We were going to tripletail fish out of Port Canaveral Saturday, but there were two or three boats on almost ever buoy by 7:00AM.
There was a huge school of black drum off the beach. They would occasionally hit a shrimp. That meant using a smaller hook that could straighten. They turned off and went down by 8:30AM. This school of fish probably moved south with the cooler weather. If spotted, use medium to heavy spinning gear with large shrimp or crab. Sometimes, they will eat a cobia jig if you rip it through them out of defense.
After seeing a manta ray close to the beach in warmer 70° water, we thought it would be a good idea to look for cobia on the outer shoals. However, 67° water and increasing wind made it highly unlikely.
We went back towards shore because we had seen dozens, if not hundreds of 75-150lb jumping blacktip sharks. The blacktip migration was on. They are an underrated game fish for sure. There were so many that hooking up would sometimes take less than 2 seconds. If your chunk slid up the line, another shark would eat it and break the line. Definitely a trip-saver if and when your targeted species doesn’t show.
The bait of choice is a fresh chunk of a bloody fish such as a jack or bluefish. Hook it to a very sharp, thin but strong, non offset 9/0 circle hook. Trokar makes a great hook for sharks. Use 18-24 inches of 108lb wire leader and 3-5ft of 80lb mono shock leader. I would recommend a heavy to extra heavy spinning setup with at least 250 yards of 40-65lb braid.
That school of black drum was incredible! And the Blacktips were fun as always. Can’t wait to get out again!
Awesome video Kurt, way to go man. Those big drum are so much fun!
great job kurt love to see your passion for fishing thats what still lights my fire .when working or off you see peaple fishing and wonder what are they catching what are they useing