Flounder Pounding Hecksher - 11/6

Was planning to go out today and fish spots along Hecksher dr.  Forecast was calling for T-storms today so I went yesterday.  Looks like the weather man got it wrong. Dropped the kids off at school and made my trek.  Worse decision of the day was to travel across the Buckman bridge.  Accident on 295 just before Old St. Aug rd tied up traffic halfway up the Buckman.  Had I gone CR 210 would have saved 30 min easy.

Arrive at my first spot which is the pull off to the left of the 2nd bridge after the Ferry heading north.  Tide was about halfway in.  Started with a 1/8 Mission Fishing Jighead in white and a 4" chartruse gulp minnow.  First cast and I got this little guy.  Definitely under the 12" so he went back to be caught another day.  Fished that spot for about an hour using a smoke colored gulp minnow and a smoke colored Powerbait.  No joy, even though I saw a couple big fish jump.

Went to spot #2 around the Dock at Joe Carlucci boat ramp.  First cast hooked into my biggest Flounder to date.  Easily 24". Had trouble making progress against him with my Pfleugar Medalist.  Was able to get him to the surface before he slid under the dock.  Mistake #2 I didn't have a net.  Should have drug him onto the sand but tried to fling him up onto the dock.  Snapped the 15# fluro and made his escape.  Arghhhh!!!  That would have been a couple nice meals!

Switched sides and baited with a 1/16 oz red sparkle jighead and the chartruse minnow and landed a 12" flounder.  He also went back to fight another day.  Needs to  be 14" or more to be worth cleaning and eating.  Switched sides again and on one of my last casts this guy decided he was hungry!  19" and will make the frying pan for some fried fish and chips tonight!  Plan on hitting again either tomorrow or Thursday!  It is incredibly fun battling a big flounder on light tackle!

Pompano Season Ending???

As quickly as it started it looks like it may end.  The Fernandina bouy was at 63 degrees this a.m.  8 degree drop almost over night!

Jax Pier - 10/23

Fished the pier from 9-Noon yesterday.  Started out where I could find a spot on the north side which was inside the first shed.  Not much happening since the tide was low.  Move out just east of the third shed and finally caught some fish.  Most of the action was happening between the 2nd & 3rd sheds.  A pair of guys and a husband/wife team were pulling in pomps left and right.  Definitely limited out if not over the limit it seemed like they were catching so many!  On my way out I asked the Husband/Wife team if they were catching them strictly on clams.  He said no they were biting the shrimp just as much.

Knowing that Pomps are "structure shy" and will swim around the pier just like the mullet I figured I'd eventually catch some as they made their way around.  Finished with 3 Pomps and several lost hits.  Using #8 and 1/0 hooks.  On one rod I threw out my newly made teasers with a bare hook, no bait.  I did get a couple strikes on it but wasn't fast enough to set the hook before they dropped it.  I am going to continue that experiment next time I hit the Surf.  Me and they guy just north of me were not getting any hits on shrimp.  The Pomps we caught were on frozen clams.

The guy above had some serious bend in his rod.  About a 3 1/2 ft bonnethead.

Got the Gear!

Beads - Great Online Store!

I've been shopping this store for my beads for a few years.  Just about any kind and color of bead in all the sizes.  If it can't be found here chances are it can't be found.

http://www.troutbeads.com/Products.html

For 2013 I'll be using the Natural Roe & Dark Roe.  3 beads per hook, spaced Natural, Dark, Natural. I realize a lot of guys recommend "match the hatch" when it comes to beads.  I primarily like to catch Pompano and my rigs are multi-purpose.  I think the roe color best emulates a sandfleas egg pouch. 

I've got a couple friends who like to use Gulp for fishing.  One guy likes the "smoke" color because he believes it looks like the color of a mullet.  Another guy uses chartruse because he believes it gives the best visual color for a fish to see.  Both guys catch fish.  Its really a matter of what you believe in and you get the results you're looking for.

Very Good Pomp Article & Teasers

This is an article from earlier this year that's got some pretty good Pompano info. It references Martin & St. Lucie counties but talks a great deal about what to look for in the surf to find Pompano.

http://www.floridasportsman.com/2012/03/19/features_pompano_stlucie_surf/

Which leads to something else I've been hearing more and more about. Teasers. 

What peaked my interest in teasers is the photo I posted on Pomp lures a few days ago.  If you notice in the picture the fish doesn't actually have the banana lure in its mouth but the teaser.  I'm sure the lure would work well on its own, but I think that teaser heigtens the attraction to the fish.  Something like that could only add to what we're doing to catch fish. 

Keep in mind the Pompano is actually a Jack and  Jacks are aggressive predators.  The above article also talks about the beads being attractants.  I'm guessing most of us have thought about the beads as something to draw the fishes attention to the bait.  In the article he hypothesizes that the fish is actually attacking the bead itself, with the evidence being the number of fish he's caught that were hooked in the head outside the mouth.  I've caught Pompano like that as well, which surprised me.  Ignoring the shrimp, clam or sandflea to go after the bead(s)? 


I stopped by Strikezone yesterday to see if I could find a similar teaser with little luck.  Then I went over to the Black Creek Outfitters (Fly Fishing shop) and came away with some ideas I think are very good!  You can make your own teasers and bucktails with their supplies.  I found the investment in equipment is minimal and the guy showed me exactly how to tie one.  You can get started with a vice, thread, glue and "feathers" for about $35. He showed me a varitey of things you can do.  You can actually make a teaser look like a sandflea!  This is something I will probably not do this fall but will definitely apply the techniques for the spring run.

Post a comment...on your thoughts on this subject!  Really want to hear from you!

Pompano Fishing (Part I) - The Discovery

Rod bouncing wildly in the spike with an urgency you've never seen before.  Line goes slack the rod shifts in the spike and comes to a standstill.  You run to grab it and reel and reel until you catch up to the bait eater.  You spy the line in the water and see it going down the beach.  Then suddenly it starts going up the beach.  Then down...the up...until finally you get it in.  It's flat yet full bodied, silvery on the sides with yellow on the belly.   You look at the ID guide to figure out what it is.  Then the regs to see if you can keep it.  16", good!  Into the cooler he goes.

You wonder exactly how much meat you're gonna get off this fish since it looks pretty big but it's also pretty flat.  Then you remember the fight and how your heart pounded when the like went slack.  You didn't want to loose him.  You remember the side to side battle that you'd never seen before.  Most fish just tug and pull and shake the body.  This one tried to find different avenues of escape.

You get home and tell your friends what you caught. One of them tells you the best ways to cook 'em and promptly invites himself over for dinner.  Split in half right down the middle.  Lightly salted with a dab of butter and placed in the oven on broil.  Grilled at high temperature.  Smoked with a spicy wood. 

You take your first bite.  Mmmm, very flavorful.  Not fishy but definitely full of flavor.  Then you discover although it's flat it is full-bodied and there is a ton of meat on this fish!  Wow!  You file away the lesson, great fighters and delicious eats!  Now you can't wait to go fish for some more!

...coming soon Part II - Fishing for Pomps, is it an Art, Science or What???

Revised Fishing Plan

I want to catch Talbot at low tide going forward:

Monday - 10/22 - fish Talbot:   low at 8:39 am
Tues - 10/30 - fish Jax Pier
Thurs - 11/8 - fish Talbot:   low at 8:54 am.

Little Talbot - Sun 10/14 & Wed 10/17

Got off work bright and early Sun morn and decided to take the family for a little family time.  Fished the northern access.  Bait was soft shell crab, fresh shrimp and sandfleas.  Sun was shining but the winds were whipping out of the east. Fished about four hours of the outgoing.  The catching started out light.  My daughter got her first Pompano.  Too bad it was a 4" baby Pomp.  Followed that with a Palometa which we wanted to keep for dinner but he got dropped in the wash.  A few dink whiting followed when finally the 10'6 Tica bends deeply and whatever it was tried really hard to take it and the spike with it.  I let my wife reel it in hoping it was a big Drum.  It was going to be interesting to see if she'd want to hold it for a picture.  The battle raged and all the tell-tale signs were there.  Battle like crazy then anchor on the bottom.  Battle, anchor...big ray!  We got 'em in, cut 'em off and back to the sea he went.  Things settled down and I put more crab out and wham!  Fish on!  Same rod 10'6 Tica Dolphin the only one of the four with crab for bait.  This was a definite fish.  Shaking his head from side to side like a heavy weight.  Got 'em in Black drum 18".  Very nice fish.  A couple more dink whiting and that was it four our four hours. 


Went back out today while the kids were in school.  Met Stuart who was already there by the ramp protecting his gear from the tide pushing into the grass.  He's been fishing Talbot for 15 years, spring and fall going after the Pomps.   Said he'd been fishing Talbot since the first of October and has only caught 3 Pomps all undersize.   Hopefully today would be different.  He had one rod out using clams.  My bait on this day, fleas, fresh shrimp and clams.  Bait shop was out of soft shell crabs.

I decided to deploy 3 rods.  11', 10'6 and 8'.  Lots of foam from the breakers in yet the winds were near non-existent.  Out of the ENE at 3-5, shifting E at 3-5.  What they'd call Drummy surf in Virginia.  Water looked clean to me until I landed the first fish.  Cat. Man!  That's the way my 3 hours of liberty went.  Two cats, another ray and a spec 2.5 inches too short.  Packed it up about 12:30 and headed to Wendys for a bite.  Next trip will be the Pier at Jax. Following week I'll be back at Talbot. 

Florida Fish Classification

A little Trivia for you:   Most fish that swim in Floridas "salt" are classified into 10 catergories.  How many have you caught?

1. Billfish (The Big Boys)
     Blue Marlin
     White Marline
     Swordfish
     Spearfish
     Sailfish

2. Drums  (The Lazy Boys)
     Croaker
     Black
     Red
     Sand Seatrout
     Silver Seatrout
     Silver Perch
     Weakfish

3. Groupers - (The Fat Boys)
     Gag
     Goliath
     Nassau
     Yellowfin
     Scamp
     Red
     Yellowmouth
     Warsaw

4. Jacks  (The Street Fighters)
     Blue Runner
     Lesser AmberJack
     Greater AmberJack
     Permit
     Pompano
     Almaco
     Banded Rudderfish
     Crevalle
     Palometa

5. Macs (Speed Demons)
     King
     Spanish
     Cero
     Wahoo

6. Porgies
     Jolthead
     Knobbed
     Red
    Sheepshead
    Pinfish

7. Sea Bass
     Bank
     Black
     Rock

8. Sharks (Top of the food chain)
     Sharpnose
     Bonnethead
     Mako
     Scalloped Hammerhead
     Hammerhead
     Blacktip
     Nurse
     Spinner
     Bull
     Lemon

9. Snappers
     Blackfin
     Cubera
     Dog
     Gray
     Lane
     Mahoghany
     Mutton
     Queen
     Red
     Schoolmaster
     Silk
     Vermillion
     Yellowtail

10. Snook
     Snook
    Fat Snook
    Swordspine
    Tarpon Snook

FWC: Fish Identification

Magic # Achieved!

The Fernandina bouy read 77 deg as of 11am today and is currently at 76.8!  Should start hearing reports of multiple big Pomps being reeled in along the Surf!

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=frdf1

Missed this Week

Feeling under the weather so I didn't get to hit Talbot this week like I wanted to.  Did stop by Strikezone and Archie hooked me up with Pomp jigs and a nice 1/2 oz. yellow bucktail.  Was also introduced to a 1/2oz sandflea jig.  Hope to video that one to show everyone.  Seemed interesting, but I know the jig will work and I'm pretty confident in the bucktail.  If I do get out it will be Tuesday at Talbot and the following week I'll hit Jax Pier with an old friend.  The bucktail will definitely get some play on the Pier!

Test cast the Pomp jig at home on the 9' ft Tica Dolphin with 14# test.  Wooooouuuu!  Got about 50 yards out of 3/8oz.  I'm syched!  First picture is what I'm hoping for.  Second picture is what I bought.

Great Article on Harvesting Sandfleas

http://fishingdestinguide.com/baitSANDFLEAS.html

Pompano on a Jig

Thanks to "addictedtofishing" a member of the Floridahookers.com forum (yes it's a fishing site) I've got a new challenge for this fall season.  Catching Pompano on a jig from the surf.  Can it be done.  I'm sure.  The question now becomes how.  Probably would be much easier from a pier. I've got a 9' Tica Dolphin that can really sling metal, but 1/2 oz?  We'll see.  Probably would have to go down to 12lb test from 14lb. Don't plan on standing chest deep in the surf. That's never happenin'!   Gonna stop by Strikezone and pick up a few banana jigs.

Saltwater Sportsman & The Gulf Zombie Zone

Excellent article by Saltwater Sportsman magazine on how "Dead Zones" are created and particularly the one in the Gulf.  Great read!

http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/blogs/short-strikes/gulf-s-zombie

Goings on in NE FL

Drum, drum and more drum.  Black and Red have been caught predominantly from Fernandina to Vilano, using mostly live and dead shrimp.  The Black Drum have been in the 2-6lb range; while the Reds have been all over the place, from just below slot, to slot and over slot.  The whiting bite has also been outstanding.  An all day trip should net you a cooler full, with fish over 1lb being caught.  Get the oil ready for a fish fry!

The Pompano are here, however, the catching has been sporadic.  Most are only catching one legal during an all day trip.  Water temps are still above 80 with Fernandina clocking in at 82 degrees today. 

There are reports of numerous bite offs.  Blues and Sharks.  At American beach I got a Blue in only to have him saw through the 30lb line I use to make my rigs before I could get my hand on him. 

Get a rod and hit the water!  Catchin' is good!

Vilano's Landscape

Went on an afterschool outting to Vilano on Monday (9/24) in search of Black and Red Drum.  Its defintely been over a year since my last visit there and man has it changed!  From the first set of Rocks on around the inlet it appears they've added tons and tons of sand with vegetation on top to prevent erosion.  The access to get around the inlet has dramactically decreased.  I was there an hour before high tide and left two hours into the outgoing.  Three cars pulled up to leave and were denied by the surf being so close to the access point. 

The fishing itself was very good.  Bite was almost non-stop.  Fished about 200 yards from the first set of rocks and the whiting were very nice size.  Caught six of those along with 5 lady fish an undersize pompano and several catfish.  Bait was day fresh dead shrimp bought live earlier in the day, sandfleas and cut mullet.  Had three strong hits on the mullet with no catches.  Was using 6/0 hooks on fish finder rigs with the mullet.  Thinking blues not big enough to get the hook in their mouth.  Switched to 4/0's with no luck.

There have been reports of Pompano at the Jax pier the previous week.  Water is still very warm for them so Im thinking they were barely legal and only a few were probably caught.  The bouy at Fernandina has only been as low as high 78 deg and was back up touching 80 today.  The smaller the Pomp the least resistant to cold, so the smaller ones lead the migration home.

Decided later in the week to hit American Beach and see what was going on there.  Report to follow.

Water Temps 9/21

Water temps are steadily decreasing! Savannah Georgia came in at 78.7 while Fernandina dipped as low as 80.4.  Not much longer and the Pomps will be in Florida water!

Heading out to Vilano on Monday to use whole finger mullet & live shrimp for Red & Black Drum. I heard at Jax pier the Red Drum have been full of sandfleas!

Surfside Park - 9/18 & 9/19

Primary goal was digging for sandfleas.  Mission accomplished.  Started digging near high tide on the outgoing.  Further out the tide got the fewer fleas found.  Got about 150 fleas.  Think that will be enough for about 4 or 5 trips.  That should get me to early November.

Did throw a couple lines out.  Water was dirty in close and that resulted in a couple hard head cats.  Also caught a few whiting, barely enough size to keep.  Did get a bite off.  Whole finger mullet on 4/0 hook.  Probably a shark.

Trying to find a day next week to hit Vilano on the incoming for Reds in the surf.  Hoping to find an incoming tide around 10am.

Water temp in Fernandina finally broke under 82 degrees today.  Looking for 77 and Pompano.  Also hoping to start catching them at Talbot Island in about two weeks.  Fingers are crossed!

The Fall Run - In Full Swing!

With mullet in the surf and temps heading lower the fall migration is underway in earnest!  Fish are returning to Florida from the northern states and their in the Surf dining on mullet.  Black drum over 5 lbs have been report as well as Reds from the undersize to the Bulls.  Sharks are stacked up as well particularly Spinners and Blacktip as they make their way to warmer waters.

My plan is to prep blue crab as bait as well as rake for Sandfleas.  I plan to be fishing the surf hard each week over the next few months!  Theres just something about the returning migration that more special than the spring migration!