Black Bass In East Gator Creek

I've been fishing this area for at least 25 years and this is the first time I have ever caught Black Bass in East Gator Creek.

I left the house with Elmo, Odie, and my wife to pick up her vehicle which was having work done on it.

Thunderstorms were rolling through the area as usual for this time of the year and after switching vehicles, I decided to go fishing while Karen took the "boys" back to the house.

I always carry three spinning rods in the truck with a selection of lures so I didn't need to drive back to the house to get any gear.

The air temperature was in the low 80s after the rain and there was only a hint of wind across the water.

I stopped at the first culverts to toss a Chug Bug around and immediately hooked into a large ladyfish  that was about two and a half feet long.  It jumped twice before tossing the bait back to me.

I wasted about 15 minutes trying to get another hit but the fish had lockjaw, so I moved up to the main flats.

Several casts with the Chug Bug and an XPS Slim Dog picked up another smaller ladyfish that I returned to the water.

Some people were parked off the road so I moved to an area where I occasionally catch tarpon this time of the year.

I smeared up the Chug Bug with some Pro-Cure offshore formula and started fan casting the area.

I picked up a "dink" sea trout that was almost smaller than the Chug Bug.  I shook off the fish and after a couple more casts hooked into what I thought was a "gator" sea trout.

The fish blasted the Chug Bug and took off through the weeds on a nice run. 

I knew immediately that it was not a sea trout because of the weight and how the fish was fighting.

I was fishing 10 pound line without a shock leader so I took my time landing the fish.

The fish got tangled in the brush along the bank but I waited it out and finally lipped it onto the bank.

I was really surprised to see that it was a black bass of about 4 pounds or so.

I took a series of pics and a screwed up "selfie" before releasing the fish.

I'm not positive what species of bass it was.  It looked like a large mouth without the black line, almost like a smallie. 

Anyway, I continued fishing the area and had one more hit from another bass that got off at the bank.

I made a few more casts but the area was spooked from the action and there was a cute little gator that was getting too interested in my Chug Bug, so I moved on to one other area I wanted to fish before going home.

The roads along East Gator creek and Gator Creek were being worked on and they did a great job.  Unfortunately, Gator Creek Road is still closed as is Catfish Creek Loop.

When I got to the last spot I intended to fish this evening, I pulled out my Chug Bug rod and started fan casting the small pond.

It took about four well placed casts before hooking up with a small spotted sea trout that I quickly released.

I saw another large fish blasting baitfish on the surface so I tossed the Chug Bug into the area and immediately had a hookup with what I call and "almost gator trout".   

The sea trout put up a good fight and after a couple of runs, I pulled it onto the bank and took these pics before releasing it.   

The fish was a spawned out female that was a little over two feet long.

I kept fishing Chug Bug without any more hits so I switched rods and started tossing the XPS Slim Dog around the area.

I had two fish boil on the lure but no hookups, so after about 15 minutes or so, I decided to call it a day.

I was eaten up by insects and beat this afternoon and the selfie really shows it.

On the way out of the refuge, I considered it a good trip.  Two ladyfish, three spotted sea trout, and a black bass.

Not a bad trip at all!

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Fishing For Juvenile Tarpon

The summer months is when you go fishing for juvenile Tarpon in our area, and this afternoon I decided to do just that.

I left the house with three spinning rods, two bottles of water, and high hopes.

The air temperature was in the low 90s and there was a slight wind blowing over the water.

I decided to scout out Shiloh Road first, then drive through Bio Lab into the Canaveral National Seashore to fish the Vistas along the road to the beach.

The culverts at Shiloh Road were open and the water in the creek was high, but the fish had lockjaw.

I spotted a couple of sea trout, two ladyfish, and one juvenile tarpon along both sides of the road but nothing was taking any of my offerings. 

I was tossing a topwater Mirrorlure, a small Chug Bug, and a Creme Spoiler Shad bait but after an hour or so of casting with only one follow up, I decided to move on to Bio Lab and the beach.

Although the fishing was less than stellar along Shiloh Road,  the scenery along the road was great.  I was the only person in the area and I spotted an otter, two raccoons, and four whitetail deer as I was leaving the area.

As I was driving towards Haulover Canal and Bio Lab Road, I also passed a flock of about a dozen wild turkey along the side of the road.

 The ride along Bio Lab Road was uneventful.  I stopped at a couple of places to toss a topwater bait but again, I couldn't raise a fish.

When I got to Playalinda Beach road, I headed toward the beach and stopped at a couple of Vistas where I missed some tarpon a few weeks back.

Today, I didn't spot any fish but undaunted, I started tossing a Chug Bug into several areas.

The water was dirty but the fish were hitting my lures.

I nailed a small ladyfish that I immediately released and in the same spot picked up a juvenile tarpon that was about two feet long.

I took a quick pic of the fish (below) and continued tossing the lure around likely looking spots.

I missed two more fish before hooking and releasing another juvenile tarpon that was slightly larger than the previous fish.

I took a "selfie" of the fish before releasing it.

I missed another fish and landed one more tarpon that was a clone of the first fish.

As I was fighting the fish, two guys  pulled up and asked if I wanted them to take a pic of the fish.

I passed and offered them the spot.  They were both fishing with fly rods and said they had caught a few fish earlier.

It was getting late and I was getting hungry, and since it was almost 8:00 pm I decided to call it quits for the day.

Might get out tomorrow to give it another try.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.  

Spotted Seatrout Management

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) needs your input on spotted seatrout management. The FWC is hosting several spotted seatrout in-person public workshops around the state. Learn about the current status of the seatrout fishery, staff’s proposal for future management and share your input by attending one of these workshops.

Workshops will begin at 6 p.m. local time:

July 29: Destin, Destin Community Center, 101 Stahlman Ave.

July 31: Steinhatchee, Steinhatchee Community Center, 1013 Riverside Drive.

Aug. 6: Naples, Collier County Facilities Management, Training Room, 3335 Tamiami Trail E.

Aug 7: Melbourne, Brevard County Government Center, Florida Room, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way.

Potential changes on which staff will be gathering input include:

• Splitting the northwest spotted seatrout management zone into two separate zones including the Western Panhandle (Escambia through Gulf counties) and the Big Bend (Franklin County through Fred Howard Park Causeway in Pinellas County near the Pasco County line).
  
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• Moving the southern-most boundary between management zones to create the newly-renamed South Florida (Fred Howard Park Causeway in Pinellas County near the Pasco County line through Broward County) and Central East Coast (Palm Beach through Volusia counties) zones.
  
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• Reducing bag limits.

             Western Panhandle: 5 to 3 fish.
              Big Bend: 5 to 4 fish.
              South Florida: 4 to 3 fish.
              Central East Coast: 4 to 2 fish.
              Northeast: 6 to 5 fish.

• Changing the current recreational and commercial slot limits to 15 to 19 inches.

Current recreational slot limit is 15 to 20 inches (with one over 20 inches allowed).
Current commercial slot limit is 15 to 24 inches.

Prohibiting all harvest of spotted seatrout 19 inches and larger.

Prohibiting captain and crew from keeping a personal bag limit on a for-hire trip.

Re-establishing the February closure in Western Panhandle.

If you can’t attend an in-person workshop, provide online comments at
MyFWC.com/SaltwaterComments.

Late Afternoon Tarpon Fishing

Went out to the Canaveral National Seashore to do some late afternoon tarpon fishing in the ditches and Vistas along the road.

I had lost my favorite topwater Chug Bug on a poon the other day so I re-stocked with a couple more bugs and a Mirrodyne lure that Cayden was so successful with while fishing the Vistas the other day.

It was late and the air temperature was in the low 90s with very little wind blowing to cool me off.

I stopped along several spots to check for rolling fish and finally found a pod that was chasing finger mullet close to one of the Vistas.

I started fishing with my new Mirrolure and promptly caught and released a  ladyfish on the third cast.

I kept casting ahead of a couple of rolling tarpon but they had lockjaw and wouldn't hit my bait.  

The ladyfish were more than accommodating though and I caught and released at least 8 or 9 fish before a tarpon finally hit my bait and broke it off.

I switched over to a small size Chug Bug that I brought along and promptly hooked another tarpon that jumped about 5 feet into the air and shook the bait off.

I had three more tarpon that took the Chug Bug but I couldn't get a hookup to save my butt.

Finally the fish moved off and I moved to another spot to fish.

I switched to my other rod with an XPS Slim Dog and caught another ladyfish that was almost as big as the lure.  I released the fish after taking this pic and changed back to my Chug Bug.

It was getting late and I stopped to fish a ditch near a Vista that I never expected anything to be in, but to my surprise I briefly hooked into a small juvenile tarpon on my Chug Bug that promptly tossed the lure back at me.

I spent the rest of my short trip tossing lures at tarpon in the dirty water ditch without landing a single fish.

I guess I just wasn't holding my mouth right because I was getting boils and good hits, but I just couldn't hook into a tarpon long enough to land one.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Till then, 

Tight Lines and a happy 4th.

New Florida State Flathead Catfish Record

Recently, a new Florida State Flathead Catfish Record was officially placed in the record books by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) fisheries biologists.

The catch was made by Marvin Griffin from Santa Rosa County, Florida.

The fish weighed in at 69.3 pounds, had a girth of 34.25 inches, and measured 47 inches long.

Marvin caught his record cat on rod and reel using live bait in the Yellow River, where he fishes on a regular basis.

Although flathead catfish are not native to Florida waters, they are found in many Northwest Florida panhandle river systems. 

Flathead catfish are a solitary species that prefer long, slow flowing, moderately turbid rivers where they feed on live fish, crawfish, mussels, and freshwater clams.

Makes me want to hit the St. Johns.

Tight Lines.

Beach Patrol

Went on a beach patrol this afternoon to see if anybody was fishing at Playalinda.

Got out around 2:00 pm when the air temperature was 94 degrees.  There was only a slight wind blowing this afternoon which made the temperature feel like 100 degrees.

I brought along some downsized lures today to hit the vistas along Playalinda Beach road.   As I drove past the toll booth I decided to stop at the Vistas first to see if any juvenile tarpon were in the area.

I stopped at Vista 4 first and tossed around a small Chug Bug smeared up with some Pro-Cure.  This area is very shallow and weedy.  I had a small ladyfish nail the bait and missed another before moving down to the next area.

The next Vista held a gator around 9 feet long that decided to be my "friend".  

 

He wouldn't leave my topwater baits alone  and finally parked his carcass right next to the bank so I couldn't cast around the area.

I switched rods and tossed around a suspended Mirrolure mullet pattern, but the gator continued following me around.

I packed up and headed to the beach to see if anybody was catching whiting or pompano.

For a Monday, there were a lot of people at the beach.  Most were sun worshipers trying to develop a tan or a case of Melanoma.  

I drove around Eddy Creek and stopped at lots #8, #9, and #10.

I only spotted three guys actually fishing, and they didn't seem to be getting any serious action.  

The tide was out and the seas were extremely calm.  The two guys fishing at lots #9 had some whiting that they caught on shrimp but nobody had any pompano.

 I thought about tossing a silver spoon around the surf but decided against the idea.  Instead I took some pics of the people on the beach and a short video of some guy sailing along on a surfboard.

I decided to head for home an try the Vistas again on the way out..

I switched to an XPS topwater bait at the first Vista and after several casts finally caught an released a small ladyfish.   A few casts later resulted in a hit by a small sea trout which was almost too small to eat the bait.

I hit the next three Vistas looking for juvenile tarpon but I didn't spot any rolling or chasing mullet.

Back at the second last Vista before the exit, I was casting on both sides of the road when  Cayden and his girlfriend. pulled in to fish.

He said he jumped some tarpon that were moving around and that he had caught some ladyfish. 

When he left I continued to fish both sides of the road and caught two more small ladyfish on the XPS bait before deciding to head for home.

I was ready to leave but decided to try the last Vista one last time.

This is a very shallow and weedy one with some tree stumps in casting range.  If it was freshwater, it would be great bass habitat, but it was brackish.

I kept getting grass on the Mirrolure, so I switched to a small size Chug Bug that I smeared with Pro-Cure.

I fished the bait so slow that a soft shelled turtle grabbed the Chug Bug.  I tried to land it but it finally let go of the bait.

I was about to give up when I made one last cast towards a tree coming out of the water.  The 'small Chug Bug bounced off the tree and sat in the water for a second before a nice tarpon inhaled the lure.

The tarpon jumped about five times before heading to the grass farther out from the bank.  The fish got tangled in the grass and as it jumped, broke the line at the lure.

If anybody catches a 30" tarpon in the area with a small Chug Bug in it't mouth, I'd appreciate a call from you.

I was one of my favorite all time baits.

I didn't have any more small size Chug Bugs so I tied on a Baby Bass pattern regular size Chug Bug that I also smeared up with Pro-Cure.

I must have made at least 20 casts with that bait before packing it in for the day.  The fish just were not interested in the larger bait.

Apparently size does matter!

Till next time,

Tight Lines.