The swells nearshore calmed down barely enough this Saturday (9/28) to get my rig in the water near south Cocoa Beach. The seaweed is blowing in but this was not a problem from the boat. Anglers fishing from the surf may find it challenging. The morning started out fairly slow. Eventually a small group of mullet swam by with the Blues in hot pursuit. As quickly as they came, they left again. In the two hours that we were fishing several waves of Blue came through. We ended the morning with a few Blues and a Permit using live fingerling.

As I anxiously wait for the wind to die down this week to get offshore, I decided to throw the cast net into the Banana River behind the house. I’ve seen a few finger mullet popping the surface but the water is still murky enough that I’m throwing blind. I managed to get a dozen and headed out to the mangroves along the Thousand Islands. I went to three spots before heading to a location where last week I landed a 15 inch trout on a lure. I wasn’t there long before I had a nice hit and the familiar fight of a Snook. Unfortunately, that was the only one too be had. I fed a few cat fish and called it a day. Although, no where near the old days yet, I’m happy to catch and release a few bigger fish than what I’ve been catching earlier in the summer. Perhaps, the steps we’re taking to correct our past negligence is slowly taking effect.

Despite seeing plenty of bait fish in the surf and pelicans diving inshore, fishing from the beach is a bust in Cocoa Beach. The slimy seaweed is thick up and down the beach and the surf is unfishable.