Searching For Tarpon

On Thursday afternoon when Karen and I went searching for tarpon along the Canaveral National Seashore, I had a lot of action with several hookups but I couldn't land a fish to save my life, so late Friday afternoon, I decided to see if I could change my luck.

I left the house without anything but a box of topwater lures and some water.  

I don't know what the heat index was, but the air temperature was in the high 90s and there was a lot of thunderstorm activity in the area.

When I entered the Canaveral National Seashore, I didn't waste any time getting to Vista 7 but after making several casts in the area without even a follow up I decided to check out several other areas.

I tried two small ponds along the road that produced a few busts on the XPS Slim Dog topwater bait I was using and managed to land a couple of small ladyfish that I quickly released.

When I finally got tired of casting, I decided to head out of the area but on the way I stopped at a large pond just before the Bio Lab road exit to give it a final last shot.

I smeared up the Slim Dog I was using with some Pro-Cure Inshore formula gel and started fan casting around the area.

On my second cast I missed a good fish that I couldn't identify but it looked like a large ladyfish.

A couple of casts later in the same general area produced a small ladyfish that was double hooked and put up no fight.

I continued casting farther out in the pond and hooked into a large juvenile tarpon that was in the three foot category.  The fish made a jump that shot him at least 6 feet out of the water and tossed back my lure.

I waited a while and juiced up the Slim Dog with some fresh Pro-Cure and after another couple of casts hooked into another tarpon that was larger than the first fish.  

The fish jumped once and made a fast run down the channel close to the road.  On the second jump, which was next to the shoreline, the fish tossed the lure back to me into the bushes.

I couldn't believe that I couldn't land a damn tarpon, but that fishing.

Anyway, I continued tossing the Slim Dog around and caught several more ladyfish that started hitting like crazy just before it started raining in earnest.

I put on a brimmed hat and continued tossing the topwater plug and managed to hook and lose three more tarpon in the three foot category before the bite stopped completely.

The rainstorm evidently perked up the bite and when it stopped raining, the fish stopped eating.

Ticked off at myself for not being able to land just one tarpon, I headed for home to get in my daily walk.

I plan to try the area again tomorrow, God willing.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Tarpon In The Vistas

This afternoon I decided to get out to Playalinda Beach to catch a few whiting for dinner and see if there were any tarpon in the Vistas on the way to the beach. 

I loaded up a couple of surf rods and one river rod with a Bass Pro topwater popper, just in case and headed to the beach. 

On the way to Playalinda, I stopped at the bait shop and picked up some frozen shrimp and a pack of finger mullet for bait. The girl at the shop said that the tide was on the way out and most of the surf fishermen were catching whiting and a few keeper pompano on sand fleas and shrimp. I figured that since I was already loaded up, I might as well head out to the Lots even though the tide was heading in the wrong direction.

 When I showed my lifetime pass to the girl at the kiosk, I asked her why she was wearing a mask when she was all alone in the booth.  She said it was required, so I left it alone. I'm convinced we have all gone mad! 

 Anyway, as I drove past the first Vista I was going to stop but decided to hit the beach first.  

The first lots had several cars so I headed up to #9 and checked out the area. The water was dirty and the tide was going out. There was a good current moving which would require a heavy lead to hold bottom, so I moved up to lots #10 and #11 to see if conditions would be more conducive to fishing.

These lots were also about the same; dirty, roily water and a heavy current.   I planned to fish around lot #10 but after talking with a surf fisherman who was there most of the morning without any fish, I decided to wait for a high tide tomorrow morning to fish the surf. 

I planned to head back to fish East Gator Creek but decided to stop at Vista 7 to give it a shot.   

On the third cast with my popper, I hooked into a juvenile tarpon around 3 feet long.   The fish jumped twice before sending the lure back to me.   

I loosened up the drag on my reel and continued tossing the small topwater popper around the area.   After several casts, another tarpon slightly smaller hit the plug and got off after the first jump. 

I always bow to the tarpon when they get hooked but today for some reason the lures kept getting thrown back to me.  

After several more casts around the area, the bite died down so I moved up to the next Vista and continued casting the small popper. 

This Vista produced hookups with two more tarpon about the same size as the last site and one smaller tarpon about two feet long.    All the fish were hookups that got off after a couple or three jumps.

Frustrated, I gave up and headed back home to tell Karen about my trip.

Karen wanted to pick up a prescription and take the "boys" for a ride, so I packed up the river rod and we headed out to Walgreens.  They filled her scrip and we headed over to Bio Lab road to scout for snook spots and see if there were any tarpon in the area.,

We didn't see any tarpon, but I found a few nice spots for snook along the road.   When we came to Playalinda Beach road, I decided to try the Vista where I hooked into the larger tarpon earlier, and Karen agreed.

When we drove down to the Vista,  I got out of the truck and on the first cast hooked into a tarpon that was over three feet long.    The fish took a lot of drag, jumped four times, and on the last jump broke off my favorite topwater popper.

It was the only one I brought with me so I tied on a large Zara Spook that I tossed around for several minutes without even a follow up.    The tarpon apparently were only interested in smaller baits today so I packed up my rod and we all headed back to the house.

I broke my diet and ate four slices of pizza from Lil Ceasers before doing my afternoon walk.

Till next time,

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.