Playalinda Beach Fishing Report

Playalinda Beach is perhaps one of the most pristine beaches on the East Central coast of Florida.

The surf fishing in this area is better than average because of the deeper sloughs in several of the areas and the Eddy Creek boat launch offers shallow water boaters the opportunity to hit some of the better know fishing spots in the Mosquito Lagoon.

Whales Tail and Cucumber Island are easily accessible and normally hold good numbers of slot sized and over redfish and sea trout.

In addition, there are several "holes" that harbor gag grouper if you know where to fish for them.

On the way to pick up some groceries, I called a friend of mine in Georgia and we discussed among other things, surf fishing. He loves to surf fish when he gets a chance to visit both Playalinda Beach and Patric AFB below Coco Beach.

The talk about surf fishing got me to change plans, so I headed for the beach to purchase a Federal Park pass.

Expecting to pay the $35.00 annual rate, I was surprised to find out that I qualified for a Senior Pass that is lifetime and only costs $10.00. I also discovered that the pass allows entry to any Federal National Park. However, you need to be 62 in order to qualify for it.

The ranger at the park said that the surf fishing was good for pompano and whiting, so I decided to make a run to Eddy Creek and check out some of my old spots.

Stopping first at Eddy Creek, I talked to a fisherman who was just coming in from a morning's trip to see how he fared.

He reported that he caught 8 redfish around the slot and one redfish near Cucumber Island that measured about 38"; all by sight fishing. All were caught on a light colored DOA CAL jerk bait.

He said the fish were skittish because of all the guides bait fishing for them, but that they were catchable if you practiced a "stealthy" approach.

Some people on the wooden dock were just having fun catching croaker and pinfish while a kayaker was doing the same in the shallows of the creek.

I moved to three different parking lots to see how the surf fishing was doing and at #8 found everyone ready to head home.

Lots #8, #9, and #10 are usually better for fishing because of the beach contour and the fact that less swimmers frequent this area.

The tide was almost full and the surf was rough. The guys I talked to said they needed 6oz. in order to hold bottom and they still missed fish. Despite the rough surf, there was one guy out about 300 yards in a kayak having a ball fishing!

Contrary to the information I got from the ranger at the entrance; everyone I spoke with said that the pompano had not been biting well for the past 3 weeks however, the whiting and croaker were "hot".

Everyone I spoke with caught whiting, "sailors choice", and some croaker. One guy had an undersized redfish that he returned to the surf.

After taking some pics that you can see here, I decided to get on with my grocery shopping so I could get out and do some fishing in the afternoon.

Hope the info helps some of you surf fishing addicts out!

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Late Afternoon Fishing On The Indian River

After driving almost 7 hours from Columbia, S.C., I decided to try my luck on the Indian River Lagoon to catch some trout for dinner.

My wife didn't want to go because of the weather, so I packed up my six trusty rods and took off to the closest location, Peacocks Pocket.

My wife and I had been having some luck there recently with drum and a few trout, so I decided to give it a try.

The water was much lower than last week and there was a slight wind which put a mild chop on the water. Just enough to make the fish less wary than usual.



Because of my bum shoulder, I decided to start out with the rod that was rigged with a Johnson's gold spoon to first locate any trout in the immediate area.

After three casts, I hooked onto an undersized trout that ate the spoon right at the shoreline.

Two casts and two misses later yielded another trout that was a twin to the first one.

From about 7:30 till 8:15 I missed five more trout and caught four more. Unfortunately, all were under the 15" minimum and had to be released.

Great fun but not good for dinner.

I decided to move on towards "bobcat bay" to see if I could spot any feeding redfish and got sidetracked by something feeding in the shallow marsh canal right on the bank.

The fish ignored my spoon, so I picked up my other light rod loaded with a Green striped Creme paddle tail soft bait.

On the second cast to where the fish was feeding, I hooked into a hefty slot sized sea trout that was destined for the dinner table.

I missed two more in that same area and since it was getting dark and my shoulder was acheing from casting, I decided to head for home with my dinner.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

Tight Lines and enjoy the pics.

The Dog Days Of August in July?

With the weather in the mid 90s and very little wind, my wife wanted to go fishing at one of her favorite spots in the Peacock Pocket area of the northern Indian River Lagoon.

On Friday, we hit a heavily fished area near the canoe launch and had some success. I picked up a couple of small trout and a baby redfish that barely ate my CAL DOA bait.

My wife caught a few catfish and missed either a redfish or black drum that took off with her dead shrimp and then dropped it.

You can always tell when a red hits a bait. They normally go from zero to 40 mph in about the length of a rod.

Anyway, we hoped to have some better luck Saturday afternoon.

Toting our regular array of fishing rods and lures; we headed off about mid afternoon for the "swamp" as my wife calls it.

Before going to her spot, I decided to try a couple of places we haven't fished in a long time; so we headed for Bio Lab road on the Mosquito Lagoon and a part of the Indian River Lagoon that the Boy Scouts use for their jamborees.

The Mosquito Lagoon was extremely shallow and the only other person we saw, was in a kayak heading for the canoe launch.



We scouted the area for telltale signs of fish and found none, so we decided to head for the other spot on the Indian River instead.



The water was relatively calm and whatever fish that were there, were stealing our baits with ease. They had to be either small trout or pinfish, but after an hour or so of this nonsense, we headed towards our final destination past "catfish creek" road.

Karen plopped down with her usual Cajun Thunder rig and shrimp; and I took off down the road with a rod rigged with a DOA white paddle tail bait and a green jig head.

I spotted several swirls that I thought were trout but didn't get any hits until about 7:00 pm.

Something was busting baitfish in very shallow water, so I flipped my lure on the bank and pulled it into the fray.

Almost immediately I hooked up to a nice slot sized redfish of about 26" that put up a great fight against my 8# line. I landed the fish and then spent a good bit of time reviving her in the shallow oxygen depleted waters of the marsh canal before letting her go.

My wife missed a nice redfish and landed a catfish a short time later.

Meanwhile, I kept casting at swirls until I picked up a baby redfish that was no larger than my bait.

My wife picked up a couple of trout and I finally gave up casting because of my hurt shoulder.

As the afternoon thunderstorms started doing their thing, we decided to head for home so I could put another ice pack on my shoulder.

The July weather for the past few days is more like the dog days of August, but at least the fish are still biting!

Till next time; Tight Lines!

New Fishng Pier In Titusville, Fl

The fishing pier that has been under construction for the past year or so, is finally complete and open for business.



Unlike it's wooden predecessor, the concrete pier is well lit and has electrical outlets available for shrimpers or fishermen to use for underwater lighting.

The concession stand and bait house were both crowded with visitors and fishermen when these photos were taken.



As of yesterday evening, the pier appears to be "the place to be" on a hot Saturday evening if the lack of parking space is any indication of popularity. Cars were lined up on both sides of the causeway and legitimate parking spaces were nonexistent.

The people I spoke with who were actually fishing were just having a good time and didn't seem to care whether or not they caught anything.

The only fish I saw caught were a few small undersized sea trout and several plump catfish.

One gentleman said the drum were biting later on in the evening on cut bait and dead shrimp.

Enjoy the pics and stop by if you get the urge to "pop a top", grab a bite to eat, and try your luck fishing the Indian River.

Tight Lines!

Pre July 4th Outing On The Indian River

Saturday afternoon on the Indian River proved to be lonely and relatively unfruitful.

For the first time in a long time, there were almost NO people on the North Indian River flats off of Shiloh Marsh Road.

Late Saturday afternoon the entire river was as smooth as glass, with only an occasional mullet breaking the surface and the serenity of the moment.

On the way into the unimproved drive, my wife and I spotted only one other vehicle. The fishermen had waded out about 50 yards from the bank and set up folding chairs with sand spikes to hold their rods that were baited with finger mullet.

My wife and I stopped twice trying to entice some trout for dinner with little luck.

I have a hurt shoulder and had to work hard at casting my usual array of top water plugs, spoons, jigs, and soft baits. The fish just weren't interested in any of my offerings and my shoulder couldn't take the repeated abuse.

My wife tied on her Cajun Thunder bobber with a 4/0 hook, baited with frozen dead shrimp.

The first few stops yielded nothing but a throbbing shoulder, so we continued to one of Karen's favorite coves.

Once we got there, we noted that the water level was down considerably from the normal for this time of year and that the fish were dormant. Absolutely nothing was moving around.

I threw every lure I could think of to raise a fish as I walked along the road to the far point, where the other fishermen were sitting on their chairs out in the river, enjoying the day .

They weren't catching anything on their live mullet; just having a good day on the water.

I gave up on artificial lures and put out two rods baited with chunks of ladyfish in the hope of getting one of those 40" plus bull redfish.

After catching a couple of blue crabs, my wife finally caught a nice slot sized trout on her shrimp that we kept for dinner.

I caught a blue crab, a ton of ant bites on my ankle by standing on an ant hill, and not a thing more.

How humiliating! Except for a blue crab, I got skunked!

On the way out of the area, I grabbed my camera to take some pics of feeding spoonbills and some of the other scenery, some of which I have here.

Tomorrow is the 4th. and if my shoulder can take it, my wife and I hope to try it again at another area; possibly Haulover Canal.

I hear the mangrove snapper are biting!

Till then, Tight Lines!