Mullet / Shrimp @ South Causeway N.S.B.

Last night I got to the South Causeway around 11:30pm. I would've got there earlier if it wasn't for the stupid I-4 construction near Deltona shutting down 2 lanes of traffic, forcing everyone to merge into a single lane. The night temps were warm, probably in the 70's all evening.

During the first hour, the shrimp were running pretty good near the lights. I caught about 10 shrimp for the bait bucket. After that, the shrimp were gone and the mullet were putting me to work. You could see the water boiling as the school of mullet were running circles around the pier. I added about 40 mullet in the bait bucket by the end of the night. Only problem was I got my castnet snagged on the barnacles again, tearing a one foot hole in it. Even with the damaged castnet, I was still able to catch a few more mullet. Now I'm debating on whether to repair the castnet or just buy a new one and keep the ripped net as a spare. Like I said, it still catches fish but may lose a couple in the process. So 40 mullet and about 10 shrimp were brought home and bagged for the freezer.

Bass Fishing in May - Bass Pro Shops Order

Well, I haven't been catfishing much since it is mating season for gators. Plus our favorite catfish hotspot on the river bank at Mullet Lake Park may be a potentially ideal location for gators to nest and lay eggs, since we have to walk through the tall grass and brush just to get to the bankside. So our main focus lately has been bass fishing, mostly in residential ponds and lakes. The Colonial Grand Apartments has been a good bass spot, I've caught a fish everytime there usually. Small ones, about a pound each. The Berkley 7" Power Worms in Red Shad are bringing them in. Kyle has been working the pond near Lake Loch Leven in Mount Dora with the Culprit 7.5" Red Shad worms.

So I'm running out of worms and had a couple BassProShop gift cards to use. I placed an order yesterday and this is what I got for about $20 shipped...

Berkley PowerBait Power Worms 7" - Blue Fleck (10 pack)



Culprit Worm 7.5" - Red Shad (18 pack)



Zoom Super Fluke 5 1/4" - White Ice (10 pack)



Zoom Super Fluke 5 1/4" - Baby Bass (10 pack)



Mimic Minnow 1/8oz - Silver Shiner (2 pack)

Colonial Grand at Town Park in Lake Mary

Today I learned that there was an 8 lb bass caught in an apartment complex in Lake Mary. At Colonial Grand At Town Park, there are two ponds to fish. We fished the south pond first, getting a few bites. I tried my Super Spook Jr for some topwater action and got a bite but nothing. Didn't catch anything so we walked to the north pond. Fished there for about 25-30 minutes and I caught a nice little bass, about 1 LB. I was using a Zoom Fluke in White Ice. Kyle almost had a fish too, but it got away close to the shoreline. Kyle was using the 5" Yamasenko worms in Green Pumpkin/Black Flake, which are very productive in small ponds.

Slow Fishing @ Mullet Lake Park

The weather has been hot and we haven't seen any rain in awhile, which has had an impact on the water levels. The water levels in the St Johns river are way down this week compared to a few weeks ago when we were putting the smackdown on catfish. Last night the moon was only about 10% and the temperatures were in the mid to lower 60's. It was pretty chilly and very foggy over the water surface as the night went on.

We fished the Mullet Lake river bank again and only came out with a small channel catfish that Kyle caught in the picture below. The bite action was very light, in fact the river has almost shutdown the last couple trips out there. Hopefully it will pickup soon.

My 12 LB Channel Catfish! Hell Yeah!

Last night at the Mullet Lake Park river bank, I was joined by Kyle and Zack for some catfishing. We had a late start though, getting first lines in the water around 12:15am. I figured as long as I catch something, who cares. The moon was still about 85% full and temperatures were in the lower 70's/upper 60's again.

I caught the only three fish of the night using cut mullet bait. The first catch was a 4 lb 14 oz Channel Catfish, then awhile later I caught a small gar. Then it was 3:00AM when I was taken for a drag racing ride. I saw the bite, picked up my rod and felt something on the other end. I whipped my rod back to make sure the hook was set and started reeling in a monster. I knew this one was big and it had alot of fight in it, actually pulling my main reel drag which was set pretty tight. I got it up to the bank where Kyle lipped it with the yellow fish grips. The hook line had to be cut since it was set really deep, plus we didn't want to risk killing the fish by damaging any organs. Next came the scale, and I was so anxious to see how much it weighed. It was right at 12 LB! By far my personal best fish of any kind. =)

Night Recap:
4 LB 14 OZ Channel Catfish
small Florida Gar
12 LB Channel Catfish

Here's some pics of my 12 LB Channel Catfish ...

Personal Best Channel Catfish - Full Moon Fishing Report

Last night was one of the most productive and exhilerating nights fishing. It was a full moon while we fished Mullet Lake Park river bank. The night temperatures were in the lower 70's / upper 60's. It was my buddy Kyle and myself putting the smackdown on some Channel Cats and Florida Gar. Between the two of us, we landed 5 fish for a total of 25 LB! Everything was caught on some cut mullet for bait, and 6/0 Gamakatsu Octopus Circle Hooks. Kyle caught the first fish and it was his first big Channel Catfish. The night started grim for me though, reeling and losing 3 fish one after another. Then my luck changed, and the next 4 fish I made no mistake. My first landing was a personal best Channel Catfish. But while I was taking pictures my other Okuma baitfeeder began to sing and it was a big Florida Gar. It was awesome :)

The tally for me was:
Channel Catfish @ 7 lb 5 oz
Florida Gar @ 4 lb 8 oz
Florida Gar @ 3 lb 4 oz
Florida Gar @ 4 lb 4 oz



Kyle's catch:
Channel Catfish @ 5 lb 8 oz

Spider Crab and baby Squid @ North Causeway NSB

Last night was a disappointing fishing trip to NSB to say the least. I started at South Causeway, attempting to castnet some mullet and shrimp for bait. The mullet can be seen but not as many as last time. I got about 3 or 4 mullet and some small Atlantic Croakers. As for shrimp, I couldn't see any at all on topwater so no shrimp last night. The current was very strong also, making careful placement and retrieve of my castnet important to avoid another barnacle snag accident.

Eventually it was about midnight so I switched it up to the North Causeway pier. Again, no shrimp but I threw my castnet a few times and caught some Ballyhoo's, a couple mullet and get this, in one cast I got 3 baby squids! They were only 1.5" long but it was cool watching them ink when I put them in my bait bucket. My only catch of the night was a Common Spider Crab shown below. This brief video shows him crawling around the pier before I threw it back in the water.

Mullet at South Causeway - NSB

Here's a baitfish report from the last two consecutive nights (April 10th and 11th) at the South Causeway in NSB. The weather has been warm with night temps of about 70 degrees. I've been arriving at 11pm and staying until about 2am.

Sunday night, April 10th, I started at the North Causeway but didn't stay long because there were some spanish people yelling and screaming to one another from opposite sides of the dock. VERY annoying! So I switched to the South Causeway, where I found small amounts of mullet running, which is more than what I've been seeing the last 3-4 weeks. I managed to castnet 5 large mullets plus a monster mullet that had to be 12" long. I also got a couple Atlantic Thread Herrings as well, also known as "greenies". My night ended when I ripped my castnet after a poor choice to cast so close to the dock. It got stuck underwater on some barnacles on the dock supports.

The next night, April 11th, I went straight to the South Causeway. Oh yeah, I bought a new, bigger castnet too. This one is 5' radius so with a perfect throw you can get a 10' spread. This time the mullet were running very thick. With a well timed toss, you could easily land 2-3 mullet in one throw. All together I came home with 32 mullet to freeze, most medium to large size. Also got 4 more of those greenies. My freezer is all stocked with bait so now it's time to catch some monster channel cats!

Rockin' the Guitarfish @ South Causeway NSB

Thirty Eight Live Bait shop, or 38 Live, is a highly recommended bait shop if your going to fish New Smyrna Beach. I know they close at 9 PM on Friday nights too. They are located less than a mile from the North Causeway and South Causeway fishing piers. They offer live shrimp in small, medium, large sizes, mullet, pinfish, & mud minnows. They didn't have any live mullet when I was there, but they did have a good deal on live shrimp. It was 50 small shrimp for $5.00

38 Live Bait Co.
147 Middle Way
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169
Phone: (386) 423-6819

After the bait shop, me and Cody took the short drive to South Causeway fishing pier. I hooked up a live shrimp on each Wild Cat rod and waited. It wasn't long when we got a fish. I reeled in this half shark half stingray looking creature. Seriously it has the rear body of a shark and front body of a stingray. It's called an Atlantic Guitarfish. Cody's taking credit for this catch even though I did all the work. LOL

Species: Atlantic Guitarfish
Tackle: Gamakatsu 6/0 octopus circle hook on a Carolina rig
Bait: small live shrimp

Cameron Wright Park - Dock Fishing Report

Cameron Wright Park is a basic boat launching ramp off of SR 46 in Sanford, near Lake Jesup. During gator season, it's packed with boat hunters since Lake Jesup has more gators than other any body of water. I've fished the dock there several times last year and never had much luck. But then again, I was using hotdog bait and I never tried cut shad at Cameron Wright until this year. Last Sunday night, I used a couple pieces of shad and easily caught a couple Yellow Bullhead catfish pretty quickly. Zack also caught another one with his rod. All three fish were released unharmed.

So Tuesday night, I went back to Cameron Wright for about an hour and caught a little channel catfish using cut shad and a 6/0 circle hook. It was just a baby though, not more than 6-8oz I think. Downsized my hook to a 1/0 circle to target smaller catfish and caught two yellow bullheads. I noticed the hook sets were better with the smaller hook and cuts of bait. Again all three fish were released back in the water.