Another Week -- More Catching

The first two days this week were quite similar -- weather wise and what was caught.  On Veteran's Day (a big salute to those that served), I fished the entrance to Nassau Sound hoping for another Flounder or some Spotted Sea Trout but, the first thing again was another shark -- a three foot Black-tip, I think.  It was the earliest I had been out to fish since getting down here and that was dictated by the time of the low tide (when I like to fish the outgoing tide) and the fact a cold snap was expected on Wednesday.  The action was really pretty good and I ended up catching nearly a dozen Blues -- twice brought in two at the same time on the deep line.  Only kept four for the freezer.

Replacements

Next day, I fished the same spot and had almost the same results -- one thirty-inch shark and more of those Blues.  Fed the first two Blues to the nearest Pelicans and left one flopping on the beach where I hoped an Osprey would swoop down from the sky so I could snap a picture of the beautiful bird.  After about 5 minutes the Blue was totally covered with sand (closer to the water) and I didn't see an Osprey in the sky so, I tossed the fish back into the choppy waters.  Of course, another 5 minutes later, the Osprey did come swooping down from behind me and made off with the small Blue -- I missed the shot because I put the camera back in the Jeep since I was standing in the water.  I also missed numerous bites and ran out of the frozen little Mullet so I hunted for some in the tidal pool to my left but, found none.  I headed back toward the access point and stopped near the point where the pipeline came onto the beach and netted some of the little bait fish -- replacements for what I had used in the morning.  Only caught another Blue there and left after about a half hour.

Monday and Tuesday were both in the mid 70s and sunny.  Wednesday was much different with temps only in the low 50s and winds of 20 to 27 mph out of the north and northwest -- spent my day inside getting lights ready to put around the windshield of the RV and keeping an eye on the awnings.

Yesterday, it was supposed to be only in the mid 60s but, since the low tide came shortly after noon, I decided to venture out again but, the breeze was slightly more than I expected.  So, when I reached the same spot as Monday and Tuesday, I stayed farther to the right -- to keep the blowing sand (coming down the beach from the north) at my back.  I had brought the frozen replacements which I netted on Tuesday and another pack of 12 finger Mullet.  It was rather brisk out there to say the least and I kept my corduroy pants on over my hiking shorts, tucked in my long-sleeve jean shirt and dug out a green wind-breaker to put over my two long-sleeve shirts to make it bearable.  No one else was out there except for me -- only passed some walk-on fishermen along the less windy shores of the river on my way out.

It certainly seemed like a day for the birds -- about 50 Pelicans were on the sandbar to my left and a dozen or so were diving over and over into the water off the point of the sandbar -- apparently feeding on a small school of those Mullet.  More Pelicans dropped onto the waters to my right, near the beach and were feeding on another apparent school of the bait fish.  I only put one hook on my deep line and after missing a few bites, I finally hooked what seemed to be a nice fish -- had me thinking it might be another one of those sharks but, luckily it turned out to be an 18-inch Sea Trout.  Thank you very much, I said -- so glad it wasn't another shark.  Every time I got slightly distracted, there seemed to be a hit on the smaller rod and I missed whatever it was -- probably that Flounder (though sometimes it was apparent that a Blue had hit the bait and only left the head).  I did manage to hook more of those Blues and one really nice one that was about 17 inches in length (on the deep line).

After about two hours of fishing there, I decided to take my last few Mullet and head back upstream to a spot out of the wind -- thought of stopping just beyond the pipeline but, the sand was still blowing down into that area so, I continued on to a spot out of the wind.  I stopped about a hundred yards from the first vehicle I had seen on the beach and got out my small rod and wriggled a support into the sand after I cast out the small mullet.  I let it sit for a few minutes and pondered whether to get out the big rod, bait it up and cast it out too -- decided not to do so and went back to the small rod.  I knew the bottom of this stretch had lots of oyster shells and other shells so, I decided to reel the bait in and work it across the bottom hoping for that monster Flounder.  Within the first few turns on the reel, I felt a good bite and set the hook into something really nice and ended up fighting it for 5 or 6 minutes and had to walk downstream with it for about 50 yards.  It occasionally broke the water's surface and kept pulling line off as quickly as I would try to take it in -- my thoughts were hoping this would be that doormat-size Flounder and I prayed it would stay on and that my 50 pound line would hold.  Soon I was dragging a nice Red Drum onto the beach as a lone Pelican tried snapping at its tail -- he must have known it was too long.  Indeed, it turned out to be 28 inches -- one inch too long (and I didn't need to risk the $500 fine by throwing it into the cooler).  Darn!  Would have been nice to have a couple good filets in the freezer too.

I fished for a little longer and then fed the Pelican a couple of the leftover Mullet.  A couple went to the sea gulls too and it was fun to watch them tug at each end of the little fish.  I cleaned the two fish and gave the guts to the seagulls too before heading back -- fresh fish for the grille.