Had an awesome day fishing Melbourne Beach on Friday with the Glass Family, who were visiting from Michigan. We got out early and it was a hazy start to the day. There was a rocket launch originally scheduled around 5:20am, but it got pushed back to just around 7. At just about that time, I was hauling gear across the street when a fiery glow appeared to the north through the hazy morning fog. I quickly juggled some things around so I could free a hand to capture on film the Falcon 9’s glorious ascent through the atmosphere. I’ve seen a thousand rocket launches in my life, and it still took all of 8 seconds to realize I was recording a street light. About 10 minutes later, I heard the rocket’s boosters blasting, but with no visibility.

Anyhow, once we got setup, the action started quickly and never really stopped. Water temps registered at 72F and low tide was about 10am. We had an assortment of baits — cut whiting, cut bonito, frozen shrimp, live fleas… Didn’t catch any trophies, but around a dozen croakers, 4 whiting, a few jacks, and the catch that made the day — A SHARK! Caleb and Maddy had their hopes set on landing a shark, and once again, the surf delivered: despite its small stature, the bonnethead is always a big crowd pleaser. Around 12pm there was some type of feeding frenzy going on a few hundred yards off the beach, not too many fins or jumping, but you could visibly see a red slick with action swirling in and around it for a good 5 minutes. Unfortunately, we tried, but did not do a good job picking that up on film. We saw some dolphins about an hour later, too. The next day a neighbor said they saw some right whales pass by the same area. You never know what you might see on the beach!