Sheepshead trip - Ponce Inlet 11-24-11

.
I have not been able to add to much to the blog lately as it's huntin' season and I'm afraid that takes precedent over fishing for me. However, dad talked me into going sheepshead fishing after he had some pretty good action a few days ago. I think he had caught over 15 off some docks he likes to fish near the inlet at Ponce. He also had one big drum about 8lb.

The only problem on our trip was the tide was extremely high and strong. It was so high it was over the dock at the lighthouse launch. The tide was so strong even a 2oz. lead would not come close to being able to keep your bait alongside the dock pilings. The other issue and probably the real problem was the passing front. It had apparently knocked the bite off to a dribble.

The weather was partly cloudy and pretty windy. forcast was for NNE @ 15-20 mph but it was not quite that strong. The high was about 73 and the pressure was 30.2. Apparently the small front had passed thru late in the afternoon the day before.

We had some crabs and shrimp for bait. Dad had even caught a few on barnacles he scraped off the piles on the last trip.

We caught a total of (4) sheepshead (2) black drum a big pigfish and a pile of bait stealing pinfish. I even caught a spot tail pinfish which Dad nor I had ever seen before.

Spot tail Pinfish!

The sheepshead were all just undersize and we were not able to put a keeper in the boat. Given the poor bite I guess we did o.k..

The drum was the big catch for the day. He was about 7lb. and I caught him under  a dock on a piece of fresh dead shrimp. The other drum I caught was just undersize so he got a reprieve and made it back over board.

7lb. Black Drum!

The only problem with fishing with shrimp is the bait stealing pinfish. If the big fish are feeding the pin fish are not as much of an issue but when the bite is slow, look out. Of course, If you have fished for sheepshead much you know they don't really like shrimp that well. You will catch a few on them but you'll catch 10 to 1 with crabs.  One more tip, keep a tight line and when you feel the first bite you better set the hook hard. Don't give him any slack either.

As soon as this weather settles out a little the bite should pick back up.

Good luck,
Larry S.

Tarpon Quest 2! August 17,11

    .
    Tarpon Quest 2! August 17, 2011

I couldn't resist chasing the tarpons around Wednesday morning! I did not have a partner to fish with which is not the best idea but I took a chance. I glassed a number of bait pods and finally settled on one with some nervous bait after studying them for a bit I was able to see several tarpon roll in them. I grabbed my gear and put in.

There was a pretty good swell and the surface was a little rough which made finding the bait once I got out there a little hard.

The action was real good! I snagged a pogy and casted him back in the pod. Within 10 minutes I got a strike and the line started heading east. I set the hook and a slob of a tarpon in the 140-150# range rocketed skyward. He thru the hook on the first jump which was probable a good thing since I was by myself. I snagged another pogy and immediately had that one stripped from the hook. The next bait got the same result.

The next pogy made it about 5 minutes before the line started to leave. I set the hook and pulled the pogy right out of his mouth without ever sticking him?

Once again I snagged another pogy and heaved him back into the middle of the school. In just a few minutes the rod pulled down and I set the hook, grabbed the camera and was able to just catch her first and only jump.





The tarpon immediately headed east for deep water. I hooked her in 18' and in 12 minutes we were in 45' with 3-4' swells but remarkably the fight was over at that point. I tugged her on board for some pics and turned her loose.





I was a little uncomfortable with the conditions, especially since the fish had almost pulled me over trying to get the pictures. I decided not to push my luck and headed for the beach.

The tarpon action is really great right now but no telling how long it might last.

    Good Luck,
    Larry S.

PS, I have several people inquire about which PFD I am using. It is a pretty decent vest and has held up well. It gets a little hot but that is probably true for the others as well. This one is a Bass Pro Shops vest. It is reasonably priced and here is a link where you can find out more about it.......

Tarpon Quest 3 - Aug. 12,11

Tarpon Quest 3 Aug. 12,11

Typically, the pogies are gone by this date but Monday (the 8^th) I had to make an inspection over at the beach and I used the trip to do a little recon. To my surprise there was still plenty of bait pods making their way along the beach. I couldn’t get off work to fish until Friday morning and I did not have anyone to accompany me but with the bait still here I couldn’t resist.

As usual I made my way glassing down the beach and decided to put in on a nice pod of nervous bait way up north at the edge of the city limits. Before I could get in the water I had already seen several tarpon strike into the helpless little pogies.

Pogy school.

The surf was flat and glassy and the launch was just like I like it…uneventful. I paddled for the school and snagged my first bait. The water was as clear as I have ever seen it. You could see the bait schooled up 6-8’ down. The conditions were ideal!

Tarpon strike, bustin' bait!

It did not take long before I noticed something swimming away with my line. I eased up on the rod until I felt the weight of the fish and then lowered the rod as he swam. Once the rod was back down at the water I let him have it!….Two hard hook sets and the fight was on. The big tarpon immediately made a jump that had to be a record. He launched straight up and his nose had to have made the 15’ mark. Incredible. From there it was dive, dive, dive and of course head for deeper water.

A tarpon jump I managed to photo myself.

My tarpon fishing partner Rick Was working on a house nearby so I called him on the cell to let him know I was hooked up and heading east. Everything was going good and I was 47 minutes in when all of the sudden….pow, the main line broke. I was putting some pretty serious heat on him in an effort to break him before he got me to far out. I knew I was pushing the limits of the equipment. When the line gave way I almost tumbled out the other side of the yak!

It was disappointing but I quickly recovered and got a fresh leader on. I spotted another bait school and paddled over to snag a new bait. In less than 10 min. I was hooked up again. This fish did not jump at the hook set and it pretty quickly became evident why…..Shark! It was a 48” spinner shark. I got a few pictures as best I could without being overly risky and cut the leader. Even a small shark is nothing to fool around with in a kayak.....all kinds of things can go wrong. I originally thought this was a black tip. It’s a good thing I did not keep this one as the spinner has a 54” fork requirement where the blacktip has no minimum. Shark ID can be pretty difficult, be careful if your going to keep one. The main difference (I later discovered) between the blacktip and the spinner is the anal fin. The blacktip’s anal fin is white and the spinner’s is tipped in black.....go figure.

Nice Spinner Shark!

Once again I tied in a new leader, snagged another pogy and was back in the game. It did not take long to hook up with my third fish of the morning….another big 115-125# silver king. He made two big tail walks at the hook set and the fight was on. It was an epic battle. The fish headed south east pulling me along for the ride. I called Rick again…..”hey man, I’m hooked up again!” Rick said “I’m almost wrapped up, as soon as I’m done I’ll put the boat in and get some pictures for you.”

Rick lucked up and caught this jump. very hard to get photo.

At one point the Tarpon pulled me thru a school of big yellow fin Jacks that numbered over a hundred. It was an incredible sight to see them swarming around the boat in the clear water with those bright yellow fins shinning.. Man, I would have sure liked to have tossed a jig in the middle of those guys. Maybe next time.

By the time Ricky arrived I was so far out he could hardly see me. There was a shrimp boat anchored out beyond me culling his catch and there was some bird activity down current from the boat. The tarpon was headed that way and my first thought was oh, no! there’s probably going to be a bunch of sharks hanging around there and I didn’t want my tarpon, or me for that matter, anywhere around them.

By the time Rick caught up with me I was over an hour into the battle. Little did I know we were just getting started!

Hooked up!

I had the leader up to the boat a number of times but he was far from caught. He would come up and get a gulp of air and dive, stripping line as he headed for the bottom. I just could not break him! Every time he gulped air he would regain his energy. Rick was getting anxious to get this over with and was pressing me to put some more heat on him. My go to guru for ocean and flats fishing, Capt. Rick (another rick) gave me some advice on how to deal with these air gulpers. I'll see how this works out of the kayak and report on this technique in another post.

It was time to do something, incredibly, we were approaching the 3 hour mark and my rod hand was trying to go to sleep on me. We had almost made a complete circle around the shrimp boat and had been as much as a ½ mile beyond him at one point.

At 2 hours and 51 minutes in, under my straining Ugly Stick, the main line gave way and I was free! It was disappointing and a relief all at the same time. What a battle. I still can't believe how long I was on that fish.

I have since revised my rigging to help eliminate break offs like this on these long bodied fish. When your after fish in the 100-150# range, leaders, knots and line become critical.

We took a short rest and started our journey back to the beach. When we arrived a couple guys came over and asked “We have to ask….what were you guys hook up with? We’ve been watching you for three hours getting pulled around out there!” Two words…..Big Tarpon!

It was close to 2 PM and I had been hooked up to fish almost the entire morning. From our vantage on the dune we could see the tarpon action was still going on with some aggressive strikes into the scattered bait schools.

Its was an incredible morning to be fishing in the surf with the glassy conditions and clear water. You don’t get to see it like this very often.

Here’s a few pictures from the trip

Good Luck,
Larry S.

See that tiny shrimp boat in the distance....little did I know I'd end up on the other side of him!

All the water that looks wind blown is actually disturbed from the bait school

That's some glassy ocean water, perfect conditions!

Headed east!

Look at that bent rod!

There's the anchored shrimp boat during the fight.

Spinner shark.

A pogy I just snagged with a "j" hook.

Pogy school down below.

At this point we were at least a 1/2 mile past the anchored shrimp boat!

Tarpon making a circle...Look at the bobbles coming off the wake! 

Nice spinner shark!

Tarpon Quest! 7-30-11

Well, this past saturday was a mile stone for me. I have been wanting to catch a tarpon from my yak in the surf for 3 years now and it finally all came together like shooting fish in a barrel. The way this is normally done is snaging a pogie out of a big pod of bait and pitching him back in, free line.

The first year I jumped one tarpon in the 110 to 120# range and there was a lot of tarpon action but the bait schools were gone pretty quick. This past year the schools of pogies never showed up that I know of. However, this year they are here in force. An electrician friend of mine called me last week to tell me he was wiring a house at the beach and the bait school in the surf stretched as far as the eye could see!

I scouted it that day and he was not lying. At the first spot I pulled over to glass the surf.....I couldn't believe my eyes....the pogy pod was 2-300yds wide and stretched as far as I could see with my 10X32 nikons.


                                          Just a corner of a large school of pogies!

             

                        That's solid pogies except the little sliver on the right at the skyline, Unbelievable!

I did not see much for striking action but I figured with that much bait there had to be some predators under them.

Thursday I fished by myself and saw 30-40 tarpon strikes but there was so much bait I could not get a tarpon to find the pogy with the hook in it. I had one strike so close to me I could have touched it....I had pogies blown all into the boat! I came close to walking on water! I promise you that will get your attention.

Friday the tarpon action only lasted til about 8:00 and there was no more striking. I did catch two small sharks in the 36-42" range.



Saturday My electrician buddy borrowed a yak and we were in the water a little after 7:00AM. Rick had never been in a kayak before but he did a good job with the surf entry. I snagged us two pogies on the first cast into the school and Rick paddled over to another pod 40-50yds away. About the time he went to make his first cast I hooked up with a monster. There was two big charging tail walks and the battle was on! I probably didn't have a bait in the water more than 3 minutes.

The mammoth tarpon pull me over 3 1/2 miles and took 1 hour and 51 minutes to land. We ended up over 2 miles out and in 55' of water. The fish was 69" to the fork with a 40"girth and a whopping 144#!!!!



 

                                    Look at that bow wake!

When the fish finally rolled to the top Rick pulled his boat alongside and hefted him onto his yak for a picture. He slid him back in the water and I pulled the tarpon over for my shot but before I could get my had in his mouth the hook popped out! He turned nose down and slowly swam away. So, here's Rick with my tarpon! What a monster!





This thing put up one hell of a fight. By the time it was over we decided to work our way back and we fished a pod or two for just a minute but we had about had enough so we called it a day.

The pogies are moving south and I have not seen any more pods since Monday But I got a report today that the tarpon are thick as flies near Cocoa Beach.

Larry S.

That's some glassy water, perfect conditions!

Man that thing was pullin' there!

What a day!
.