ibis

Happy Monday SpaceFish Family,

So let me start by explaining the picture. Saturday evening I was on the Eau Gallie River, the Elbow Creek stretch, and there were hundreds of White Ibises perched in the mangroves. I thought that was cool, it was beautiful and kind of ominous at the same time. The Ibis is synomous with hurricanes, that’s why Miami’s mascot is Sebastian the Ibis. They are the hurricane bird of courage, the last to seek shelter and the first to emerge after the storm. This gathering could have been totally random, but as Florida has it’s eyes on Gulf and Hurricane Ian, I thought this was cool. Now, to the fishing…

So I had a laid back weekend of fishing. I’ve had some truck issues (all better now) So I couldn’t go and fish the spot I have planned for the next spot report. We will see how it goes this weekend. I fished Saturday afternoon on the Eau Gallie River. I put in around 3ish, went down the river, the wind was creating a good chop on the water, so I spent some time in my favorite little creek on the south bank between the railroad tracks and the apartments, and enjoyed the shade and wind protection, with the water levels having risen several feet in the last month or so this creek was full again and there were Snook stacked up in there. Most I caught were pretty small, but a few were big enough to put up a good fight on light tackle, I spent an hour back in there and caught around 10 or so Snook. When I came back out I cast a DOA Tiny Terror Eyez to a rolling Tarpon, got a hook up, but he ended up spitting the hook. Since the wind was rolling in from the NE, I went up the Northern shoreline where the water was calmer, but still moving enough to keep the fish happy in the late afternoon. I caught a few more Snook under docks, and hooked up on a really nice sized Tarpon hanging off a deeper dock. He totally bent the hook out of the Tiny Terror Eyez, but that fight was enough to get my adrenaline going. I paddled through the marina and went down Elbow Creek, it was here closer to dusk I saw all of the Ibises in the mangroves. I caught my biggest Snook of the trip under a dock, he measured out at 26 inches. I caught a few more 20ish inchers around docks as well.

snook

ish can get that dyed Easter egg look from tannic stained water. This is one of the first few Snook I caught this weekend in a fun little creek off the Eau Gallie River. After catching this fish and admiring his color, I switched my soft plastics from white/silver to Gold and caught a lot of fish the rest of the trip.

My heart was totally broken in the last hour of daylight, I was hitting docks on the way back to Ballard Park and hooked into a big ole Snook, that had to be upper or over slot, during the low light periods with the water levels up, these bigger Snook have been moving around outside of the Mangrove lines looking for Mullet. I hooked it on a 4 inch Storm Shad swimbait, had it by the kayak, and was trying to net it, when it freaked out after a missed swipe, went on a blistering run and the leader broke, having been frayed up in the fight. A few minutes later, I had an even bigger one slam a Gambler Big EZ in Forty Niner Gold. Which is an excellent lure choice when fishing tannic stained water in low light conditions. I’ll post another picture of one of the back creek Snook that I caught that was tannic stained, dyed like a golden Easter Egg, you’ll see what I mean. I hooked this big Snook under a dock, got it out, had it by the kayak (again) and during the struggle to get it in the net, it came off the hook. I feel like I drove all the way down the field with a chance to score and win it late, and fumbled at the goal line! I had done everything right, outside of getting it in the landing net! This is part of the fun, but challenging nature of kayak angling. trying to keep your self from being pulled into mangroves or docks, keeping pressure on a good Snook, and trying to land the fish at the same time! But these moments are what make landing the good fish taste and feel even sweeter.

So I had a great afternoon as far as quantity, I was low on quality, but I really enjoyed spending a cool and breezy afternoon on a gorgeous river. I had 3 rods rigged. My micro set up with a golden body/black back Tiny Terror Eyez; My 7 foot bait caster with a Storm Shad swim bait in a mullet pattern, and a 7 foot medium Spinning Set up with a Gambler Big EZ in Forty Niner. With big mullet being prevalent in our inshore waters the Gambler Big EZ makes for a good soft plastic bait right now. It it big and has a juicy wobble when slow rolled. The other thing I like about this bait, is it is pretty dense, so you can rig and fish effectively on a 1/16 oz twistlock, or even a 4/0 weightless worm hook rigged weedless, which is what I was attacking the mangroves with. The water levels are up, the mangroves are hard to skip right now, but dock fishing was good to me this weekend, and during low light conditions keep your eyes out for bird and bait activity just off the shorelines.

I hope everyone has a great week, stay safe!