Playalinda Beach Bluefish

The Playalinda Beach bluefish and Spanish mackerel were supposed to be hot this month, so I decided to give it a try.

After finishing some chores, I grabbed a matched pair of 10' surf rods seated with a pair of
Okuma Baitrunner Coronado Saltwater Spinning Reels   and headed for Playalinda Beach to see if the bite was on.

The tide was out and the water was relatively flat at the beach. According to the tide tables, good fishing should have been from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm plus or minus an hour or so.

I hit lot #6 first at about 2:30 pm and saw only two serious surf fishermen.

One was catching whiting and the other guy didn't seem to be doing anything worthwhile.

There weren't many people at the beach today but there were quite a few surfers and sea kayakers on the water.

I took some pics and moved on to lot #8 at Eddy Creek. This area is usually crowded with fishermen and beach goers and today was no exception.

Again, nobody was catching bluefish or Spanish mackerel, only whiting.

Again I took some of these pics and moved down to lot #10 where it is usually free from beach goers.

When I got there I loaded up my rods and trudged to a spot that looked "fishy". There was a slough about 30 yards from the beach and another about 50 yards out from that on a little bit south of that one.

I baited up a sliding sinker rig with a frozen whole ladyfish about 6" long and waded out as far as I could safely go before tossing out my offering.

I waited patiently for something to bite, all the while looking for signs of fish.

I spotted a large school of menhaden that were jumping out of the water trying to escape from some unknown predator, but they were too far out to cast to.

I saw lots of glass minnows jumping out of the water closer to me but my bait was too large to "match the hatch". Whatever was chasing them didn't want my ladyfish.

After about a half an hour I got a savage hit that left me with only the head of the ladyfish.

I baited up with another one and cast out to the same area. After another half hour or so without a bite, I started reeling in my bait and almost got run over by a pair of tarpon cruising parallel to the beach.

There was definitely fish activity in the area but everything was beyond casting distance.

Finally, after getting another ladyfish cut in half, I decided I had enough fun and sun so I packed it in.

On the way out of the beach, I decided to take a ride over to Haulover Canal and use up the rest of my ladyfish.

The current in the canal was relatively strong but there weren't many weeds for a change to bog down your line.

There were some people canoeing the area and one serious fisherman anchored over a rock ledge who was catching mangrove snapper. Several other people were fishing from the bank.

I baited up with a whole ladyfish and had been fishing for about an hour before hooking up with one of those Bull Redfish you hear about being caught in the canal.

The fish but up a great fight and appeared to be around 40 inches long, but I lost it when it wound around a coquina outcropping near the bank.

Anyway, it was a damn good fish if it could break off from a 65lb. Class, Power Pro Spectra Fishing Line above the leader.

Disappointment wasn't the word for what I was feeling today. It was much worse than that.

Feeling like I lost a 12 rounder, I packed it in and headed for home and a pizza instead of a fish dinner.

Tight Lines to you all!