Haulover Canal Fishing

This afternoon, Karen wanted to take Elmo and Odie fishing in the refuge, so I suggested fishing Haulover Canal for a change. 

We stopped at Arby's to pick up some quick eats and headed to the bait shop to pick up some live shrimp and frozen mullet. 

When I asked about what was hitting in the area, the immediate reply was "the black drum are everywhere". 

Two other guys in the bait shop said that the schools meander close to the bank along Catfish Creek later around 5:00 pm but by that time, most of the spots along the unimproved road are already staked out. 

Since we had a bucket of live shrimp, we decided to try fishing the entrance to Catfish Creek.  As we pulled into East Gator Creek to see if there was any topwater action, we saw at least a dozen gators in the water up to the first set of culverts.  I took several pics before we stopped at out spot to fish.

I put out a rod with half of a fingerling mullet and no weight and Karen wanted to use a float with a live shrimp underneath.

It didn't take long before I hooked into a small sea trout that I quickly landed and released after taking a quick pic.

I hooked a couple of catfish immediately after but that was it for the spot.

After some time had passed, Karen still never got a hit on her shrimp so she wanted to move to another spot that was shady.   

I immediately suggested my original plan to fish Haulover Canal and she quickly agreed.

We headed to Haulover Canal to find a spot where the dogs could enjoy themselves and we had some chance of catching something. 

There was a surprising number of fishermen along the banks but we found a shady spot across from the Bair's Cove ramp that allowed plenty of casting room for both of us.

There was a large fat porpoise across from us that was rounding up a lot of fish for dinner that kept us occupied.

I baited up one of my Penn Battle III surf rods with half of a fingerling mullet and tossed out the rig with just enough weight to hold bottom.    I was using a sliding sinker rig with a 5/0 bait hook and a short piece of 30 pound fluorocarbon leader. 

Karen was fooling around with the dogs so I rigged up a rod for her with a similar but lighter rig.   She was using a Penn Fierce III live liner that I often use in Mobile, Al. to fish around the jetties and sea walls. 

After a short wait, I had a bite that took the mullet like a big fish should.   I waited a bit to set the hook and when I hit the fish, it put up quite a nice fight. 

After the first run, I knew it wasn't a black drum or redfish. It didn't fight like a catfish either so when I pulled it over the coquina rocks to the sandy shore Karen spotted a good size stingray on the line.

I took a couple of quick pics before unhooking the stingray and releasing the fish.

Karen missed a fish and asked me to put a mullet on her line.  I cut one in half and tossed it across the canal to the opposite bank.

There was a slight current moving towards the Indian River which was pulling our baits slowly along the bottom, so I showed Karen how to take the slack out of the line so it stayed there.

As we waited for something to bite, Odie was enthralled with a Cassiopeia Jellyfish (below) that was swimming close to the bank. 

 It was one of several that we saw locomoting along the waterway.

I missed two other bites before hooking into a catfish that was one of several I caught.  I released the fish after Odie had a good look at it and after a short wait hooked and landed one of two puffer fish that I caught.

Karen was missing fish and couldn't hook one if her life depended on it while I was landing fish back to back.   Finally, after changing to a live shrimp for bait, she hooked into a big puffer fish that I unhooked for her and released.

Unfortunately, I never hooked into one of the big reds or black drum that use the canal as a highway between the Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River.

I did hook into a fish that broke off my rig on the rocks and since Karen was ready to head home,  we packed up our gear and headed out.

Hopefully, I'll get to wet a line again before I head back to work next week.

Till then,

Tight Lines.

Shrimping Under The A. Max Brewer Bridge

After driving home from Mobile, Al. last night, I decided to check out the shrimping under the A. Max Brewer Bridge fishing piers in Titusville, Fl. 

I had reports from a neighbor that the shrimp this past week were running bot it was a hit or miss proposition as to the time.

I drove down to the fishing piers and parked around 9:30 pm.  Even though the air temperature was only in the low 60s, the wind was blowing making it chilly enough for me to grab my Frog Toggs.

The parking lots were full, so I assumed that people were either netting a lot of shrimp or catching some fish.

As I walked to the lower fishing pier, the cast netters were lined up along the seawall working hard to harvest a few shrimp on every throw.  The water was choppy, but it didn't seem to deter anybody from trying to load up their 5 gallon buckets with a "full pull" of shrimp.

I took several pics and a video of the cast netters (below) before checking out how the dip netters were doing on the piers.

The first two dip netters I spoke with on the lower pier were not doing all that well.  They only had a few shrimp in their buckets and said the shrimp weren't running as good as they were last week.

The dip netters farther down the pier were doing a little better and several guys had the bottom of their

buckets covered with shrimp in the jumbo category.  

Several others along the railing were holding shrimp in the pockets of their nets.

The people I spoke with said that they were missing a lot of shrimp because of the choppy water and that it was better last week.

I thanked them for the information and walked to the higher fishing pier where there were several people dipping for shrimp.

The water didn't seem to be as choppy there but much fewer shrimp were being netted. 

One guy that was preparing to leave said that the shrimp weren't running as good as they were last week.  

He told me that last week he dipped 300 to 500 shrimp when the water was calmer and he could see the shrimp better.  I asked him about how much that would be in a 5 gallon bucket and was told that it was about half way full.

He also remarked that it took him all night to clean his catch.

That's a problem I wouldn't mind having.....

It was getting cold, so I wished him well and left the area.

I did notice that although there were a lot of small fish fry in several areas over the lights, there were not any spotted sea trout around feeding on the shrimp.

That is probably why I only spotted three guys fishing from the piers.

I hope to get out and wet a line tomorrow if the weather permits, but I have all week to fish if it's crappy.  

Till next time, 

Tight Lines.

Fishing the U.S.S.Alabama

This Sunday afternoon, I decided to fish a sea wall near Battleship Park in Mobile, Al. where the U.S.S. Alabama has been moored for the past several years.

I have caught a variety of fish in this area and since it was a nice sunny day, it seemed to be the thing to do on a lazy day. 

I had some frozen shrimp in the back part of the freezer that I almost forgot about, so I tossed it into a bucket, pulled out a pair of light spinning rods and headed to the causeway. 

The park was where a boat show was hosted last weekend but I was surprised to see a lot of visitors in the area today.    As I crossed the bridge and pulled into a grassy area next to the seawall, several people were dunking baits, mostly shrimp, for anything that would bite. 

I parked, pulled out my rods, and baited up the small 1/0 Eagle Claw bait holder hook with a small piece of dead shrimp. 

I had a small 1/4 oz. barrel sinker for weight above a small barrel swivel and about 16 inches of fluorocarbon leader as terminal tackle.   The idea was to catch some small Croakers for bait and rig them on my larger surf rig. 

 It was windy and the water was choppy but I still managed to make some decent casts into the wind out from the wall. 

After losing 3 or 4 pieces of bait to some sneaky fish, I managed to catch a Croaker that was too big to use for bait, so I offered it to the guy fishing next to me who quickly accepted it for dinner.   

I caught two more fish that I gave away before picking up a small croaker for bait. 

I hooked the small croaker through the snout with a 5/0 Lazer sharp live bait hook and tossed it out as far as I could into the wind.   I was using a 10 foot Fierce III spinning outfit with an 8000 reel spooled with 20 pound Cajun Red line with a standard sliding sinker rig. 

While I waited for a redfish or shark to hit the croaker, I continued catching Croaker of all sizes until a redfish nailed a small piece of shrimp.    

At first I thought I hooked into a larger croaker, but the fish had some shoulders and took off as soon as it got close to the seawall. I finally landed the fish and took a couple of quick pics before returning it to the Gulf of Mexico.   

The guys fishing next to me thought I was nuts for releasing the fish but it was too close to the slot to take a chance to keep and last week I was checked for my out of state fishing license by an Alabama Fish and Game officer, so back it went. 

One of the guys fishing next to me really wanted the fish, and when I caught a second red about the same size, he just glared at me when I released the second one.   

Another fisherman in a red pickup pulled up, set out a couple of rods and started talking to me about the bite.   He told me that the best time to fish this area was on either an incoming or outgoing tide.   

He said nothing much would be hitting during a slack tide, so when the bite slacked off, I packed up my gear and headed back to my apartment. 

I managed to catch a couple of reds and about a dozen Croaker of various sizes on the old frozen shrimp. and I never had a bite on the one live Croaker bait, so I let that guy back into the Gulf to grow up. 

The fishing here is not even close to the fishing I'm used to around the Space Coast, but if there is water around and I have a rod with me, I'm going fishing. 

Till next time, Tight Lines.