One shad / Two Catfish

Another day another report. The winds today were better but still gusty at times. My morning started with a small shad caught on a black/chartreuse grub tail. So thats number 24 for the year. I also fished with live minnows on a crappie rig and caught a couple catfish. As far as jigging, no luck except for the one shad early in the day. It sure was a slow day fishing so I left around 12:30. I'll probably try again in a few days and hope the bite picks up. I'm predicting this weekend will be good for crappie since Feb 7th is the full moon spawn.

3 More Shad @ Mullet Lake Park

Hit the river knowing it would be windy today. The north winds were very strong around 15mph and probably higher gusts. I started with chartreuse grub tails and didn't get any hits. I was having trouble getting distance with the wind so I decided to focus on crappie that should be in closer. I switched to pink grub tails on white 1/16th oz roadrunner jigheads and caught 3 shad using this setup. The last one hit so hard it busted the spin blade off the roadrunner jighead! I finished around 12:30pm because the winds were just too much. And with the 3 shad caught today, my season total is now 23! I'm still looking for my first 18-incher though. :)

Hickory Shad 11"
Hickory Shad 14.5"
American Shad 14.5"

20th Shad of the Season! with a few small Crappie

Today I received my order from Bass Pro Shop. With some gift cards I earned from online surveys, I was able to purchase some items for shad and crappie fishing.
1/16th oz pink jigheads
1/16th oz white jigheads
Bass Pro Heavy Glitter Squirmin' Grubs - white / chartreuse tail
Strike King Rage Tail Crappie Grubs - black / chartreuse tail

So this late afternoon I took Cody to the river bank at Mullet Lake. We probably got there around 3:30pm so it was a later trip than usual. Cody's setup was live minnows on a bottom rig with two hooks. Unfortunately he didn't get very many bites. He ended up catching 1 small catfish. My setup was the same double jig rig for shad fishing. The bite was slow though, I had a few small nibbles but nothing to play with. I jigged the crap outta that river and couldn't find the fish to bite. It wasn't until after 5pm when I finially caught a couple small crappie on the new white/chartreuse heavy glitter grub. Only one was big enough to keep though. I did hook into 1 shad before it was time to go and this makes my 20th shad of the season!

A Windy Tangled Day / Large Yellow Rat Snake

My day started with a little excitement early on as I was about to walk through the thick tall grass. What I noticed was a very long snake just laying in the grass next to the parking lot. This thing must have been 4-5 ft long no kidding! Just like Indiana Jones, I hate snakes. Can't stand them and to be honest, I don't really know how to identify them. So I took this picture and sent a text msg to my friend David who knows more about this stuff than I do. He said it's a Yellow Rat snake and it won't bother me. Once I knew it wasn't poisonious I was relieved for sure.



Today the weather started out good, nice and sunny with very few clouds. I caught a small shad early on and released it right away without measuring. I hooked up with another small one but it got off the hook before I could land it. As the day went on though the winds picked up and clouds blocked the sun. On top of that, my double rig kept tangling on my mainline in almost every cast making my morning very frustrating. I did catch some fish but I feel my day could've been more productive if I wasn't spending so much time untangling lines. All together I caught 2 shad about 12-13" each, 1 crappie and a catfish using cut shad.

So with the two shad I caught today my running season total is 19 shad this year! Tomorrow the forecast calls for early morning rain then winds 14-15mph, so it's highly doubtful I'll do any shad fishing tomorrow.

Big Mama Jama Shad @ Mullet Lake Park

I just can't get enough shad action, it's very addictive. Went out again today and fished the same spot. First tried a pink grubtail to see if I could get any crappie and only got a few bites. Nothing stayed on the hook though. So I switched over to my tried and true chartreuse with pink jighead. I stuck with this color for the rest of the day. I wasn't getting anything so I moved down to where the boats enter the river and caught two shad pretty much one after another. Moved back to my original spot and David arrived around 11:30. Sure enough the shad were biting again. I caught a small 11" male that was released. Then I caught a big girl was 17.50" to the fork and very fat. She's my biggest of the year so far. After that the bite stopped for awhile and then I caught another small 11" male that was released too.

As soon as I was packing to leave, David hooked into another shad. It didn't put up much of a fight so we didn't think it was as big as the others. However, when we put it on the measuring device, it was 18" to the fork! It surprised both of us. At this time David is in the lead for our division. Pretty cool! He always seems to 1-up me LOL

Today I landed 5 shad all together, only kept 3 of them since the others were pretty small. Plus my freezer is getting full. The goto lure was the same chartreuse grubtail with pink jighead (1/16 oz). I have now caught 17 shad this season!

Here's todays catch measurements and pictures:
17.50" (ties my all time personal best)
16.25"
13.75"
11"
11"

Shad Slam at Mullet Lake Park!

Today was my most productive day fishing at Mullet Lake. I hooked 2 smaller crappies early on pink grub tails. All of the crappies were up close so I tried to catch a few more. I noticed a trail of bubbles in the water up close again and thought it was some more crappie, so I jigged in front of the bubbles and got another bite. It wasn't a crappie though, it my first shad of the day on a pink grub tail on chartreuse jighead.
David showed up shortly after my first shad and this is when the fun began. The shad were biting like crazy in the middle of the river where we were casting our lines. I was in a zone when I caught one, then another, then another. Some bites were soft, and then some bites striked aggressively. David would get a fish on and at the same time I would get a bite. Twice we came really close to reeling in a shad at the same time. The hot lure for me was chartreuse grub tail on a pink jighead (1/16 oz). Soon the bite stopped and that was it for us today.

During the visit David caught 2 nice crappie which he was kind enough to give to me (thank you!). He also landed a big female shad that measured 17.5" to the fork! He is now tied with the leader in the shad derby for our division. Woot Woot!

Today I caught 4 shad and 2 crappie. The big female shad are definitly in the area now and this should be a fun upcoming week. So far this year I've caught 12 shad!

Crappie 10.5"
Crappie 9"
American Shad 14.25"
American Shad 13.75"
American Shad 11.50"
American Shad 11.50"

Here's a picture of the fish I caught today, it doesn't include the 2 crappie that David gave me.

Cody's First Shad of the Derby!

Took another late morning trip with Cody and today the fishing was rather slow. We first tried a slip bobber with a minnow to catch some crappie but nothing took the bait. After awhile I just decided to jig for some shad and see what happens. It wasn't until later in the day when I hooked into the first shad. Then I hooked another one, this time I gave the rod to Cody to reel it in. This is his first time reeling in a shad and it gave him the full experience. It made leaps out of the water and fast runs. Cody sure loved it when landed it and now he's entered into the derby with a 15.5" shad, which ties him with the leader. I hooked another one for him and gave him the rod, but as he was reeling it in the hook popped out. I told him thats what happens when you try to muscle them in LOL.

So today we caught a 15.5" and a 13.5" shad. Here's a picture of Cody holding his first.

Father and Son Fishing - Catfish and Shad

On a beautiful Saturday, I wanted to take my son out for some father and son fishing. Figured Mullet Lake would be a good spot to catch a nice variety. Cody is also registered in the shad and crappie derby as a junior, but shad are just so hard to find these days. So why not try for some crappie on live minnows I said. I made Cody a homemade live minnow rig with two hooks. It has a bank sinker on the bottom, above that is a 3way swivel, another 3way swivel above that, and then a regular barrel swivel to attach to the mainline. The 3way swivels allow the minnows to swim freely without tangling the rig line. On the way to Mullet Lake we stopped by Johnson's Live Bait in Sanford. The live minnows are decently priced, 2 dozen minnows for about $3.75. Well in fact he gave us alot more than 2 dozen, and all of them stayed alive the whole time. We even brought the leftovers home and still looks like at least 20 minnows swimming in there.

So today I was getting several bites on my catfish rod but nothing set on the hook. I was using a 3/0 circle hook, so maybe I needed to downside the hook and bait size. Cody on the other hand did very well with the minnow rig. He caught 3 small channel catfish about 10" long each. He had alot of fun. I also jigged for shad today and only caught 1 small 11" male on a chartreuse grub w/ pink jighead (1/16 oz). It was actually quite fun to catch as it made a couple leaps out of the water. I saw some shad busting to the leftside of us but someone else was already fishing there. I probably could've hooked up with a few more if we moved down a little bit, but that spot was already taken. So Cody wins todays fishing tally, 3 to 1. I did catch my 6th shad of the season though. Here's some pics!

13 LB 14 OZ Catfish and 15.25" Shad @ Mullet Lake Park

Today I decided to bring my catfish rod since yesterday was so slow, at least it would give me something to do incase the shad weren't biting. For bait I used cut shad on a 3/0 Owners Light Mutu hook. Right off the bat I had a small catfish maybe 12-14" long, and it was released without a picture. Then I caught a beast from the river. It felt big and it wasn't coming in easy. As I reeled in I noticed it suddenly came to a dead stop. The fish wasn't moving and the line felt like it was stuck. I think the fish found some underwater cover briefly, like a large log maybe. I waited a few seconds for it to come out and it did, so I reeled it in the rest of the way. It was close enough now to get a good look at it and saw it was a huge catfish. How exciting! Landed and unhooked it so I could put it on the scale. This big catfish weighed almost 14 LB! (13lb 14oz to be exact). This is my second biggest catfish of all time woo hoo! After taking a few pictures I let it go.

So now for the shad update. Today I only used 1/16th oz jigheads, hoping the smaller lures would increase strikes. I also respooled my light spinning reel with 8lb Spiderwire Stealth braided line and this has increased my casting distance alot. I started with chartreuse grubtails and didn't have any hits. I then switched over to smoke silver flake and still no luck. It wasn't until later in the day when I switched over to white w/ pink jighead and finially got my first shad. This one actually made an acrobatic leap out of the water right in front of me, so awesome! Thankfully the hook was still on and pulled it up onto the bank. Measured it at 15.25" long to the fork, which makes this my longest shad of the season. This is also my 5th shad of the derby run. I tossed the white grub out some more and got another brief strike. It felt like the shad bit the tail without the hook. Unfortunately by now it was time for me to go, figures right when the shad start biting. Well the fishing was good today, even though it was slow at times I still came out with good fish.

Location: Mullet Lake Park river bank, Geneva FL
Tackle: 3/0 Owners Light Mutu hook on carolina rig - 3 oz no-roll sinker

Species: Channel Catfish
Weight: 13 LB 14 OZ
Bait: frozen shad

12" Crappie at Mullet Lake Park

Another late morning at the bank today, usual time between 10am and 1pm. Very very slow fishing today though. Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch any shad today, in fact, I didn't even have any bites besides a 12" crappie caught with a pink grub tail on a white 1/8th oz jighead. The crappie was caught at the far leftside where the boats enter the river.