Playalinda Beach Blues

Saturday morning I decided to hit Playalinda Beach for some surf fishing.

I had been spending too much time around Peacocks Pocket road fishing for sea trout and redfish so this morning when my wife announced that she didn't want to go fishing, I packed up my favorite surf rods and headed for Playalinda Beach.

When I checked the tide chart at around ll:20 am, I learned that high tide was in at around 1:15 pm so I pulled some frozen ladyfish chunks and a small bag of shrimp out of the freezer and headed out.

The temperature was in the high 80s and the wind was gusting but my mind was made up.

When I pulled up to the guard shack and showed them my pass I asked the girl at the window about the fishing report.  She was less than helpful.

She said nobody told her anything about the fishing except one guy who caught some small pompano,

I politely thanked her and headed for lot #8 across from Eddy Creek where I decided to start fishing.

The lot was not overly crowded so I lugged my gear to the beach and set up near some other guys who didn't seem to be catching much.

 

The water was rough so I clipped on a 5 oz. pyramid sinker and baited up my first rod with small bits of shrimp.

After I set the first rod I rigged the second for bluefish.  I tied on a wire leader and a 5/0 long shank hook and baited up with a chunk of ladyfish.  I would have preferred a live mullet but I didn't have time to pick up any bait.

I didn't have to wait long before I got my first hit, and miss on the shrimp.

The bite was very slow and I kept missing fish on the shrimp.

The rod with the ladyfish chunks finally took off and whatever hit the bait kept on going.

Another fisherman waved to me and asked me if I wanted to use some of his live bait and I readily agreed.

He had a couple of pilchards in the bucket that he netted in the surf so I put one on and send it out past the breakers in hopes of something big.

To make a long story short, I spent about an hour at the first spot and when the tide was at it's peak I finally decided to give it up.  Nothing was biting on anything.

I guess I'm not patient enough for bait fishing and no one on the beach lot #8  seemed to be doing any better.  The fish just weren't biting today.

I packed up my stuff and headed to the truck in the parking lot when an Aussie asked me if I had any luck.

I told him my tale of woe and he said he caught some whiting earlier in the morning before the tide change and one small bluefish.

He didn't like bluefish so he gave me a barely legal fish which I took home for dinner.

I guess it wasn't a total loss.

Anyway, I took Bio Lab road back home to see how the Mosquito Lagoon looked with the water levels as low as they are.

 

I took some pics of the area and spotted several boaters fishing around Pelican Island, probably on a school of redfish.

Too bad I didn't take the Maverick out today.  Anyway, there's always another day.

I briefly thought about doing some wade fishing but I was tired and didn't feel like trudging out to deep water without proper equipment.

Surf rods just don't cut it in the Mosquito Lagoon.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.