New Species on Pier 60

My family and I were on vacation in Clearwater, and I couldn't resist the temptation of fishing there. I found a few hours to take my dad and brother to Pier 60 to catch some fish. I decided to rent gear from the pier because I didn't bring much and preferred not to risk breaking my own rigs. The pier was very fisherman friendly, and it gave out free buckets to use for storing the frozen bait, as well as a hose for washing hands and melting the frozen bait. I settled for frozen shrimp to buy from the pier after checking a local bait shop that ran out of live shrimp. When the bait quickly defrosted, Jacob and I cut pieces of shrimp into small parts and baited them on the size 1-2 J-hooks. I wish we had smaller circle hooks, because that would have been easier to hook the fish with. In the end, it worked out. The bait was really soft. There was much life in the water, and we saw schools of fish in the water when we looked down. When we casted or dropped the bait, we would sometimes feel bites instantly, and then lose them. Whenever we would reel in to check on the bait, it was gone. This happened repeatedly for the first hour. It was quite disappointing. At one point, Jacob reeled up a cool-looking crab that feel off just as he was bringing it over the side of the pier. I'm not sure what it was, as I didn't have a chance to look at it very well. After a while, when the sun had just set, my brother turned to me excitedly and exclaimed, "Josh, I GOT ONE." I watched him reel in a small Pinfish, our first fish of the day. The catch itself wasn't extraordinary, but a fish is a fish, and it was our first of the day. On the very next drop, Jacob reeled in another fish! It looked like our missing streak was over. I checked to see which species it was, and it was a new one! A Sand Trout! A member of the Cynoscion family, the Sand Trout is recognizable by its white color and distinct lateral line. Although not as popular as Spotted Seatrout, their close relatives, they are also a great fish to catch. As it got darker, I became more desperate to catch a fish, especially a Sand Trout. Sure enough, I dropped my hook, reeled up slightly as I felt the bites, and subtly jerked the rod up. the Rod bent and I felt the tug. Fish on! I reeled in the fish which was almost mechanically vibrating as I brought it up and over the side of the pier. I caught a Sand Trout! A nice catch! I was really happy to finally get on the board. After about another 20 minutes of trying to catch fish, Jacob and I both reeled in a Pigfish! Another new species, the Pigfish is a member of the Grunt, or Haemulon family. It is known as being a good baitfish, and I tried to drop it in the pier lights for Snook in the time I had left. Alas, the fish was foul hooked and didn't survive for very long. Before leaving, we caught yet another new species, a Silver Perch! These fish, although very similar in appearance to the Sand Trout, can be distinguished by a rounder body and slightly taller fins. It makes sense that they were together at the pier, given their similarities. We packed up, returned the gear, and left with smiles on our faces. We had caught rather small fish, but we were happier with the fact that we were able to add a few more species to the life-list.

 

7th Annual Fishing Trip

My Aunt and I went on our 7th Annual Sea Legs offshore fishing trip today, and it was pretty exciting. There was great weather, clear skies and temperature in the 80's. We were eager to catch some fish, hopefully Snapper. We started off at some stops at which some people on the boat were catching fish. Annette, my aunt, and I started off slowly, as we were missing the hits by Triggerfish, who would peck the bait off the hook a bit after it hit the bottom. At the third stop, we decided to slow down the line as it got closer to the bottom, so we could feel the bite better. Sure enough, as soon as a Triggerfish took the bait, I set the hook and felt the tug. The fish fought well, but it was not enough. I brought the first fish on board! We did not catch for the next few stops because the wind would blow us off the reefs. The captain told us that the wind was blowing at 15 knots, and that the best wind speed was 5-10 knots. At the next spot, we caught a few good fish. I caught 2 nice Porgy’s, and we also brought up a Sand Tilefish. We were very happy with these fish, and excited about our new species, but we were ready to catch more. At the last spot, Annette and I reeled in a cool Almaco Jack. Minutes later, I caught a hard fighting Blue Runner, part of the Jack family. We ended up not catching any Snapper, which was kind of disappointing, but we were happy with the fish that we did catch. Besides, only one or two Vermies were caught by the whole boat. I caught 5 fish, and Annette caught two to finish the day. We came away with not only some awesome fish, but also some valuable lessons. The first was the wind speed: it’s best to fish in 5-10 knot wind speeds so that the boat is not drifted off the reef. The second was that the Snapper bite is better later in the Spring, as the last time we went fishing on the boat was in early May, and we caught Snappers left and right. Overall, this was another really fun day out on the water.

Bass Fishing on Lake Toho

Today I went fishing on world famous Lake Tohopekaliga for its Largemouth Bass. Lake Tohopekaliga, or Lake Toho for short, is one of the big lakes in central Florida known by many for their excellent bass fishing. We were in the area, and so my dad, brother, and I decided to book a charter with Kyle Whitten to fish the lake. You can check him out at floridalunkers.com. We arrived at the marina extremely excited to get fishing. We met Kyle at the marina, and we went to the bait shop after introducing ourselves. After filling the live well with 3 dozen shiners, we head out on the bass boat, and the fishing was underway. The first spot was not far from the marina. There was some Hydrilla near the bottom of the lake at this spot, which was only about 4 feet deep. We used spinning setups with light line. We had bobbers about 2 feet up from the hook, which had a shiner on it. The shiners were hooked through the lips. Kyle told us that if a Bass would take the bait, the bobber would sink under the surface of the water. He said to wait around 5 seconds after the fish took the bait, and then to reel in the slack and set the hook. The first one to get bit was Jacob, my little brother. He did exactly as Kyle told him, and he soon had the first fish of the day on the boat! It was awesome to have caught a fish so soon into the trip. I was the next to one to the bobber go under. I waited five seconds, which felt much longer, and reeled in the slack. I set the hook and reeled in the hard fighting fish. Like all of the Bass we caught that day, the fight was thrilling. Kyle landed the fish, and we had two on the board already! We released the fish, and continued fishing the spot. After I had caught three, including the ~3.5 pounder that was the biggest of the trip, and Jacob caught two fish at the spot, the bite had slowed down. We decided to go over to another spot on the lake. We first went to an area with lots of current and let the bobbers drift along. We didn't get any bites, so we moved to another spot on the lake soon after. This spot was located on a long Hydrilla flat. Kyle said that there was always fish cruising along the flat, and that it was about being in the right place at the right time. The first bobber to go under was Jacob's. He reeled in his Largemouth Bass and Kyle landed it. I was the next one to catch a fish. The fish took the bait, and I waited a few seconds and then set the hook. That was my fourth bass of the day. After this fish, we missed a few hookups and Gar occasionally took our bait. When I asked Kyle how often he encounters Gar, he said that he deals with them daily. They are one of the main species on the lake. Kyle told me that you can tell when a Gar is taking the bait when the bobber moves too fast to be the shiner, but is not going down either. Gars normally take the back part of the bait, without the hook, and swim parallel to the surface. Before we left, Jacob caught another Bass. Kyle determined to go to another spot on the lake. We were hoping to catch our monster Bass, but we instead just caught Gar instead. After fish were taking our shiners off the hook, I finally hooked one. My shiner was near the boat when the bobber went under. Thinking it was a big Bass, I set the hook hard. When I reeled it in, I saw that it was instead a Florida gar. That's a new species for me. Kyle helped dehook the fish and we put it back. A few more Gar bites came, and we knew this because the bobber would speed across the surface of the water. Time was running out, so we decided to use the last few shiners left at the spot that we went to first. We threw out our baits and waited. As we were waiting for the last fish, Kyle was talking to us about how the Bass normally eat in the mornings and evenings, and that midday is not the best time to catch them. After about 15 minutes of talking and waiting, Kyle's bobber went down. He gave me the rod and I tried to set the hook. At first, I missed. But before I could say anything, the Bass came back and bit the hook next to the boat! I reeled the fish in to end the day on a good note. After releasing the fish, we used the last few shiners we had to no avail. We ended up with 11 fish in total, 5 bass and 1 gar for me, and 4 bass and 1 gar for Jacob. Kyle was a great guide and really made the trip as fun and easy as possible. He helped us with whatever we needed, and we can't thank him enough. This was an incredible trip, fishing on one of the world's most renown Bass lakes, and I'm looking forward to the next time.