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To the angler who loves to fish the beaches, shores, jetties, bridges and piers of Florida.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
From Native Tackle - Sebastian Inlet
Friday, May 2, 2014
From Capt. Charlie @ Fishing Center - Ft Pierce
The winds returned this week and gave us a challenge most days around the Treasure Coast. Temperatures have warmed up and so has the water. Water temps range around the mid to upper 70's for us. The fish have been feeding and becoming more active with the warmer water. Summer seems to have arrived already and the fish seem to know it. Enjoy the fishing this week
We have enjoyed a good variety of fish this week on the river. Our redfish have come from docks and mangroves. Most have been in the upper slot range. Try a DOA shrimp in the near clear color and fish the docks with the tide. You can bounce it with the tide and it will stay under the dock for you. Snook have been hitting at first light around deeper areas like sea walls and the inlet areas. Try using Terror Eyz in the root beer color bounced along the bottom or CAL shad tails in green back or glow colors around structure in these areas. A Deadly Combo is hard to beat if you are fishing for trout. The trout bite has picked up with the warmer weather and there are lots of big specimens sitting on the grass flats. These are the fish we target in May. There are plenty of other species to enjoy as well.
There are still plenty of sheepshead and snapper around the river. You will find that many are smaller than a month ago, but still lots of action for them around bridges, docks and channel edges. Beaches continue to produce whiting along with jacks and some bluefish. The tarpon have been arriving along the surf and I have seen a few filtering into the river. Big jacks are cruising around the river now and they can definitely bend a rod for anglers. There are still some mackerel around the inlet areas feeding on the glass minnows.
We have enjoyed a good variety of fish this week on the river. Our redfish have come from docks and mangroves. Most have been in the upper slot range. Try a DOA shrimp in the near clear color and fish the docks with the tide. You can bounce it with the tide and it will stay under the dock for you. Snook have been hitting at first light around deeper areas like sea walls and the inlet areas. Try using Terror Eyz in the root beer color bounced along the bottom or CAL shad tails in green back or glow colors around structure in these areas. A Deadly Combo is hard to beat if you are fishing for trout. The trout bite has picked up with the warmer weather and there are lots of big specimens sitting on the grass flats. These are the fish we target in May. There are plenty of other species to enjoy as well.
There are still plenty of sheepshead and snapper around the river. You will find that many are smaller than a month ago, but still lots of action for them around bridges, docks and channel edges. Beaches continue to produce whiting along with jacks and some bluefish. The tarpon have been arriving along the surf and I have seen a few filtering into the river. Big jacks are cruising around the river now and they can definitely bend a rod for anglers. There are still some mackerel around the inlet areas feeding on the glass minnows.
From Todd / Eric @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
INSHORE- The spring mullet run seems to be trickling through the northern Palm Beach area and the snook are responding. Big swimbaits, flairhawks, and live mullet will get those slot size(and bigger) snook going.
(Capt. Eric, of http://www.freighttrainfishing.com/, will be discussing these techniques next Wed. night at the West Palm Beach Fishing Club don't miss it!) Sandperch have been showing up in good numbers inshore. Cut shrimp and small hooks are the ticket for the sandperch. Other inshore fishing remains slow.
SURF/PIER- Pompano fishing slowed down this week, but still a fair number of them being caught. The early morning jig bite at the Juno Beach Pier remains fairly steady. Also cruising through the pier are some big jacks. Snook are beginning to set up their summer home at the Juno Beach Pier as well. Bait schools are in/out at the pier; and when they come in the fish have been with them for the most part. Snook are also begging to move along the beach, and a few have been caught in JUpiter Inlet. Won't be long till the snook are stacked up in the inlets
Sebastian Inlet Report
This morning we have a nice breeze at the inlet. Winds are blowing out of the South at 15 mph, gusting to 22 and there is a moderate chop on the water. The NOAA forecast predicts the wind to subside some this afternoon, but there is still and chance of showers and thunderstorms later today.
I took a walk out on the north jetty early this morning and there wasn't a whole lot happening. Dick and Dot Kern of Englewood reported a slow week this week while they've been camping at the campground. This morning Dot landed a couple of Blue Runners and Dick landed three Whiting. Inlet regulars Bill Hillman and Dave Vermilye were hoping for anything to bite. Bill also fished the inlet Thursday evening and reported that some nice schools of Jacks came through in the 6 - 12 lb. range and were hitting live and dead mullet and spoons. Belly Policarpio landed a good sized Lookdown, but that was it for the one hour period I was on the jetty this morning.
Photo one features Diane Buyce of Melbourne with a couple of good sized Atlantic Spadefish she landed using shrimp.
Photo two is of Mike Ricciardi with one of two oversized Reds he landed and released.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Baitcasters continue to get better and better. But the fact remains you can get a professional overrun, a.k.a. a backlash or birds nests on any cast if you don’t have the brakes and spool tension adjusted exactly right for the conditions. The more advanced reels have tension control, centrifual brakes, pinch brakes and magnetic brakes. Which if applied together with the magic formula, that super-secret granddaddy recipe, they will improve your casting dramatically.
And no matter what anyone says, most good pros cast further because they don’t use any of these precautionary adjustments. Instead, they learn to control with their thumbs better than most, with the brakes off and the tension knob loose.
When I first learned to throw a baitcaster, it was an act of frustration. Either I couldn’t cast if far enough, or I cast as far as it would go before a web of overspun monofilament clogged the reel. If you’re about to learn to cast a baitcaster or you want to improve specific casts like skipping baits with a baitcaster, there is a way to minimize the frustration during the process.
All you need to do is reduce the amount of overrrun. This is easily accomplished with electrical tape and a pair of scissors. Usually about 3 to 4 inches of electrical tape will work. Cut a nice straight piece of tape with the scissors.
Now with the rod and reel in hand in your practice area. Make your longest cast with a practice plug or old lure without hooks. Now pull out another 10 feet or so of line. Then take the piece of tape, and while pushing the end of the line coming off the spool to one side of the spool or the other, place the tape on the line as you turn the spool.
The object is to wrap the tape onto the line in the same direction that it will reel your line up. This will take a little practice to get it right. But once you have the tape properly placed, press it onto your line snuggly with your thumb. Then reel up all the line.
The reason a bird’s nest is so hard to get out is because it spins line off the spool so deep in a very small space. With the tape, the bird’s nest isn’t able to go deep into the spool.
Now you’re ready to learn to cast your baitcaster like a pro. The thing to remember is that your thumb can work better than any brake system out there because your brain is attached to it. Most braking systems employ centrifugal, pinch, magnetic or some combination of the three.
The pinch and centrifugal brakes function similarly in that the maximum speed on a normal cast is the instant the lure leaves the rod tip. So the centrifugal force is at its greatest and centrifugal brakes spin out to the edge of the spool to keep control of the line as it starts out of the reel. As less centrifugal force is applied as the cast continues the brakes apply less pressure.
Magnetic brakes control the spool speed evenly so as the speed of the lure to the target slows the spool slows down because the lure is applying less force on the spool as the lure slows down.
Now if you turn all of these things off, the spool will spin much faster than the lure is traveling after the initial instant the cast begins. The spool is launched into gear at a rapid pace with nothing to slow it even though the lure is slowing down the entire length of the cast because of gravity and other factors (wind resistance, water resistance while skipping, etc.).
The only thing to keep the spool in check with the lure’s decreasing speed is your thumb. So your thumb pressure needs to be applied with the understanding the cast is at maximum force at the beginning of the cast and it minimizes throughout the cast.
This means you need sharp pressure as you start the cast or your reel will instantly over wind its spool. As the lure continues, you back off the pressure with your thumb and feather the line out before stopping it just as it enters the water.
Most pros never let their thumb completely off the line as it unspools on a cast. That’s asking for trouble. It’s also not something you’ll master in 10 casts. But by using the tape, you can quickly pick out a short overrun and make another cast. It takes a lot of the frustration out of learning to cast a baitcaster or mastering more difficult casts like shooting jigs under docks, roll casts to precise targets.
Start slow. Make a short cast under control. Then try to do it again but 5 feet farther. At the end you should be slinging as hard as you can to get that additional 10 feet on your cast before it hits the tape.
One note, I don’t recommend this for actually fishing unless you’re going to be doing short pitches all day and you have someone who maybe isn’t as skilled with a bait caster. That way they can flip and pitch with you all day without backlashes.
The problem anglers will encounter is if you get bit at the end of a cast and the fish pulls drag and takes off, the tape is going to come into play. So just keep that in mind. Also electrical tape gets sticky and gooey in heat, so it can put a residue on your line over time.
But it’s a dynamite way to practice your casting without picking backlashes and destroying your line. Once you train yourself on how the line should feel on your thumb throughout each cast, it will soon become second nature. It will also make buying reels easier because all the adjustments seem to be a little different from one maker to the next. When you take the adjustments out of the equation, you can cast far with any good quality reel.
Sebastian Inlet Report
05-01-14 THURSDAY: REDS, SNOOK, ATLANTIC SPADEFISH, SPOTS, TROUT AND JACKS
Today we have clouds and sun over the inlet, what will happen? Only Mother Nature knows for sure. Winds are blowing out of the South-Southeast at 10 mph and gusting to 14. There is a moderate chop on the water and the NOAA forecast is calling for afternoon showers and possible thunderstorms. Go prepared for rain if you head to the inlet today.
Our jetty-based anglers have seen better days, but it seems to be picking up. Mike Ricciardi of Vero Beach sent in an update on yesterday morning's north jetty activity and it would have been a pretty successful day if those huge Goliath Grouper lurking under the jetty had been anywhere else. Mike reported the strong South wind kept things cool on the jetty. Early morning produced several Snook hook-ups but no slot fish. A huge Goliath nailed one that was ready to be netted. Mike White of Sebastian was preparing to land a Redfish when one of the 400 lb. Grouper surfaced from beneath the jetty, inhaled the fish and slapped its tail on the water and made a huge splash! A total of 3 oversized C/R Reds came over the rails, Mike Ricciardi got two that were 28.5" and 29", Mike White landed one and the Goliath got one. Some good sized Spots and Atlantic Spadefish came over the rails as well. Diane Buyce of Melbourne landed two real nice Spadefish, using clams.
Today we have clouds and sun over the inlet, what will happen? Only Mother Nature knows for sure. Winds are blowing out of the South-Southeast at 10 mph and gusting to 14. There is a moderate chop on the water and the NOAA forecast is calling for afternoon showers and possible thunderstorms. Go prepared for rain if you head to the inlet today.
Our jetty-based anglers have seen better days, but it seems to be picking up. Mike Ricciardi of Vero Beach sent in an update on yesterday morning's north jetty activity and it would have been a pretty successful day if those huge Goliath Grouper lurking under the jetty had been anywhere else. Mike reported the strong South wind kept things cool on the jetty. Early morning produced several Snook hook-ups but no slot fish. A huge Goliath nailed one that was ready to be netted. Mike White of Sebastian was preparing to land a Redfish when one of the 400 lb. Grouper surfaced from beneath the jetty, inhaled the fish and slapped its tail on the water and made a huge splash! A total of 3 oversized C/R Reds came over the rails, Mike Ricciardi got two that were 28.5" and 29", Mike White landed one and the Goliath got one. Some good sized Spots and Atlantic Spadefish came over the rails as well. Diane Buyce of Melbourne landed two real nice Spadefish, using clams.
From Whites Tackle - Ft Pierce / Stuart
FT PIERCE
Inshore the snook fishing has been good with a few nice fish around the inlet and the bridges on live and artificial baits.The trout and reds have been around up to the north around Queens cove on the out going tide with both live bait and soft baits.
STUART
Inshore the fishing has been good with some nice snook in the inlet and around the bridges with live bait.The trout fishing has been good back to the north around the power plant on soft baits. The beach fishing should start picking up in the next few weeks with a few tarpon and snook in the bait schools.
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