Playalinda Beach Surf Fishing in December

Playalinda Beach surf fishing is picking up as the month of December comes to a close.

The weather today was close to the 80s that was predicted and with a southwest wind blowing across the Indian River, I decided to break out my two surf rods and try a little surf fishing.

I didn't start out until after 1:00 pm and decided that if I didn't get any bites within an hour or so, I was going to call it a day.

I left the house ill prepared. I forgot to get the bait out of the freezer and didn't bring any prepared pompano rigs. I did have some pyramid sinkers in the truck so I wasn't totally doomed.

For the first time in eons, I stopped at a bait shop and bought a cup of live sand fleas and some minute shrimp.

Captain Hooks Bait & Tackle was selling 50 live shrimp for $5.00 and since I also forgot to bring along a bucket, I picked up a dinky little bait bucket to keep them alive until I got to the beach.

The shrimp were obviously not local. They were much too small for that, but for pompano or whiting, they would do just fine.

When I got to the Ranger station, I showed them my lifetime pass and asked about the fishing. As usual, they had no advice to give on fishing conditions.

The lady at the bait shop told me that they were catching blues, whiting, pompano, a few shark and an occasional redfish in the surf from parking lots #7 to #10.

Since the rangers at the shack didn't know anything, I took the lady's advice and started scouting out the areas she suggested.

Lot #7 had a few surfers doing their thing in one area and a few fishermen who didn't seem to be catching anything. I took some pics that I compiled into the video below and moved on to Eddy Creek Lot #8.




This area was a clone to the other area. The only two fishermen I saw there were trying to stay on their feet and didn't seem to be catching much.

Finally, I decided to fish lot #9. That area has two nice spots where lots of shells accumulate on the beach. I've learned from experience that lots of shells means fish.

There were four groups of fishermen in the area when I started fishing but as the cold front moved into the area, everyone left the area except for a party of Spanish
guys and myself.

Both my surf rods are matched Ande Tournament series, with matching
Okuma Coronado Saltwater Spinning Reel  CD-65 spinning reels.

The one reel was spooled with 60# Power Pro and the other with 30#.

I was using a pompano double hook rig on the light rod with a 4 oz. pyramid sinker and larger hooks on a pompano rig with a 6 oz. pyramid sinker on the other rod.

The wind was at our back and you could easily cast a country mile to the second set of breakers where the pompano were.

I baited the heavy rig with shrimp and the 30# rig with live sand fleas.

I didn't do as well as the other guys but I managed a couple of whiting, a blue and a sailors choice that I foul hooked and used for bait.  Most of the fish were caught on sand fleas.

The tide was going out and I missed several bites that I should have hooked. I don't surf fish as often as I should, but today I learned a valuable lesson. Keep your hooks sharp!

The Spanish guys had 7 rods staked out and were hopping back and forth trying to keep bait on them and bringing in fish at the same time.

I stayed in the surf for about two hours until it started getting too cold for me handle.

There was a lot of bird feeding activity just off shore and this was one day that I wished I had brought my surf tackle box. A silver spoon would have killed the blues.

As I packed up to leave, I went back to the beach with my camera to get a video of the little kid of the group landing a nice eating sized bluefish.

They had quite a day. I saw them catch and release at least six undersize pompano in addition to what they kept.

Playalinda Beach surf fishing usually picks up from late November through the spring mullet run.

I'm taking a much deserved two week vacation and hope to get more surf fishing under my belt.

Till next time, Tight Lines!