Tainted Waters
09-05-2011, 11:17 PM
My father and I went fishing this weekend, twice actually. On the way, on Sunday, we had a bit of a disagreement. I can't recall ever catching a Redfish from the beach. I argued that outside of Sebastian Inlet or the River, you don't catch Redfish. We agreed to disagree.
Sundays report: We fished a public beach, a couple miles north of Sebastian Inlet. The surf was fairly rough. We used our standard 3 hook pompano rigs, with 4oz weights for the 13 foot rods, and 3oz weights for the 7 foot rods. Almost immediately, we hooked into a couple cat fish. Not a good sign, we thought. A few minutes later, my dad managed to hook into an undersized Redfish (not 45 minutes after I argued you NEVER catch Redfish off the beach) Soon after, I managed to hook into a 24" Redfish, which of course, we kept. There was a couple down the beach from us we spoke with, who had similar luck, if not better. They had hooked nearly half a dozen undersize redfish. I'm not sure if they actually caught any slot sized though.
Monday (earlier today): We decided to go out again, except our regular desolate beach was completely filled with surfers. Instead, we headed to Sebastian Inlet, the south sides beach. Same as the day before, same gear, bait, and the tide (low tide had JUST passed, so the tide was incoming)
Almost immediately, my dad hooked into a Red. While he's reeling it in, I'm waiting with plyers, camera, and ready to help pull it up onto the beach, and I notice my small rod going crazy. I ran over, loosened the drag, and went back to help my dad. He pulls in a 34" Redfish. As soon as we get the hook out and get a quick picture, I run over to my rod.
Luckily, The fish was still on the line. I lucked out with a 22" Redfish, a keeper. 10 minutes go by, and my same rod gets hit again, it's another redfish, almost the same size. We get it in, and seeing that the slot limit per person is one, we end up throwing it back.
A little bit after that disappointment (I would have loved to have kept that fish) my dad gets another hit on his line. He pulls it in, and it's a large redfish. We pull it out onto a flat surface and pull the ruler out and start to argue. The fish was about 26 inches, MAYBE 26.5 inches, from the tip of the tail to the end of its face, total length. My dad wanted to throw it back, because it was too close to the limit, but I was able to persuade him that it was a legal keeper. Something kind of weird to note, Just after this, I hooked a mullet on one of my shrimp lines. There was no shrimp left, the mullet was hooked straight thru the lip (not foul hooked or anything.) My understanding has always been that mullet don't eat live bait, they mainly feed on algae and plankton and stuff.
Now, this all happened in a span of about 45 minutes to an hour. During this time, there was a tarpon tearing up a school of bait, in fact, it was the closest I've ever seen a tarpon come in. It was about as far out as I could cast a 6-7ft rod (and I'm not the BEST caster in the world, but I'm alright.) We know it was a tarpon, by the way, because we saw it leap out of the water several times.
As soon as that tarpon, and the school of bait, and the flock of birds migrated down shore, everything died down. It was all catfish and tiny whiting, so we packed it in, happily I must say.
I've attached several photos from the weekend. To be honest, I'm not sure which is which, as far as the beach photos go. The picture in the backyard is my dad with his 26 inch red, and the picture on the kitchen counter is my dads 26" red next to my 22" red.
edit: Just realized this is technically my first post. While I wasn't a big time poster back on the old forums, I have posted and browsed for the past year or two, under the same account name if anyone remembers me or hates me.
Sundays report: We fished a public beach, a couple miles north of Sebastian Inlet. The surf was fairly rough. We used our standard 3 hook pompano rigs, with 4oz weights for the 13 foot rods, and 3oz weights for the 7 foot rods. Almost immediately, we hooked into a couple cat fish. Not a good sign, we thought. A few minutes later, my dad managed to hook into an undersized Redfish (not 45 minutes after I argued you NEVER catch Redfish off the beach) Soon after, I managed to hook into a 24" Redfish, which of course, we kept. There was a couple down the beach from us we spoke with, who had similar luck, if not better. They had hooked nearly half a dozen undersize redfish. I'm not sure if they actually caught any slot sized though.
Monday (earlier today): We decided to go out again, except our regular desolate beach was completely filled with surfers. Instead, we headed to Sebastian Inlet, the south sides beach. Same as the day before, same gear, bait, and the tide (low tide had JUST passed, so the tide was incoming)
Almost immediately, my dad hooked into a Red. While he's reeling it in, I'm waiting with plyers, camera, and ready to help pull it up onto the beach, and I notice my small rod going crazy. I ran over, loosened the drag, and went back to help my dad. He pulls in a 34" Redfish. As soon as we get the hook out and get a quick picture, I run over to my rod.
Luckily, The fish was still on the line. I lucked out with a 22" Redfish, a keeper. 10 minutes go by, and my same rod gets hit again, it's another redfish, almost the same size. We get it in, and seeing that the slot limit per person is one, we end up throwing it back.
A little bit after that disappointment (I would have loved to have kept that fish) my dad gets another hit on his line. He pulls it in, and it's a large redfish. We pull it out onto a flat surface and pull the ruler out and start to argue. The fish was about 26 inches, MAYBE 26.5 inches, from the tip of the tail to the end of its face, total length. My dad wanted to throw it back, because it was too close to the limit, but I was able to persuade him that it was a legal keeper. Something kind of weird to note, Just after this, I hooked a mullet on one of my shrimp lines. There was no shrimp left, the mullet was hooked straight thru the lip (not foul hooked or anything.) My understanding has always been that mullet don't eat live bait, they mainly feed on algae and plankton and stuff.
Now, this all happened in a span of about 45 minutes to an hour. During this time, there was a tarpon tearing up a school of bait, in fact, it was the closest I've ever seen a tarpon come in. It was about as far out as I could cast a 6-7ft rod (and I'm not the BEST caster in the world, but I'm alright.) We know it was a tarpon, by the way, because we saw it leap out of the water several times.
As soon as that tarpon, and the school of bait, and the flock of birds migrated down shore, everything died down. It was all catfish and tiny whiting, so we packed it in, happily I must say.
I've attached several photos from the weekend. To be honest, I'm not sure which is which, as far as the beach photos go. The picture in the backyard is my dad with his 26 inch red, and the picture on the kitchen counter is my dads 26" red next to my 22" red.
edit: Just realized this is technically my first post. While I wasn't a big time poster back on the old forums, I have posted and browsed for the past year or two, under the same account name if anyone remembers me or hates me.