Florida Road Trip 2012/2013 [Part 4 of 4]

[MuskieBait]

Jan 5, 2013

Really, this was a continuation of our fishing through the night. After we changed our baits to cut herring, I was fishing the dropper loop trying to find some fresh bait to use when Michael yelled I have a fish on my rig. I couldn’t hear the clicker since a couple of trucks were passing by. When I finally got to the rod, Michael was already fighting the fish. A little tussle later, we brought a 15” Mangrove Snapper up the bridge. Strangely, it bit the heavy wire on the 5/0 hook.





That was the only excitement all night. There were a couple of short rip on the line, but I suspect it was nothing more than clumps of grass dragging our lines. We had some broken sleep since the reels were clinking every so often when grass foul up our lines.

When the sun finally rose, the fish returned to the pilings. We were once again catching a steady supply of grunts. Michael caught a couple of parrotfish, a filefish and even a Bermuda Chub! I was a bit jealous to say the least LOL.

I did have my revenge when I caught 4 Southern Puffer in a roll and Michael has yet to catch one.

By 10am, we were really too tired to fish anymore. We had been up fishing for 28 hours straight. Since we planned to head home around noon, we packed up and grabbed lunch.

We were originally planning to fish our Midas Cichlid spot to see if we can find more Oscars. I was quite fished out so I really just wanted to drive back to my uncle’s house. Along the way, Michael was begging to try the Tamarac area for Cobra Snakehead. We checked out one spot but it didn’t look promising. As we were running short of daylight, I suggested that we should fish a canal where I’ve seen Snakeheads before.

Michael was fishing a weedless plastic frog while I was fishing a special weedless prop blade hard resin frog lures I bought online from a Thailand lure maker. It was a coincidence that the morning we were planning to leave for Florida (Dec 27) we were delayed due to the snowstorm. While waiting for the highway to clear, the package of Thai lures arrived and I got them just in time to bring with me on this trip.

I was fishing this lure systematically, first casting parallel to shore running them just inches from the weed line, then I cast at 25 degree angle, 45 degree angle and 65 degree angle, before finally casting directly across the canal to work the lure from the other shore over to our side of the canal.

We were about 30 minutes into our fishing when I made a cast directly across the shore and landed the lure on the shoreline grass. I gingerly worked the lure into the water and took maybe 2 cranks when I saw a wake came at my lure and the lure disappeared. I felt the fish, set the hook and was hoping it wasn’t a Largemouth Bass. When the fish came close to shore, I saw the long shape and immediately dragged the fish up the shore and dragged it as far as I could.

Cobra Snakehead (Channa marulius) – new species #22





I had tried to catch Cobra Snakehead in April 2011 but failed miserably. I could see them all over the canals, and big ones too, but failed to get them to bite. Strangely, after some cold weather, I managed to find a small Cobra Snakehead using a topwater lure!

Michael pounded the water for a while longer but didn’t find another Snakehead in the area. I strongly believe that the cold water shut these fish off the bite. I suspect that if we return in warmer weather, these Thai lures would be absolutely deadly for the snakeheads!

Jan 6, 2013

We were hoping to get some fishing this morning. However, we had to pack the car and return to Orlando before evening. We didn’t end up fishing at all.

Jan 7, 2013

Since we started the trip a day behind schedule, we decided to extend the trip one extra day. My sister and George wanted to visit Magic Kingdom and they had already purchased tickets in advance. So while they visit the theme park, Michael and I headed to Tampa to fish.

We arrived in the same creek where we caught Jack Dempsey on Dec 28. While we saw some Striped Mullet, they refused to bite our bread. We fished closed to the weeds and finally found some Jack Dempsey, including this beautiful male.



We saw some Rio Grande Cichlid swimming around but they were extremely wary. We tried all sorts of methods trying to get them to bite. Finally, I had one bit on a small piece of free lined bread but the fish took me to the weeds and the hook came out! I was so adamant on catching a Rio Grande that I made a tactical error. We should have simply spent more time fishing saltwater for species.

Since Tampa was 2 hours from Orlando, we didn’t arrive in Tampa until 12pm. After spending 3 hours at the creek, we only had a couple of hours at best before sunset. It was too late to fish at Skyway Pier, but we found a free pier along a bridge to fish for an hour.

We had no squid for bait. Honestly, I didn’t want to wet too many rods. So we only grabbed two rods each but I mainly fished with a sabiki rig. We only had nightcrawlers so I put on small segments of worms on the hook. I searched by the pilings and found nothing holding near the structure. Instead, I cast into Tampa Bay and worked the grass flats. On my third cast, I felt a strong tap and set the hook into a smaller fish that pulled hard on the light spinning rod and 8lb test. It was a Silver Perch!

Silver Perch (Bairdiella chrysoura) – new species #23



Michael joined me on my side of the pier and soon caught his first Silver Perch as well. A few cast later, I was had worked the sabiki back to the bridge when I saw a silver flash on my sabiki and I set the hook into a strong running Horse-eyed Jack!

Horse-eye Jack (Caranx latus) – new species #24



I was hoping to find some Pinfish for Michael to add on his list. We went back to the parking area where I saw some. We quickly caught a few Pinfish. If we only had more time to fish, I would have cast out a cut Pinfish on a shark rig. The bay looks very sharky for smaller juvenile blacktip or bonnethead.

We had to return to Orlando to pick up my sister and her boyfriend from the theme park. On that note, it was the end of our fishing trip. We left Orlando on Jan 8 at 5am and drove to Toledo, Ohio by 1:30am on Jan 9. We then left Toledo at 6am after a night at a motel and arrived in Toronto at 12:30pm.

It was a great road trip to see my family and I fully took the opportunity to catch a number of new species. Many of the freshwater species were very challenging due to the cold weather. We had an absolute blast fishing the Keys and I can see myself fishing the Keys for a week next time! I was absolutely pleased to have caught a huge Grass Carp, conquered the Cobra Snakehead, and tried our hands at shark fishing. Now it is time to read up more on shark fishing and the whereabouts of those pesky Oscars!

With 24 new species added, I'm now up to a total of 301 species!

[jkman]

Nice road trip Ken!

Where can I buy that "weedless prop blade hard resin frog lures" online? I would love to get a few of those.

[zippyFX]

Nice report as usual! Looks like you guys had some good fishing.... Makes a guy jealous you know....

You seem to rack up new species like bowling pins... way cool.

[OldTimer]

Thanks for sharing....... great report.......... fantastic pics which capture the various fish colours very well.

Too bad the grey suits didnt want to partake.

Gator Tail Sandwhiches?............ really?.............

[MuskieBait]

(01-10-2013 04:38 PM)OldTimer Wrote:  Thanks for sharing....... great report.......... fantastic pics which capture the various fish colours very well.

Too bad the grey suits didnt want to partake.

Gator Tail Sandwhiches?............ really?.............

The grey suits did partake...when we were using light mono......I bet they know the drill...

"Hey, that's 40lb mono...save to bite! We can bust them off easy!"



We got no bites after switching to heavy rub leader and heavy bite wire...fished the entire night through the incoming and outgoing tides...

Moving tides, night time, bloody and fresh baits...you would think it can get awfully sharky...but nada.

We'll be back to take revenge. At least now we know where they live.

Michael said he saw an 8 foot shark circles his live grunt under the balloon...I didn't see it, but methinks it was a bull shark. He was fishing it on 40lb mono...like I said many times on that trip..."You're playing with fire and setting yourself up for disappointment...or getting spooled."

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(01-10-2013 03:52 PM)jkman Wrote:  Nice road trip Ken!

Where can I buy that "weedless prop blade hard resin frog lures" online? I would love to get a few of those.

http://www.killerfroglures.com/

They range from $9-$15...my order of 4 frogs + shipping came close to $60. Expensive...but I caught the snakehead on it...totally worth the price!

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(01-10-2013 04:03 PM)zippyFX Wrote:  Nice report as usual! Looks like you guys had some good fishing.... Makes a guy jealous you know....

You seem to rack up new species like bowling pins... way cool.

Don't need to be jealous...it's just a short flight away...or just a 24h drive away...find a few buddies to split the drive and gas and it can be amazingly affordable! I just tallied up the gas money and I think it should cost less than $120/person in total for the return trip in gas.

If you can rough it, camping is an option...and you can fish a week in Florida for less than $400/person if you budget wisely.

Don't be fooled though...I don't go at it at leisure. I tackle these species hunting trip with a mission and Michael seen first hand how hard we fish, as well as how much research was done at home before the trip to make sure we find some success. It took me 3 months of solid research at home before the trip...and many evenings I would be on the internet looking for information from 9pm to 2am. I even look at people's report and identify background buildings or roads and find those specification locations with those specific species (and that's why most of my pictures have no background...and I don't mention any location names...because there are scary people like me out there who can identify a fishing spot based on the shuttle bus that was on the road...seriously...I'm not kidding. ). I take my species hunting seriously...and the results often show that dedication.

[Giuga10]

Very nice report Ken! Makes me want March Break to come that much quicker, that'll be my time for new species .

Great report,
Giuga10

[zippyFX]

(01-10-2013 04:48 PM)MuskieBait Wrote:  

(01-10-2013 04:03 PM)zippyFX Wrote:  Nice report as usual! Looks like you guys had some good fishing.... Makes a guy jealous you know....

You seem to rack up new species like bowling pins... way cool.

[
Don't need to be jealous...it's just a short flight away...or just a 24h drive away...find a few buddies to split the drive and gas and it can be amazingly affordable! I just tallied up the gas money and I think it should cost less than $120/person in total for the return trip in gas.

If you can rough it, camping is an option...and you can fish a week in Florida for less than $400/person if you budget wisely.

I can tell you trip are will researched and planned.... You would have to be, to be so successful.... With work and kids these kind of trips are not as easy as they used to be ) Did my share of travelling when I was your age but I was not into fishing then. I did my share of driving, sleeping on buses, trains, train stations, and hostels in my day.

I will fish these locations when I get a chance but right now my spontaneity potential is low.... We may be taking the kids to Disney next year.... I'll be able to slip out and do some solid mornings and evening of fishing then.... At least I'll know who to talk to to get the skinny!

[rich_ace_G]

Nice variety you had.

[MuskieBait]

Variety is the spice of life

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(01-10-2013 09:40 PM)zippyFX Wrote:  I can tell you trip are will researched and planned.... You would have to be, to be so successful.... With work and kids these kind of trips are not as easy as they used to be Did my share of travelling when I was your age but I was not into fishing then. I did my share of driving, sleeping on buses, trains, train stations, and hostels in my day.

I will fish these locations when I get a chance but right now my spontaneity potential is low.... We may be taking the kids to Disney next year.... I'll be able to slip out and do some solid mornings and evening of fishing then.... At least I'll know who to talk to to get the skinny!

To be honest, Orlando fishing is not that great if you only have mornings or evenings to slip out to fish. By not great, I mean that the variety is pretty poor. I can say though that the bass fishing in the Disney resort lakes can be phenomenal. A friend of mine went to Disney with his family and fish the Disney lakes with a guide. He caught bass between 2-5lbs all day. I think they had 30 bass between he and his son in 4 hours of fishing. I would suggest that you go to a bait shop and get some live golden shiners and fish with those. You'll be in some fun with the bass even from shore without hiring a guide. Michael can tell you how easy it was. If you don't get live shiners (which I believe is the better bait), you can still use small sunfish as bait. Just get some 1/0 circle hook and hook the live sunfish in the nose, then sent them out under a float or a small balloon. It really is that easy. My cousin said livebait is too easy and it is cheating

For me, I would rather drive to Tampa or the Space Coast for some saltwater variety. If I was not so stuck on catching a Rio Grande Cichlid, we would have fished on the Skyway Pier all day on the last day...but the sky looked threatening and it was windy...so it didn't look fun to be fully exposed to the sea, wind and rain on a pier.

[zippyFX]

Cool! Thanks for the tips!