Fishing at East Greynolds Park

Now I am back to fishing. Zaide came to stay here in Miami, "The fishing capitol of the world," and I thought that we could go fishing. I was looking at a few places to fish near me and I finally found East Greynolds Park at the bottom left of Maule Lake and the start of Oleta River. I researched the fish there and saw that there were lots of fish there that I would like to catch. We cut up hot dogs and chicken and head out in the car with three rods, hooks, sinkers, pliers, scissors, a knife, and more fishing supplies that all helped me. Once we got there we got onto the small pier and started fishing. For the first hour, we didn't catch any fish. We only felt a few nibbles. The second hour, though, we started to get some bites. At first, I was feeling a lot of bites and the bait was being tugged on a lot. I started to reel in, and I saw that it was an amberjack! That is one of the fish on my list of fishing goals and fish that I want to catch sometime in my life. I was reeling it in, and I brought it over the side! I caught it! That's a fish that I can take off my list! But, before I could take a picture, the fish fell off the hook as I brought it up. Later, Zaide called me over while he was fishing. I turned around, and he said that he had a huge, heavy fish. I went over to him to see if it was a rock, as both our hooks and sinkers have been stuck in and/or taken away by the rocks there. I started reeling in, and Instantly, I felt an extremely heavy tug on the line! I was reeling it a little bit to see if it was rocks, but it wasn't! I saw the line moving, and I started to reel in as hard and fast as I could. I brought it up so high that I could see it and it hit the dock, making it an official catch in the IGFA fishing rules. Now I wanted to just bring it up and catch it. I was reeling it in, but it went under the dock and loosened the hook by the tension on the knot. I saw it enough to know that It was a Crevally,  another fish that I can cross off my list. The next fish that I caught was a lookdown. It’s a member of the Crevally family and is similar to a pompano or permit, another fish I and other people caught. The last fish of the day was when Jacob caught an Oyster Toadfish. I got it on the hook, and then he brought it up! This was a fun day of fishing that I had planned a week ago.

My tips and tricks for today are:

• Research for good fishing places near you to go fishing. It might be your next favorite spot!
• Learn about the fish that you want to catch before you set out to catch them so you can use the right techniques and bait.
• Make sure that you have all of the right useful supplies before you set out.

Here is some of the footage of my trip.

Hook Test

Today, I went to test out a new set of different swivels and sizes of hooks after recently getting a lot of them. I went out to see what would working what ways. I haven't been fishing in a while and I really wanted to, and my brother also wanted to fish with me. Two days ago, I finally planned out a really fun fishing trip across the street from my house. This morning, I got my rods and new hooks together and hooked the up. Then, once I got my bait cut up and ready to put on the hook, I crossed the street and started a really fun fishing trip. On one rod, I used a pretty small hook and a slightly larger one on the other rod. My bait was cut up raw chicken and cut up raw hot dogs. The sinkers I used were big and small slip-shot sinkers. Once we started fishing, I used the hot dog with the larger hook. Almost instantly, A fish took the bait about 5 feet away! I had a fish! I was pulling it in as hard as I can for a battle that lasted 3 minutes while I was scared of it taking away the bait and hook. After a fight that seemed to last forever, I finally brought it up. It was a type of pinfish! Soon after, I threw it back in the water and tried out the super small hook. A whole bunch of small fish came to nibble at the bait, and I knew that the one good thing about little fish nibbling at your bait is the fact that they bring bigger fish to check it out. Out of nowhere, an Oyster Toadfish that was disguising in the sand and seaweed from the bottom came up and snatched the bait! I brought it up and... I caught it! It was really cool how it was so camouflaged in the sea weed. I set my bigger hook up this time to give to Jacob, who came with me to fish. He was waiting and waiting for a fish to come, and he was happy to actually have a puffer bite the hook! He was reeling and reeling until he caught it! The first puffer of the day! Once we got the fish up, it was shaking and wiggling total the hook and itself of the line in the water. What's really cool about fish is that they heal very fast and can remove the hook due to water corrosion, shaking the hook, and/or growing and shedding it in a matter of hours or days. Because we had no hook on the rod, I used one of the biggest hooks I have. It was as big as about half of my thumb. It worked just as I thought it would, as I got a puffer and pinfish to start out with it! Then, Jacob thought of using the chicken and hot dog on the same hook. I thought that was a great idea so I told Jacob to try it out. It was in the water, and about two puffers went right up to it. It took time to eat them both as they are both together mouthfuls for a puffer fish. But, Jacob got the fish on the hook and started to reel it in. It was one of the biggest puffers I have ever seen! he was reeling and reeling and fighting and fighting. He got it out and caught the fish! That's two puffers for Jacob. Once I got the rod, I tried putting on the chicken and hot dogs together on the same hook just like Jacob. At first, two puffers were nibbling at the bait. But then, suddenly, a huge fish that Jacob and I saw earlier was going up and took a huge bite of the bait! I was reeling in as hard as I could but it got very far away from me then took the bait and hook away. At least I had an extra set of hooks! I got to catch more puffers, and then called it a day. Jacob and I had a lot of fun catching fish and also seeing a stingray and multiple barracudas checking our baits out. Maybe today was not the day to catch them, but I know that another day will! Here is the overview of hooks and baits for different fish. Just so you know, I used hooks and sinkers mostly from the Rapala Rigging Set in Target.

very small hook: pinfish with hot dog and oyster toadfish with chicken
small hook: Puffer with chicken
bigger hook: Puffer with hot dog, Pinfish with hot dog, Big fish (mystery) with hot dog and chicken, 2 more puffers both with chicken and hot dogs

Again, sorry for keeping you waiting and more trips are being planned.