Dunking Crabs In Haulover Canal

Spent the last couple of hours of this afternoon dunking crabs in Haulover Canal hoping to catch an oversize redfish and I almost succeeded.

I was planning on heading out to Playalinda Beach to try for some Pompano in the surf, but because it was too late in the day to give it a fair shot, I decided to pick up a few crabs and head over to Haulover instead.

The crab shop had a lot of business, so I expected a decent couple of hours worth of fishing before dusk.

The air temperature was in the mid 50s and there was no wind on the water.

When I pulled into Haulover, the bridge was up for a sailboat, so I decided to fish from the bank on the south side of the canal close to the boat launch.

Today I brought along the tackle necessary for catching a big bull red.  I packed a Tournament series surf rod with an Okuma bait runner loaded with 60 pound Power Pro and a short length of fluorocarbon leader and a second heavy action Penn combo loaded with 30 pound fluorocarbon .

I put a half of a fresh blue crab on the one rod and a whole blue crab on the surf stick and waited for something to happen.

The canal had no current this afternoon and there was a lot of boat traffic heading south on the ICW.

I had a couple of nibbles while I was taking pics of the boat traffic but I didn't bet a hookup until it was just starting to get dark.

Something nailed the crab on the heavy rod with the Power Pro and started heading towards the boat launch.

The fish had heavy shoulders and bulldogged along the bottom for a few minutes but as it turned around, it must have hit the Coquina outcropping because the Power Pro just parted.

I never got a look at the fish but it had to be either a big bull red or an oversize black drum.

When I reeled in the line, it looked like it was sawed off by the rocks.

It was getting dark and cold, so I packed up my rods and headed to the house for dinner.

I hope to get out again tomorrow but I plan on leaving the house much earlier.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.