Over the past weekend the cool front turned on the flounder at the tide pool at the north jetty at Sebastian inlet. Using finger-sized mullet or live shrimp on 1/8 to 1/16 jig head, just drag your bait slow and hang on! The bigger flounder should come in with a couple of cold fronts. Fish the tide pool early and the north jetty half way out on the beach side.

It’s that time of year when the moon gets right and the wahoos fire over on the corner. Dentist Roger Montz, Ron Yampolsky and a few other buddies made the crossing this past week on Roger’s 36’ Yellowfin “Orion.” They checked into West End before putting out some high speed lures and going to work.

They fished an outgoing tide and the bite lasted about an hour and a half. The went 5 for 12 on the wahoos and then around noon time, when they knew the bite had shut off they decided to do some deep dropping.

The taxman took most of their groupers but they did mange this healthy specimen.

Fish Mounts make great holidays gifts and we are right here in Rockledge, give us a call if you are looking for a Christmas Fish Mount, the gift they won’t return.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families.

While helping my wife with preparations for Thankgiving and getting Christmas decorations unpacked, she mentioned that she wished we had some bluefish or mackerel for the smoker to make some smoked fish dip for the holidays. I had a feeling there may be either in the surf at daybreak and headed out the next morning (today) to the Melbourne Beach area. In about an hour I was headed home with a limit of blues, having caught them all on a 1/2 oz silver spoon. Now getting the fish smoked has been added to the list of holiday preparation tasks.

Saturday I focused my fishing in the North Indian River, today, Sunday I focused in the South Lagoon and the Indian River between a couple of bridges; Max Brewer and NASA causeway.

The wind was supposed to be from the east, said the wind maps I looked up the night before. Having my little 95 Gheenoe Highsider, I wanted to be out of the wind as much as possible and scouted Google Maps to find a ramp on the South-East side of the lagoon. I choose Eddy Creek ramp. When I got there around 9 am Sunday I was surprised to find an almost North-West wind blowing. Already there and with a bit of a later start than anticipated, I was not going to drive around so I put in anyway.

My intention was to fish Max Hoeck Creek, associated entry ways; islands and such, maybe even the grass along Gallinipper Point up towards Playalinda Beach- due to the east wind we were supposed to have.

The crab trap that didn’t produce the night before was also brought along. This time I had different bait than the day before, fresh filleted trout heads and caucuses- maybe the crabs wanted fresh food instead of frozen, bland mullet. It went for a short boat ride and I gave it a heave-ho overboard along the eastern shore of Pelican Island. It look pretty fishy there and saw fish scurrying about so I decided to start fishing there too.

The only thing I had was shrimp for live bait so I started with that. Those brave little shrimp were being pitched into the pothole looking areas that had grass around them. I used a fan type pattern to offer my shrimp to anything that was swimming close by. After striking out, I switched to a 4″ swim bait, again, repeating the fan pattern in an effort to find hungry fish. Strike two! Strike three came after putting on a silver bladed spoon and repeating the fan pattern yet again.

The next spot I tried was a grass flat. It was out of the wind a bit and I stopped there because I saw fishtivity happening. Still only having shrimp for live bait I started with that. A few casts later, I got something on the line. Finally! It was a nice, slightly undersized Red. It was about 14″. I put up a good fight with the light tackle I was using. I parked it there for a bit after that. I had some mullet left over from the night before that I kept and froze so I cut that up to throw on another rod into the deeper water on the edge of the flat; in case something swam by and wanted an easy bite. As that was pointed out of the back of the boat, I put another shrimp on the line and went back to work with the live shrimp. I repeated the fan casting pattern with the live shrimp on the flats, with no success other than feeding a couple annoying bait fish. I moved to a few spots on the flat but didn’t have any luck at any spot.

After an hour or so of fishing the flat after landing the red I decided it was lunch time, it was almost noon at this point, so I went to pick up my crab pot. It has been 2 to 3 hours of soak time by now. When I picked it up, it had two crabs in it. Good sized ones too. Whoo Hoo! I got excited and decided to give it another hour or so soak time.

I had to go somewhere, so I went to fish Gallinipper Point’s grass lines. I used what I had, live shrimp and cut mullet. The mullet was cast into the “channels” on the deeper end of the grass lines and the shrimp, again, into potholes and the shallower side of the grass lines. I lost my shrimp a couple times to bait fish but nothing good enough to bring into the boat. 45 minutes after arriving to this spot, my stomach grumbling and beer hand shaking, I headed back to grab my crab trap, pull the boat out and grab lunch. There were no more than the two crabs I had in the trap an hour earlier.

Lunch break. However, before lunch I didn’t want to take the crab trap with me to lunch so I stopped by the Parrish ramp and tossed it into the water around the seawall to be retrieved later.

The Lagoon not being the most productive earlier in the day, I scrapped the plans to go to Haulover and instead hit the River up after lunch. Well that and the fact I had to retrieve the crab pot helped make that decision. I re-launched at Parrish Park and headed West and fished Sand Point and the bridges and docks just West of that. I threw into the current, out of the current, at the bridge supports, against the rocks, in the light of the bridges, in the shadow of the bridges, weightless, weighted, along the sea wall; zilch. I got some bites from bait fish but to my dismay, no keepers.

I had an hour and a half left of light so I went east from there. I went island hopping around the creeks on the east side; gator, catfish, and brock.

It was there I hooked the last two keeper-fish of the weekend. Two black drum, one upper slot one lower slot. My first Black Drum! I caught them both on the same bait, live shrimp. The one that hooked the smaller drum was weighted down with a ping jig head and I caught it after the bigger one. The upper slot black drum ate a weightless shrimp. At first, since I had not caught a black drum before, I thought I hooked the biggest Sheepshead I’d ever seen. Once it was brought on-board it started drumming so I knew it wasn’t a Sheepshead. Its gotta head like a Red gave me a clue too. After catching those two, I stayed around the area for about another hour. With no other bites I watched the sunset and heading in after the sun went behind the high-rises on the west side of the river.

That’s the end of my not so productive fishing weekend, hope you did better than I. Hope you guys get a chance to get out there … can’t wait till next time!

This week the nearshore bite has been strong. Bluefish, Spanish mackerel and jack crevalle have been very active on top water plugs such as the Rapala Skitter Pop. Find the bait and fish the bait pods cruising up and down the beach and cast around them. There have also been big sharks and redfish around the bait pods as well.

Happy Monday, everybody, as we charge into the short week and get ready for Thanksgiving! It looks like the fishing has been pretty good.

Those of us who fished offshore got into some Cobia and a nice mixed bag of snapper. For Port Canaveral the triple tail bite is still a little spotty but they’re catching some Whoppers. The canals and the River are still producing catches of Sheepshead, trout, black drum, red drum and a few Snook. The beach fisherman are catching Blues, Margate, Whiting and Pompano.

Have a great week from all of us at Man Overboard Bait & Tackle

The fishing at Ponce Inlet has continued to be really good for bull redfish as well as black drum. There have been a few founder mixed in as well. On channel markers, triple-tail are still being caught in decent numbers. Some good news, I have noticed the water in the lagoon is starting to clean up with the cooler temperatures.

Had a great week fishing the inlet. The reds were stacked up and chewing good and the snook were mixed in as well. Live pinfish worked well for the reds and snook and shrimp worked especially well for the snook on incoming tide. Pre front the Tarpon and sharks were thick on the beach. After the front on Thursday, the bite slowed a bit but the fish are still there. With the winds dying and the weather warming, look for that Snook bite to heat up at the inlet and keep an eye out for tarpon on the beach!

The inshore bite is still pretty good. Plenty of Trout, jacks, ladyfish, flounder and Pompano along the flats and the spoil islands. When the Snook bite slowed in the inlet, the fish were feeding in the Sebastian River. Soft plastics were the best baits for both the trout and the snook as well as other mentioned species. Paddle tail baits from Storm and Storm Shrimp worked well for the Snook and Pompano!

Dang, fishing has been slow, for me anyway. Almost two whole days of fishing and I was only able to get four keepers, two trout and two black drum. This is my story and I’m sticking to it…

After not being able to fish for almost two weeks due to the weather/work relationship, I was able to go out this weekend; Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday I went to the Oak Hill, N-IRL and associated back waters. Sunday I focused on the southern lagoon and Indian River between the Max Brewer bridge and the NASA causeway. I got a later start than normal Saturday, launching out of Kennedy Point park around 10 am.

I headed out with live shrimp, frozen mullet (for my crab trap), and a castnet for live bait. I went out on my 95 highsider and room is at a premium so I wasted no time ditching the crab trap near the channel marker at Sand Point.

Then I went around to the other side of the sand bar to do a little scouting, live bait catching, and to just get a feel for the fishing. I got there at the outgoing tide so I set my anchor and fished for about 30-45 minutes. I only had live shrimp at this point so that’s what I used. I cast it up current close to the sand bank, weightless, and let it float past me a few times. I got some nibbles but nothing big enough to eat it whole.

Thinking shrimp wasn’t on the menu, I cast-netted a few times and caught Pilchards (I think, they’re shiny and quite slender and have greenish backs) and a couple finger mullet. I then put a Pilchard on hook with a 1/4 weight and cast it where I did the shrimp. Nothing.

After striking out, I went a bit up Callalisa Creek and used the same two baits along the oyster beds on the east side of the creek. I casted near them, into the coves, and along the deeper parts in the creek “channel.” Same result, I got a couple nippers abd even came back with a headless bloody Pilchard once, but nothing to speak of. Another hour or so of that and it was time to move again.

Next, I headed to the farthest North-East point of Pine Island Bay and let the wind push be down the bay. I repeated the techniques I tried at the two previous spots, but this time also had a 4 in. paddle bait thrown in. Unfortunately, I had the same result.

It was now about 1 pm so I tried one more spot before lunch. I went up Potts Creek from Pine Island Bay and repeated the steps above. Surprise, Surprise, same result.

Now it was definitely time for a lunch/beer break. Not wanting to pull the boat out I went to local watering hole accessible by foot not far from the New Smyrna Marina.

After lunch and not wanting to repeat the backwater no-fish catching of earlier in the day, I decided to fish the Indian River for the last couple hours of the day. I concentrated on docks and structure I could see and access from the river. I essentially got the same results as before. Nothing more nibblers, until the sun went down and I found a dock with a light. Two lights actually.

I noticed it had quite a bit of activity so I anchored about 15 feet away from it and worked every Pylon, post, and shaded part of the dock I could get a shrimp of Pilchard to. I noticed most of the action coming from the deeper parts where the boat is put on and backed from the lift so that’s what I concentrated on. I got a mixed bag of takers… smaller reds, snapper, snook, and finally two keeper trout (pic attached). Finally!

A hard day of fishing and only two fish to show for it. That’s fishing I suppose! I picked up my empty crab trap- stupid frozen mullet- and headed to the boat ramp.

P.S. This got a bit longer than expected and I’ll submit Sunday’s fishing report later.

The inlet is producing well right now. My most recent trip produced flounder, Spanish mackerel, snook and redfish. We also caught some monster catfish, too, and I am talking over 10 pounds! If you’re fishing around the docks, look for snook and slot sized reds, and you may just find them. We did best using live shrimp and pinfish.

This beautiful redfish made Jake’s first trip to the Mosquito Lagoon more than successful!

Fishing this past week was like the weather; all over the place. Warm and windy one day, warm and calm the next followed by cold and windy the next couple of days. Yep, our winter weather pattern is here. Get ready for uncertainty in what to expect for weather conditions for the foreseeable future.

Though we managed to “catch” each and every trip this past week it was often a struggle as we found ourselves weeding through lots-o-catfish in order to catch a few redfish or spotted seatrout.

The highlight of my week was answering a call Monday evening though I nearly let the call go to voicemail. The caller was in a panic to find a guide for Tuesday morning. He and his son desperately wanted to experience the Mosquito Lagoon before heading back to the cold of the Great White North. Since it looked like the high winds on Monday were going to back off considerably for Tuesday morning I agreed to take them fishing.

What’s funny is I was actually looking forward to a day off, alas my day off would need to wait another twenty four hours.

True to the weatherman’s prediction we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise and calm conditions. Not sure as to where I wanted to start our day I headed far north of where we struggled to catch anything on Monday. Spot one proved a bust and we only wasted a little time before moving. Spot two was just the opposite!

A hundred yards or so into my “push path” the guys each had a bite on their Z-Man soft plastics, resulting in no hook-ups. As we passed this island point I made a cast over the area they missed their bites and connected with a frisky redfish. All I did differently was allow for more “dead time” on my four inch Jerk Shadz after it hit bottom. The bite was solid and the redfish had no intention of giving it back.

I put my rod away and shared what information I just learned. Jake, the son, used my info wisely while Dad kept playing with his retrieve. Dad did get many bites, though nothing was hooked. Jake stuck and landed two quality redfish and had another top/over slot redfish come off the hook within a few yards of the boat.

On this day a slow retrieve with frequent “dead time” on the bottom received good results on both jerk shads and shad-tailed swim baits. Jake’s favorite lure this trip was a Houdini colored Diezel Minnowz.

It’s winter time. Pompano, black drum, flounder, and bluefish are all tell tale signs of winter here in Florida. Pompano and drum feed similarly on shrimp, sand-fleas, clams, or little crabs. There are plenty of fleas on the beach, but we also have them in stock now. We try and always keep live clam, live sand fleas, and live shrimp throughout the winter. We are also hoping to get some mud minnows in soon, as the flounder should be moving with this cold front.

Get outside and play!

Wife and I went to Kars Park Saturday 11/17 the first time at the lagoon and the wife caught her first fish!
Two Trout, she’s hooked on fishing now!

This was a very good nearshore week! Sharks have been chewing pretty steadily as are the giant reds. Mullet are working well for the reds. You can catch the mullet in the back basins. The shark are eating cut mullet and cut baits like bonita and Spanish mackeral. There are a lot of Spanish macks out there as well. Use small spoons and small jigs for them. Offshore was great on the days we were able to get out. A bunch of Mahi and plenty of kings. Good size on both too! Looks like we got a bunch of wind coming up again but lets hope it lays out a little. Happy Thanksgiving!