Playalinda Beach Fall Mullet Run

The fall mullet run is currently going full force, so I decided to hit Playalinda Beach for a change to sample a little surf fishing.

The thunderstorms were just beginning to let up around my house when I decided to get a little fishing in and because Peacocks Pocket Road was closed to vehicle traffic, the beach seemed to be a good alternative.

I loaded up two "river" rods, an Okuma surf rod, and a small cooler with a few frozen blue crabs and several small mullet for bait.   I had a small "beach" tackle box set aside with my extra leader material, hooks, sinkers, etc. but I forgot to bring it and a 5 gallon bucket along.

When I drove into the Playanda Beach guard shack I asked the attendant about the fishing and the tide but she wasn't able to provide any information about either.

I decided to check out several areas to see if anyone was catching fish but when I stopped at lot #3, there was nobody in sight.  In fact, except for a couple of fishermen and some wildlife officers who were doing work on the facilities, the beach was for all practical purposes, desolate.

I stopped to take some pics and short videos of lots 3, 8, and 10 (above) before I finally decided to pull out the rods.

At the last lot, there was a couple who were just leaving and one fellow, who I later learned was named Jeff, cast netting mullet in the surf.

When I walked down to see if he had seen any fish, Jeff said he saw several nice fish in the breakers and when he offered me some live mullet for bait, I couldn't resist not getting my fishing rods.

I retrieved my gear from the truck and baited up a sliding sinker rig with a live mullet to see what I could catch.

After losing a few fish, I finally got into the groove and landed a small Jack Crevalle which I returned to the ocean.

It was an overcast day, the tide was just starting to come in, and it was around 5:00 pm. A perfect scenario for productive surf fishing.

From 5:00 pm on it was if someone turned on a switch.  The fish started biting and I was catching bluerfish back to back. 

I hooked a nice Snook in the surf that was cruising just off the first sand bar.  It took the mullet and got off as I was leading it across the shallows.

Jeff didn't bring his fishing rod along with him, so I offered him one of my spinning rigs to use until I was ready to leave.

We both were catching bluefish and as I caught another Jack, it broke off my sliding sinker rig.

I had several rigs in the truck but since it was getting late in the afternoon, I didn't feel like slogging back to the truck to get them.  Instead when the last bluefish cut off my leader, I tied on a 5/0 Owner hook directly to the 40# Power Pro I had spooled on the reel and put on another mullet.

I thought a flat lined bait would be just as good as one on the bottom and it didn't take long to prove me right.

On my second or third cast past the second sand bar, a tarpon of about 5 feet in length took my bait and took off.   I saw the hit and didn't realize it was a tarpon until it made it's first jump out of the water.   As the line started screaming off my reel, I quickly realized that the fish could spool me.

When the tarpon jumped the second time, the hook came out and I didn't have to worry about the spooling problem.

That was only the second tarpon I ever hooked from the beach and both were unforgettable.

Anyway, I tied on another hook and caught another bluefish before the bite started slowing down.

It was around 6:30pm when Jeff and I decided to call it a day.  I had six bluefish in the small cooler for dinner and a tale to tell my wife.

Not bad for a few hours of fishing.

With any luck, might meet Jeff tomorrow for another shot at the fall mullet run.

Till next time, Tight Lines.