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We don’t have tons to report on since the days that we had opportunities to fish were less than desirable. We were met on two occasions with harsh north winds, swell and dirty surf. Great for catching catfish and managing drifty conditions but not ideal for catching fish like whiting, pompano, etc.

As the season begins to turn into the summertime pattern, fishing will slowly begin to shift from targeting pompano and whiting into targeting whiting, croakers, jacks and palometas which are typically more available during the warmer months. We have been testing out the tail lift sinkers from Redfin fishing and they hold extremely well, we have found that their standard 4oz Sputnik holds better than any other 4oz Sputnik on the market. Now with this being said, as we all know during summer the surf is pretty calm, so don’t shoot yourself in the foot by using the wrong type of lead! I prefer banks and pyramids or at the least Sputniks with the legs turned up.

Hope this helps out a little this season and happy fishing everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well and had a good week of fishing. The beachside has been dirty due to the southeast winds, but this week, the winds are expected to shift to north-west most days. Fishing has been pretty slow, with not much consistent action. There have been lots of whiting, a few black drum, palometas and the occasional pompano around. The water has been warming up quickly—now up to 74 degrees.

Pompano rigs with chartreuse, orange and pink floats have been producing the best bites, especially when rigged with a small piece of peeled shrimp or sand flea. If you’ve been fishing this past week, you know how strong that undercurrent has been—using a 4 oz sputnik has been the only thing holding bottom most days. Fishbites have also been working well when paired with shrimp to help keep the bait on the hook.

Have a great week, and I’ll talk to y’all next time. Tight lines!

Hey there, East Side Family!

We’ve been seeing some steady fishing through the last week or two. The whiting bite has been really picking up but it seems like those banner days of pompano fishing are slowly coming to a close. As we near the spring bloom we’ve been seeing more of the usual suspects like croakers, bluefish and occasionally a mackerel. I have high hopes that this season will finish off strong as the south school of pompano begins moving back into the area, but we’ll see how this week goes after this swell event.

I hope everyone has a good chance to get out there and do some fishing because it’s been good. Most of the fish we’ve been catching have been caught on live sand fleas and frozen shrimp tipped with FishGum. This is a proven combination that’s sure to get the fish nice and hungry.

Tight lines everyone!

This week looks to be a choppy, sloppy week for surf fishing, but it’s still a fishable condition for everyone with the right tackle. Swells will be rolling in between 2-5 feet all week, accompanied by the dreaded south and southeast winds meeting waves moving in from the northeast. It will be a week to find the calmer washouts on the beach and the cleaner water. Some beaches in Cape Canaveral had crazy clear water on certain days -— a nice change since they’ve been adding sand to widen the shoreline.

The rigs of choice have been chartreuse, pink and orange pompano rigs, paired with a 4 oz pyramid or a 2-3 oz sputnik weight. The choice of weight often comes down to personal preference depending on the conditions. If you know us at the shop, you know which weights work best for our area!

Fresh dead shrimp has been by far the most effective bait, along with live sand fleas. The fresh dead shrimp has been catching significantly more fish than any other bait. Be sure to ask us—or your nearest bait shop—for some fresh deads!

That’s all for this week. I hope everyone catches a bunch, and as always—tight lines!

Good fishing along the space coast. I’ll keep this one short and simple. Get your bait and hit the beach. Find that clean water and some good lead to hold bottom. Fish sunrise and sunset bites and try to hit your tide windows at the start and ends of the tide. Good luck and happy fishing to all!

Hope everyone is doing well and had a chance to get out and fish this past week! The fishing has been steady, with plenty of black drum, whiting, a few pompano and palometas showing up. The southeast winds have dirtied the water and brought in a lot of miscellaneous weeds and ocean debris along the beaches. However, the fish don’t seem to mind too much.

The best baits have been shrimp pieces (make sure they are peeled) and sand fleas. Rig them up on a pompano rig with a chartreuse or orange float, and you’ll be golden. The fish have been biting well on the falling tides but have been hit or miss on the incoming tides. The water has started to warm up to the ideal range for pompano; it just needs to clear up a bit. Fortunately, the waves this week look to settle down.

On March 1st, we’ll be hosting a surf fishing challenge, so stay tuned! Be sure to follow us on Facebook, where we’ll announce the event details and prizes for the winners.

Have a great week, everyone—tight lines!

We are seeing good catches of Pompano once again as they move north in search of cooler water with the warm weather as of lately. It’s been a busy week but we had a chance to go fishing and we were able to get 5 nice whiting and 5 pompano in a 3 hour trip. All of the fish were caught using the East Side tackle rigs available at Man Overboard bait and tackle and Cocoa Beach Fishing Center. All of the fish were caught in the last 2 hours of Incoming tide and the first of the outgoing tide with a solid 9/10 greenish blue water quality. Baits of choice were live sand fleas tipped with FishGum. Get out there and catch them up!

The fishing picked up well in the middle of last week when the water temperatures rose, and it was great to have good weather added into the equation. People were bringing in whiting, black drum and a few keeper pompano. They were still accompanied by baby sharks and bluefish, but it was nice to add a little variety to the bags.

The upcoming weather this week looks like it will be a bit breezy, but the waves should stay relatively calm, averaging around three feet.

I kid you not—almost every color and style of pompano rig was catching fish, but each day, a different color seemed to work best. One day it was orange, the next day pink, and the day after that, white. Each person who walked through the shop doors swore by the color they bought—haha!

The surf was calm enough to get by using 3-4 ounce pyramid leads, so there wasn’t a need to buy those expensive Sputniks. But hey, I get it—some people like what they like. The bait of choice, by far, was a piece of frozen or fresh dead shrimp paired with a little Fishbite on top. MAKE THAT SANDWICH—haha!

It’s important to make sure your shrimp piece is peeled and about the size of your thumbnail—maybe a tad bigger. The fish this time of year are a little slower and prefer fine dining, so try to make it as easy as possible for them to pick up and eat.

Next week, on Monday, February 17th, at 6 PM, I’ll be at Pineapple’s Bar in Melbourne for Salt Strong’s chapter meeting, giving a rundown on surf fishing gear maintenance and announcing a special fisherman’s challenge for the month of March!

As always, tight lines, and see you next week!

Quick report! Got out for one day last week and we had some good strikes but not as many as expected. Water conditions were a solid 8/10 that deteriorated as the tide started to go out, we fished Live sand fleas on almost every hook with FishGum Fleasicle on the rest. It seemed that the whiting preferred the hooks baited up with a live flea and FishGum combo. We caught a barely keeper sheepshead, big whiting, big palometa and a double-up of pompano in a 3 hour trip. The conditions look like they’re setting up for a bit of a weather change which always brings good fishing if you can fish those good weather windows.

Tight lines everyone and catch ’em up!