An Up-and-Down Port Canaveral Fishing Report
First, upcoming events-
-October 25, Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. Learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/
-October 26 Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ – Only two seats left!
A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog about the mullet run. Unknown to me at the time it had already peaked and ended, all in that week. It’s scary how few mullet there are, and why didn’t they show up this year???
My newest mini-ebook is published- Top Ten Redfish Flies. You can see it here- https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/485052
We had strong east winds the first three days this week, along with thunderstorms on Wednesday. That cut fishing to two days. I spent my time building a hen house. Really.
Thursday George Alan joined me for some Port Canaveral scouting. We headed north up the beach, looking for mullet and breaking fish. The waves from the hurricane had the surf UP! We did not see any mullet nor did we see breaking fish.
Next we looked in deeper water, hoping to find weeds. The ones we found were sparse. We did not see any fish around them.
We continued south, heading in to Cocoa Beach a mile or so south of the pier. There was muddy water and diving pelicans. Tarpon were rolling. I tried for what seemed like a long time to net some menhaden, and finally had a throw that caught about 20.
I jumped the first tarpon about three minutes later.
George hooked a big one. While he fought it I hooked another, smaller one. A sweet form of pandemonium reigned aboard Spotted Tail for a few minutes!
We hooked about a dozen fish, leadering two. It was pretty awesome.
Friday Robert and Joe Salvino, father and son, joined me for some fishing out of Port Canaveral. The weather was awesome and the waves significantly bigger than the previous day. The surfers were loving it. The tarpon were rolling in muddy water out off the Cocoa Beach pier. I could not catch any menhaden to save my life. I met a guy named Joe at the dock when we came in who told me no one could catch any. We tried throwing Bait Busters without success for a while, and I found myself wishing I had a couple BFLs with me. But, I didn’t, so we went down the beach looking for bait and whatever else.
We found a school of jacks. Joe fired a CAL jig out and one nailed it. Joe learned that even an eight pound jack is a way different critter than a smallmouth bass or walleye.
I kept throwing the net and coming up empty. Finally one throw yielded six pogies. By the time that happened though, the tarpon had disappeared. Joe hooked a shark, which bit through the leader. Yes, it was that kind of day.
We got a few more jacks and a few bluefish in Canaveral Bight, again on CAL jigs. We tried looking for tripletail. We found one small one. It looked at the DOA Shrimp but I think it intimidated him, since it was about a third as big as the fish.
We fished around the jetty on the way in, getting but missing one bite. It was a far cry from the previous day. As Terry Shaughnessy would say, “Ya shoulda been here yesterday!”
And that, gentle reader, is the Up-and-Down Port Canaveral Fishing Report.
Life is great and I love my work!
Life is short- Go Fishing!
John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com
All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2014. All rights are reserved.
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