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.