tonight. I hooked 4 shad all together but lost a couple. The two I landed were 17" and about 13". I have caught a total of 9 American Shad so far this season. Starting to get the hang of it!

I've switched back to my 7' medium action Shimano Scimitar spinning rod that has 20 lb power pro line (same diameter as 6 lb mono) on a Pflueger President reel. I've also improved my double jig rig significantly to reduce tackle and line twists. I start with a 2 foot leader of 12 lb sufix line. I tied a snap swivel in the middle of the line with a surgeons knot. Then I tie another snap swivel on one end using a palomar knot, and then a barrel swivel on the other end. The snap swivels just make it easier to switch lures if needed.

The jig that I've had the most success this season is the Arkie Prerigged Twister Tails (1/16oz pink jighead with 2" chartruese metalflake twister tail). These high action jigs are only sold at Walmart and they come in 7pk for around $2 I think. The hooks are sharp and the plastic is durable.

Shad Rally @ C.S. Lee Park

The last derbie rally was held today, this time it was at the Jolly Gator restaurant next to C.S. Lee Park. Capt Tom Van Horn hosted the event and talked about casting, retrieving, lures, and rigs. There was a raffle drawing at the end for free fishing gear. The raffle works like this, you get a free ticket just for being at the rally. You also have the option to purchase extra tickets which is $5 for 6 tickets. The proceeds benefit the Hook Kids on Fishing program. Me and Cody got our free tickets, and I also purchased the 6 extra tickets giving us 8 total raffle entries. A few people went home with a ton of free stuff but we also made out pretty well. Two of our tickets were picked in the raffle drawing and here's what we got!

XL Long Sleeve Shirt (not pictured)
Sufix 12 lb fishing line - 4 individual packs
Trigger X 4" saltwater mullet lures -pack of 6
2 certificates for a free reel cleaning service at Kel's
3 coupons for $10 off $50 purchase at Mosquito Creek Outdoors
some free stickers and a SeaTow koozie



After the rally, Cody and I had lunch at the Jolly Gator restaurant and enjoyed their delicious burgers. I will definitly visit there again one day. After lunch we fished for a little bit at Lee Park but I quickly noticed there wasn't anything going on there. We played around for a bit and left to Mullet Lake Park. At Mullet Lake, my friend David showed up and we had a good time fishing together. We both hooked a couple shad each, but just couldn't bring them in. They made leaps out of the water and drag screaming runs, still very much active.

16.5" American Shad @ Mullet Lake Park

Fished at Mullet Lake Park this late morning using my light action rod. I just seem to have more luck catching shad on a lighter rod/reel. So today I caught my 7th shad of the season! This one measured a little over 16.5" from nose to fork of tail, which is my second biggest. I got it on a yellow jighead with 2" chartreuse squirmin' grub from Bass Pro Shops. I love these high action grubs! Here's some photos of todays shad catch...

Meeting a Friend - Shad Derby Update

Today I took Cody with me to Mullet Lake Park to pursue some shad again. I noticed when I arrived, there was a white GMC truck. The truck belongs to one of my friends, David Simpson, who I've been talking to on the catfish1.com online forum. I walked out through the grass to the river bank and thats where he was with his wife. It was nice to finially meet them. He was explaining how he got nothing at Hatbill park, CS Lee Park was packed, and nothing so far at Mullet Lake Park. He said the shad were biting but not as active as they should be. He's caught about 20 shad so far this season, but also added he usually catches more than that. He was getting ready to leave for dinner so it was a brief meet and greet.

I fished for about an hour and half, hooked 2 more shad but couldn't reel them in. The hook popped out of the mouth on both during the fight. I'm going to go back to my light action rod next time, which has more give and a better drag system on the reel. I need to be more patient when reeling them in because of their soft mouth.

The leader in the shad derby is still David Simpson who caught an 18" shad last week. Though there's still 3 weeks remaining in the derby.

My 1st Specks @ C.S. Lee Park

Today was an early release day at Codys' school so I picked him up at 2PM. I checked the weather when we got home and then headed out to C.S. Lee Park. I wanted to checkout the shad run in that area to see how thick they are. I first tried a red jighead with chartreuse 2" squirmin' grub from Bass Pro Shop. This is my most popular shad lure, but I wasn't getting any bites though. It was a cloudy day with alot of overcast. With that in mind, I wanted to see how darker colors would work instead of my usual bright colored lures. I changed the red/chartreuse jig to a black jighead with a smoke/silver flake 2" squirmin' grub. After a couple casts, I had a bite and reeled it in. Turns out it was my very first crappie! A rather nice size one too. From then on, I had specks on my menu. Overall, I caught 5 specks and kept 3 of them. The longest crappie I caught today was 12" long.

Catch: Crappie "speck"
Size: 12"
Lure: 1/16oz Black jighead w/ 2" Squirmin' Grub (smoke/silver flake)



Here's a photo of all three getting ready to be filleted.

Monster Bowfin @ Mullet Lake Park

Another night at Mullet Lake Park for some night fishing with my friends Kyle and Zack. A few nights ago the line action was consistant with alot of bowfins biting in the area off the boat dock. Tonight started out good then really slowed down to nothing towards the end of the night. I brought some frozen cut shad for bait. Within an hour, I had caught the first fish again. It was a bigger bowfin than the one I caught before. I reeled him in on my Wild Cat rod and landed it pretty easily. Once I confirmed it was a bowfin, I used my fish grips to lock on its jaw and grabbed my scale. The scale read 5 lb 11 oz on this one! Shortly after releasing this monster, Zack almost had one but it broke his line and got free. The action shut down after that with no bites from then on.

Catch: Bowfin "Mudfish"
Weight: 5 lb 11 oz
Bait: cut shad

Shad Derby Update - Another 16" American Shad

I last reported that I was tied with the derby leader on a 17.5" American Shad. There is now an 18" shad recorded from David Simpson, a member of the Catfish1 Forum I've been talking to lately. He lives close to Mullet Lake Park and fishes shad every year, but he didn't know about the derby until I referred him to it. He's been helping me out by answering alot of my questions because this is my first season working the shad run. Now he's in the lead for the longest shad in the derby with 1 month remaining. Looks like I have some more work to do. :)

This morning I caught another 16" American Shad at Mullet Lake Park. It was the only catch of the day, though I had another hooked but it got away. During the fight the hook just came out of the fish, which I think may have been my error. I've caught and landed a total of 6 American Shad so far though.

I've also upgraded one of my poles from 6 lb mono to 20 lb Power Pro braided line, which has equivalent diameter of 6 lb mono. Basically I now have a much stronger line with the same line thickness I had before. The power pro casts very far and is much easier to tie knots, especially my favorite palomar knot.

February is here, and one month remaining in the derby. This month there is a Shad Rally scheduled for Feb 12th at C.S. Lee Park which I plan on attending. I was impressed with the last rally and all the free goodies we recieved. I hoping to close out this shad run with a bang, my goal is to land one that is at least 18" long. They're out there, I just have to go fishin' whenever I can. :)

Bowfin "Mudfish" @ Mullet Lake Park

Last night it was Kyle, Zack, and myself fishing at Mullet Lake Park. This time I had thawed some frozen cut shad that evening for bait. Cut shad is one of the best baits for catfish, or so I'm told. This is my first attempt with cut shad.
We fished off the boat dock. I was the first one to catch a fish that night, and it was a strange looking fish. One I have never seen before. I thought it was a channel catfish at first, but then I looked at it's dorsal fin, which was very long and extended all the way to the tail. It had a very boney jaw too, which was full of small sharp teeth. The next day I had to know what type of fish it was, so I looked through my book "Sport Fish of Florida" by Vic Dunaway. This an excellent book by the way, has everything you could possibly catch in Florida. It didn't take long to identify the fish we had caught, a Bowfin or commonly known as Mudfish. Here's a drawing of the bowfin:



I ended up only catching one bowfin that night, but there was alot of activity on the lines. Just like the Longnose Gar, the boney jaw makes it difficult to set a hook. The one bowfin I caught was 3 lb 9 oz. Kyle caught one too that was 2 lb 9 oz. I learned something interesting about the Bowfin as well. It has an air-bladder that functions somewhat like a lung. They are often seen gulping air when they are out of water. I didn't notice this myself, but thought that was interesting.

Here's a picture of the 3 lb 9 oz Bowfin I caught that night. The poor lighting at the dock makes it difficult to get a good picture. I used the Carolina Rig which cut shad as bait.

Fishing Florida Radio

After catching that 17 1/2" American Shad a few days ago, I was invited by co-host Steve Chapman to give Fishing Florida Radio a call on Saturday morning to talk about my catch. I called around 8:30am and was able to talk to Steve for a few minutes. He asked what I used to catch the shad, where I caught it, and what time of day. It was a brief discussion but regardless, I was happy to be part of the show. As a thank you for calling in, they are mailing me a prize pack. Not sure what's in that prize pack, but I guess we'll find out next week!

Today I took my dad and my son Cody to Mullet Lake Park to go fishing. This was my first time fishing with my dad in about 15 years or so. My first cast, BITE! It was something big and it made a fast getaway. My drag was singing and then snap, my line broke pretty quick. I'm guessing it was a big Largemouth Bass and it's unfortunate I couldn't land it. The rest of the day was pretty slow and relaxed. I caught 2 little Largemouth Bass using an Arkie Twirl Tail (pink jighead / yellow glo body) and a Creme Spoiler Shad (Black Back). Both were under a pound. Surprised to say no American Shad caught today either. When I got home and checked in with my online fishing buddies, one of them said they were on fire this morning at the same location we were at. He said he caught 6 shad and hooked at least 15, nothing over 16" though. I think we arrived a little too late for the shad action today because we got there around 11:30AM. As long as nobody beats my 17 1/2" I'll be fine with that, LOL.