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.