Florida Road Trip 2012/2013 [Part 2 of 2]

[MichaelAngelo]

Miami

After a wonderful lunch with Ken's family the next day, it was time for us to begin our drive to the Keys. On the way there, we stopped by a spot that Ken knew to hold Midas cichlids.



I had mentioned to Ken earlier that both Mayan and Midas cichlids were high up on my wish list. With this in mind, I nearly lost it when we immediately noticed a school of brightly coloured midas cichlids swim up to us as we approached the water! Ken was rigged up first and tried with a worm, but the fish did not take interest.

Having bought a loaf of bread for just this situation, Ken suggested I chuck some bread into the water. The fish immediately began gobbling up the sinking bread! After my experiencing toying with impossible tilapia the previous day, this was quite the sight to see. Ken promptly hooked and landed his first ever Midas cichlid.

This commotion seemed to have spooked the school, so it took me some time to find where the fish had moved to. I found that the fish to be quite picky buggers! They would eat chummed bread as it fell freely though the water column, but would somehow notice that my bread was not sinking and drifting naturally! Either that or they could see my 8lb mono line. The cichlids would nose right up to the bread and turn the other way. I even tried presenting the bread out of my line of sight in case I was spooking the fish. I switched my leader to 4lb flurocarbon in hopes of improving my chances.

I began casting further away at a school of suspended midas. On one drop of the bread, I had a strong take from a strong fish that immediately snapped my 4lb leader! Ken mentioned that it may have been a grass carp! Within 10 minutes after retying my 4lb leader, this happened to me yet again!

One particularly striking Midas cichlid eventually made an error and took my bread:

#14 Midas cichlid




And then I was full-steam ahead for targeting grass carp! I tied myself a hair rig on 8lb mono and threaded a nice chunk of white bread onto the hair. It wasn't long before I had hooked into another grass carp as the bread dropped through the water column. This time, I was ready for the strength of the fish and had my drag set appropriately!

#15 Grass carp








I was truly ecstatic about this catch. At about 15 pounds, this was one of my largest fish to date. I had attracted quite a bit of attention, with park-goers coming over and asking us about the grass carp. Most people had no idea fish this size lurked in the canals! But they're everywhere! As Ken would soon demonstrate with his own mammoth 30lb grass carp catch, mine was only a baby!

Rounded out the evening with a scrappy Mayan:




The Keys

With the sun setting, we began our drive to the Keys. As we neared our motel, we stopped in a grocery store for some ice and were pleasantly surprised to find that they also sold bait! Only in the Keys does your neighbourhood grocer sell bait!

We spent most of the night setting up our heavy gear and tying wire leaders for particularly toothy targets.

What we woke up to the next morning:







Arriving at our first saltwater fishing spot, I was like a kid in a candy store. Everything would be a novel and exciting catch! I was quick to send out two squid-tipped Carolina rigs. The first was over a semi-rocky flat and the other was right into a rocky reef area. The first rod received immediate and persistent porgy action:

#16 Littlehead porgy:



And #17 Jolthead porgy:



I was very focused what was out there, but forgot to check right at my feet! I looked down to find a multitude of micros just waiting to get a spot on my lifelist.

#18 Hairy blenny:



#19 Dusky damsel:




There were also Sergeant Major Damselfish, but I was unable to hook one. They were small enough to nibble around any hook I threw at them. When I used a small bait so that they would be forced to engulf the hook, they simply ignored the bait.

In the midst of the micro action, my bells on the rocky reef rod started jingling. I rushed over and felt something take my bait right into the rocks. It may have been a good fish or just simply weeds. I wrestled with the line a bit, but it was quickly fowled with more weeds. I pulled it free and found nothing on the hook. Next time, I will ensure to fish rocky reefs with my rod in hand so that I can quickly muscle fish off the bottom before they take to a crevice.

Ken began fishing over the rocky reef with a dropper loop and was quick to secure a very cool southern puffer. He also hooked into a screamer that dropped the bait after a few seconds... bummer!

In the meanwhile, I was fishing a squid-baited sabiki rig over the flat. Slippery dick wrasse were common:

#20 Slippery dick wrasse:


And I crossed paths with this fantastic houndfish:

#21 Houndfish






The sabiki produced quite a few fascinating results:

#22 French grunt:



#23 White grunt:



#24 Lane snapper:



Once we were confident in the amount of grunts we had in our bait well, we moved on the chase the big boys.

***

Our next spot was one suggested to hold a multitude of shark species as well as goliath grouper. Surely an exciting "promised land" in any anglers books!

Our "heavy" rod was rigged with a nearly uncastable 8oz egg sinker. I served as the fish's bait delivery man, dropping the bait down to the depths from the nearby bridge. We just let our big bait soak as we proceeded to pursue other things.

Despite watching schools of bait scatter in the distance, the spot was relatively dead. I had a couple of solid rips off my clicker, but the bait was consistently dropped by the fish before the hook set.

As the sun set, we began to run low on bait. We began casting bits of squid towards nearby pilings in search of more bait. I was lucky enough to connect with a schoolmaster snapper:

#25 Schoolmaster snapper


The water was alive with glowing green worms. I've never seen anything like this before, it was surreal.

Ken sighted an eel and managed to hook it, but the eel cut the line (30lb mono... yikes!!) before I could clear out of the landing zone.

Reeling in the heavy rig, we noticed that our bait had been left untouched. Disheartened by the lack of action in the promised land, we retreated for the night eager to hit this morning's spot again tomorrow.

***

The next morning we paid another visit to yesterday's morning spot. We arrived to find the water boiling with ballyhoo but could not get them to bite our presentations. I was quick to hook a puffer:

#26 Bandtail puffer




Yesterday, Ken had been able to sightfish a cowfish hanging around the ledge by our feet. Today was my turn. I spotted a pair hanging around near my feet and promptly tossed in a dropper loop with big chunks of squid to keep them in the area. However, I found that they would eat all the bait around the hook and avoid the hook completely. When I tossed in a smaller sabiki rig, they ignored it entirely and kept their attention on eating the larger bait. It wasn't until I removed the larger bait from the water that they turned their attention to the smaller sabiki rig:

#27 Scrawled cowfish



A truly cool catch! The cowfish is a boxfish and almost fully encompassed by a bony shell. It's a fish-in-a-box!!



That wasn't the last cowfish of the morning:



Ken did quite well this morning. He managed an epic yellow jack and followed that up with a sizeable southern stingray. Two hard-fighting fish back-to-back. I was jealous and eager to hook my own sizeable fish!

Wrapping up at this spot, we moved on to fish from a nearby bridge.

***

We arrived at the bridge to find several anglers using the current from the incoming tide to drift baits under an adjacent bridge. They were doing so-so and we had a better idea. We dropped our baits down right by our feet into the breaks in the current. The action was non-stop:

#28 Porkfish

I took a break to cast a cut grunt out to sea on what I thought was an adequate shark rig. Then, I went back to the action at our feet:

Another slippery dick


#29 Sailor’s choice grunt


#30 Gag grouper


#31 Black grouper


I caught a black grouper, and I was changing batteries on my camera when my clicker went off with a ferocity that I've never heard before. I ran over to my rod to find it quivering with the strength of the fish on the other end of the line. I engaged the reel and felt sheer, unstoppable force for about 2 seconds and then a gentle POP as my 40lb mono was cut like butter. I looked up and out to sea and happened a glimpse of the culprit. The dorsal fin of the shark I had just hooked was visible near the surface of the water... and it wasn't a small one. At least 5 feet in length.

Eager to get an in on the shark action, Ken and I set up the three heavy rigs that we had. Ken would later get another pick up and break off, just as I had. This was frustrating because the heaviest of the rods fishing 100lb mono didn't receive any action at all. It's almost as if the sharks could sense the thicker leader material of the heavier rod and avoided it entirely. Very frustrating.

There was saving grace. At one point in the day, I was spotted within 30 minutes of each other: 1) A school of 100lb tarpon 2) A group of spotted eagle rays and 3) a massive 8ft bull shark circling my balloon. I was a bit giddy to say the least.

I was eager to hook into one of these tarpon and Ken suggested that I catch one of the abundant needlefish in the area to use as bait. Ken had perfected a method for these needlefish and I quickly caught one. I had assumed that it was the same species that I had caught the previous day, but thankfully I took a picture regardless. It turned out to be a new species for me!

#32 Redfin needlefish:


The tarpon would have none of it though, and the current soon reversed rendering them unreachable from our position.

When the tide changed over, we moved over to the other side of the bridge to fish. Just as we expected, the fish had moved over to the other side of the bridge to take shelter from the reversed current!





We fished through the night and Ken produced a few fascinating catches such as an oyster toadfish. Unfortunately, save for a few rips on our heavier rods, we had no further sharky visits.

In the darkness of the night, I decided to try and catch one of the eels that we suspected were living in and around the bridge pilings. After the events of the previous day, I fished with a 5/0 circle and a wire leader. I let a fish take the bait and waited patiently for it to swallow… but what I got back was a garbled, tangled, mess of twisted wire… OK these eels are nasty. Next time!

At one point in the night, Ken's shark rod went off with a decent run. Ken hadn't heard the clicker and I was fighting the fish by the time he paid a visit. It was a keeper-size mangrove snapper that would make a delicious meal for us in the coming day.

With sun rising the next morning, I went back at it with a second wind. I had sighted a pair of filefish at one of the pilings and I was determined to hook into one. This time, my efforts succeeded:

#33 Scrawled filefish (my favourite fish of the trip!!)





These things have breathtaking colouration:





I also managed to hook two parrotfish near the pilings:

#34 Blue parrotfish





Adorable fish, this


#35 Bluestriped grunt


And a nice Bermuda Chub to round out the morning:

#36 Bermuda chub


Ken mentioned that these chub are usually vegetarian, but mine bit on a cut up piece of grunt!

The cowfish came to play again:



A small, but still lifelist worthy yellowtail snapper:

#37 Yellowtail snapper


Finally, it came time to wrap up our epic saltwater adventure and return to Coral Springs.


Coral Springs

Upon arrival in Coral Springs, we took advantage of the one hour of daylight we had remaining by hunting for snakeheads at a nearby canal. Ken's choice of lure and casting technique rewarded him is long-sought cobra snakehead while I was left waiting until my next trip down to obtain this target.

For dinner, Ken's uncle prepared the weighty mangrove snapper that we had caught the previous day. Fresh fish is a delicious taste I can rarely experience.

After one final meal with Ken's family the next day, we began our long drive back to Orlando.

Tampa/Orlando

Back in Orlando for our final day of fishing, I woke up early in the morning to give the plecos one final attempt. It was quite chilly in the morning and the sun was hidden behind clouds, so I wasn’t surprised when I didn't see very many of them. The ones I did see completely ignored my green pea bait.

We checked out a spot near Tampa that held Rio Grande/Texas cichlids. We spotted these targets as well as sailfin mollies and a species of mullet, however bites were few and far between. Ken managed a bite from a Rio Grande cichlid, but the fish pulled the hook in the weeds. Bluegills were abundant and never failed to annoy us with their eagerness to bite our hooks.

We gave the salt one final attempt at a nearby pier. The problem was that we had no saltwater bait! Ken managed to shuck a few oysters that were lying on the ground, but we baited our sabiki rigs with plain ol' worms. I had no idea whether fish in the saltwater would be tempted to bite worms!

Our efforts did prove successful and we both caught our lifer silver perch:

#38 Silver perch


Ken moved on to catch a horse-eye jack and then we moved to a spot that was loaded with pinfish to bag me a lifer:

#39 (oh so close to 40) Pinfish


These would make perfect shark bait, but our time was up! We headed for home for the final rest before our departure early next morning.

And there we had it. I had bagged 39 new species in 11 long days. My pricey Florida licences are still valid and I can’t wait to do it all again.

[MuskieBait]

Oh to live those days again...what fun it was! 11 days of full out fishing (almost) every day...

39 new species in 11 days is spectacular. Research + intel + fish hard = success

BTW, I'm still mad you caught all the Schoolmaster Snapper...that was SO VERY HIGH on my list.

My license is itching to be used...when are we taking the trip again? Can't do this summer...maybe September? Start working overtime so we can take another 11 days off Let's see how many more species we can get next time...I already started a list of species that are new to BOTH of us...and then add on our respective new species (like Schoolmaster for me and Southern Puffer for you)

Little Tunny
King Mackerel
Spanish Mackerel
Cero Mackerel
Bar Jack
Florida Pompano
Moonfish
Lookdown
Sand Perch
Spottail Pinfish
Oscar
African Jewel Cichlid
Blue Tilapia
Yellowfin Mojorra
White Margate
Black Margate
Blacktip Shark
Bonnethead Shark
Bull Shark
Nurse Shark
Sandbar Shark
Atlantic Sharpnose Shark
Grass Porgy
Plus countless micros...
...etc...

[MichaelAngelo]

And how could I forget....

[MuskieBait]

Oh...puppy dog!!! Didn't know you took a video...freaking awesome!!! Oh the good times...Can't stop watching...

For those watching...the spotted sunfish was very much alive and made it hard for the gar to grab on.

[OldTimer]

An impressive list, and a great report............ thanks for sharing Mike - it was worth the wait.

I like the file fish too - a beauty.

Is'nt it amazing how quick and easily some salt water fish can attack and severe a bait without you seeing or feeling a thing. I guess that's why they call Bluefish "chompers".

Cheers,

OldTimer

[MuskieBait]

Hey Michael, did you not catch a Mangrove Snapper? I seemed to have remember you caught one...

Just saying...that could put you to the 40 species mark

[MichaelAngelo]

(05-13-2013 09:40 AM)MuskieBait Wrote:  Hey Michael, did you not catch a Mangrove Snapper? I seemed to have remember you caught one...

Just saying...that could put you to the 40 species mark

I thought this was your snapper:




But does it look like yours? (blemish above top lip)

[MichaelAngelo]

(05-13-2013 09:40 AM)MuskieBait Wrote:  Hey Michael, did you not catch a Mangrove Snapper? I seemed to have remember you caught one...

Just saying...that could put you to the 40 species mark

This mangrove was on my camera. I thought this was your snapper:




But does it look like yours? (blemish above top lip)




And from this side of the fish...

My camera:



Your camera:




They look different to me... you know what that means?

[MuskieBait]

Don't know man...I think that top Mangrove is yours...I seem to remember you caught one that evening...I remember because you asked me what it was...I think...it's been 6 months (that's why it's good to write the report IMMEDIATELY )

Check out my report again...my grover was hooked on the left side...and it didn't have that split in the soft dorsal fin...I caught another small grover but that was the first or second fish I caught when we first got there, so the picture wouldn't look as if it was caught in low light periods...plus, that one was small.

Don't see the blemish on top of the jaw of my grover either....and the colour is much lighter in my fish...

Look at the grooves on the concrete as well...that grover on your camera look smaller than mine also...

Best way to check though...the time stamp (or Create Date) of your picture...I think my fish hit at around 1am...some time late at night. I'll check it tonight to confirm...(Yep...my "big" grover was caught at 01:11 according to my camera...the other grover I caught early in the afternoon was at 15:32...so the fish you photographed at 12am is definitely not one of mine...and it has to be yours).

Ok...with all the pics, I really think yours is a different fish. You don't see that distinct red marking in the middle of the scale on my fish...your fish has that distinct colouration right down to the belly area.

Also...noticed in that second pic of yours you had that J hook on the high/low rig...mine was caught on the shark rig, remember? And we didn't have any other rods near it aside from the other shark rods at the time...

[Giuga10]

Wow.... Amazing report!