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!

Hope everyone got out and fished this past week—the weather was beautiful! The fishing was still a bit slow for most, but it was definitely better than it has been.

The Cape Canaveral area is once again dealing with sand renourishment, causing the water to be murky brown on some days, though other days have been crystal clear. Cocoa Beach has produced small pompano, sharks and whiting. The water is still cold but has warmed up slightly compared to last week.

The hot spots for keeper pompano and nice-sized whiting have been Indialantic and Melbourne beaches, where the water is a bit warmer. This week is expected to continue the warming trend, with calmer beach swells and a light southeast wind.

The most popular colors on pompano rigs have been chartreuse, orange and pink. In terms of weight, anglers have been getting by with 3–4 ounce pyramid leads and smaller sputniks. Live sand fleas, shrimp pieces and clam strips have been the go-to baits, often paired with Fishbites.

Something to look forward to in the coming weeks is a surf fishing challenge featuring all the most popular surf fishing rigs. The winner will receive a custom-built rod from our store! Stay tuned, and tight lines!

Hey SpaceFish and East Side family, welcome back. In this week’s report I will be focusing mainly on the tides and temperature. We have a pretty solid tide table this week with low tides beginning around 6am and high tides at noon which leaves a lot of time for good fishing!

With the temperatures warming up quickly and the tides lining up for solid morning and evening bites, look to target pompano during the sunrise and sunset hours mainly. Most importantly, clean water and live sand fleas prevail when seeking these fish. There has been a lot of whiting and croakers in the surf lately with a good amount of bluefish as well so there’s a lot to catch, you just have to go out. Baits of choice will be shrimp, sand fleas and clams. Utilizing simple bead and float rigs will help your catch ratio go up when the water is dirty.

Our clients Fred and Fred had a blast learning the ins and outs of surf fishing during a charter this weekend. We fought through some okay conditions and came out victorious with a nice 13” pompano to join the rest of the fish in the cooler. Nice work gents!

Is the weather finally warming up a little this week? It’s been COLD the past couple of weeks, and neither the fish nor the fishermen have been enjoying it! Fishing on the beach has been slow, with the fish acting lethargic due to the chilly water temperatures. Some beaches have reported water temps as low as 55°F—crazy! That’s far from the ideal pompano range of 68-72°F. The winds look to stay down as well. Hopefully, this week’s weather will warm the water up just enough to spark a better bite.

We’re also moving into a new moon phase on the 29th, which usually means heavier fish activity during the morning hours and around the changing tides throughout the day.

That said, the beach fishing reports from the Cape Canaveral area down to Patrick Space Force Base haven’t been great. Rough surf and cold weather have made it tough for most anglers. The catches have mainly consisted of small seasonal sharks, bluefish, black drum, and margates. It’s been a grind, but there have been a few impressive catches, including some big redfish.

For bait this time of year, I recommend live sand fleas, frozen shrimp pieces and clam strips. Pair them with Fishbites to help keep your bait from flying off the hooks. Make sure to use a pompano rig in pink, orange, or sand flea colors. Look for washouts in the surf (as usual), and avoid fishing on sandbars—your bait will likely be ignored there. Since it’s colder this time of year, the latter part of the day typically produces the most bites.

That’s it for this week’s report! I hope everyone can get out there and enjoy the nice weather break we’re getting. Tight lines, everyone!