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.
No comments:
Post a Comment