Fishing Report 7/9/11 -PM - Pellicer Flats

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Mon. July 9, 2011
Moon - new moon on Fri.

M.F.= 1:30 pm
Temp.: Low 73, 87 h.
wind: N-NE-laid after 7pm

pressure: 29.99 (Steady)
humidity:82% -62-94%
rain: rain showers afternoon in bunnell but petered out before getting to the beach

fully cloudy and rain

The lack of action this morning at Scottsmoor left me disappointed and fell far short of satisfying my appetite to stretch my line. After fishing at Scottsmoor I went straight to the office to do some work. That was worse than not catching any fish and while working my mind wandered to thoughts of another fishing adventure. I knew the tide was about right to fish up at Pellicer flats but the ominous black Sky's suggested the trip could be a wet adventure. I checked the Doppler radar on line and found some pretty serious rain in a long line, all headed right for where I wanted to fish! However, it seemed to be breaking down just before getting there. It was later than I wanted when I finally made the commitment to leave. It was really bad looking and I was second guessing myself as it started to sprinkle on my windshield before I even got out of town.

When I arrived at the launch I was glad to see the weather had run everyone else off and I had the whole place to myself. The tide was almost full and it made catching any fiddler crabs a little tough but I did managed 12 or 15. I put the yak in the water, loaded up and paddled off.

My plan was to try to catch a few sheepshead off some pilings before heading to the flats for some top water action. I spent about a half hour soaking fiddler crabs along the piles without even a nibble.

The tide was still coming in and the weather seemed to be holding so I headed for the nearest cut to ride the tide in to the flats before it changed. I fished my way in without a strike until I was near the west end of the cut. I had just noticed the tide had started out when I rounded a sharp bend in the cut. Ahead, I could see an oyster bar extended mostly across the cut. I was fishing a yellow Johny Rattler and made a long cast to the far side of the bar and started my retrieve. Shortly after clearing the bar the plug was smashed by a big trout that looked to be 20-22".  In true trout character he wallowed and fanned the surface before diving for deeper water. It was a great fight but the trout finally tore off by partially straightening the forward hook. Damn the luck.

While I was embroiled in the fight I saw another fish strike off a point up ahead. By the time I lost my fish that one had struck two more times. I finished plugging the spot and moved ahead to catch the striker. Three casts to the spot produced nothing. I moved ahead a little and made another cast. It was met with a serious strike. I had him on for just a minute but was able to escape me also.

With less than 30 minutes to fish before dark I decided I had better get across the flat to my little hot spot.

I eased up to a small dot of an oyster bar with a channel between it and the bank. I had seen a nice strike there as I plugged my way over. I made a long cast with the "rattler" and ...wham! Another real aggressive strike but I only felt the fish for a split second, another nice trout lost!

I repositioned to the north side of the bar and plugged a little more. It was about time to leave and I said "self  I'm gona make one more cast back into that channel where I just left. A couple of sloshes from the Johny Rattler and a nice 18" trout blew up on it and the fight was on.....I just can't get enough of that!

I plugged the area a bit longer without much action until it was pretty dark and time to start the mile plus paddle back to the hill. I wanted to paddle out the next cut to the south but had a little trouble finding it in the fading light. I finally recognized a narrow passage to a larger cut that led to the one I was looking for. As I came to a tee with the main cut there was just enough light left for me to see a massive strike up ahead. The fish through water 3' into the air. I hastily  paddled ahead to make a cast. Before I could get there at least 4 more fish struck the surface! They were tearing in up! It was some of the best top water action I had seen in a long time.

I made a cast with the "rattler" and it was immediately met with a strike. A larger than average ladyfish took to the air with some 10-15' charging leaps. I fished the spot for about 30 minutes, well past hard dark. The action was unbelievable but all I could catch was large ladyfish. It was getting late so I paddled off into the dark and left them biting. Still can't believe I couldn't catch a trout out of all that. Typically, trout and ladyfish hang together and your liable to catch either or when the bite is on.

It was 10pm by the time I got back to the launch.

I ended up with (4) nice trout on, loosing (3) of them and about 8-10 large ladyfish. All in all it was a pretty good little trip.. Had the tide been an hour earlier I feel like I could have whooped up on the trout.

Til the next report, good luck,

Larry S.

The odd thing was this trout only had one spot on his body but normal spots on his fins and tail?

Unusual.

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Fishing Report 6/9/11 - Pellicer Flats

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Pellicer Fishing Report
Thurs.  June 9, 2011
Moon - first quarter today
M.F.=  5:30 pm
Temp.:  low 80's
Wind: E @ 10-15
pressure: steady (high)
Humidity:   

Rain: 0

Sunny

(2) redfish

(5) sheepshead

(1) pinfish

(1) ?fish

I checked my tide table today and realized the tide was going to be good this afternoon at Pellicer so I loaded up, put the closed sign on the door and headed for the river.

As soon as I got to the beach I spotted a pogy pod at the back of the mud line in the surf. Their finally here! I did not see any tarpon or other big strikes in them but it won't be long. I probably saw 7-8 pods north of hwy 100. I pulled over to watch one larger bunch and saw something really big strike in the breakers. It put water 3-4ft. in the air! I'm about to be all over this!

Well, my plan was to get to the river before the tide fulled so I could still catch a few fiddler crabs and try to catch a few sheepshead before paddling for the flats for some top water action.

I spent about a half hour to catch 3 dozen or so fiddlers and paddled over to fish some piles. There did not seem to be to many keeper sheepies in the area. I caught 5 but only 2 were decent keepers and guess which two got off right at the boat. I caught an odd fish that I'm not sure the name of and a few pin fish. I did put a short redfish in the boat that put up a good little fight.

By 8:00 I had used the last of my fiddler crabs so I hauled but for the closest cut to get me to the flats.

I really think I messed up staying so long at the sheepshead spot. I should have left there by 7:00 to give me time to fish the flats. As it was, I only had time to fish the cut and it was almost dark by the time I reached the edge of the flats.

There was a pile of bait, mostly finger mullet but I did see some small birds diving glass minnows on the way in over a deep hole. There was several surface strikes on the way in. When I reached a point in the creek where it splits off in several directions I saw a fish strike some bait on the surface just out of casting distance on the opposite bank and across from a point where I caught a decent trout on the last trip. I made sever more casts and then took a couple strokes to nose the yak onto a shallow mud shoal where I could cast to where I saw the strike. My cast was a bit short of where I wanted it but about the third time I sloshed the old 5m18 mirrorlure an explosions erupted from under my plug and the fight was on. The fish dove for the bottom but the cut was narrow and he had little room to run. I really thought I had a big gator trout on but after about 5 minute or so I finally got to see a big blue tail with a spot come boiling up.....Oh man, big red! Well, I got the fish in the boat and he was a beauty to behold as Capt. Ricky would say! 27" of of line stretching mean. There is no fishing more exciting than seeing a big predator strike a top water plug like that. I can not get enough of that!

It was a good thing he was pretty much right at the upper end of the slot as releasing him was not an option.....he had inhaled the plug and the tail treble was in his stomach. His fate was sealed.

I cut the line and quickly tied a white back floater on and keep going. Just before I got to the flat I spotted some action at the edge of an oyster bar just at the end of casting distance. I fired off a long one and just caught the edge of the oysters and couldn't flip it off.....hung! I started to paddle over when a fish struck along the deep side of the cut to my right. I free spooled the hung line, grabbed another rod and flipped a twitch bait to him. He hit it but did not get hooked. I made a second cast but it was long and hung in the mangrove.....now I've got one rod hung up on the left and one on the right! While trying to get the plug out of the bush the spinning rod in the back rod holder got hung up.......!#*!$!*&@! What the hell! How can one man in a kayak get 3 rod all hung up at the same time?

By the time I got all that mess straightened out it was pretty much over. I went ahead and paddled for the long oyster bar I wanted to fish, hoping I might pick off a trout before hard dark. No luck but there was a tremendous amount of bait and I really feel had I been there an hour earlier I would have been on some fish.

The tide will be perfect tomorrow night! I think I'll just have to go back. 

Here's a few little one to look at!

Larry S.

If your looking for a great top water plug that 5m18 Mirrorlure is the ticket! It also works better than the "walk the dog" plugs like the Skitterwalk in a light chop. I can't tell you how many fish I've caught on this thing but I promise you it's considerable. Here's a link for more info. 5m18 Mirrorlure. I always pull the front spinner off myself.

Fishing Report 5/29/11 - Pellicer Sheepshead (Part Two)

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Pellicer Fishing Report
Sun.  May 29, 2011
Moon - 3 days to new moon
M.F.=  8:55 am
Temp.:  72 L-82 H. (felt hotter to me)
wind: E @ 0-7AM-10-9AM  mph, (light winds early) steady at 10 mph after 9am
pressure: 30.08

Humidity: 73 avg.(60-91)  

Rain: 0

Sunny

I made the mistake of thinking I would go back after some more of that sheepshead action at pellicer this morning. The boat traffic was unbelievable!!! The Palm Coast Navy was out in full force. It was one boat after another, after another, after another.......I've never seen the boat traffic so bad. I decided to leave around 2:30 before they all started back in...best decision I made all day.

Well, I did manage to catch about 8 of those little bait stealer's but it was a struggle and they were smaller than the fish I caught on Friday. I have a little trick I'm gona put on em' next trip....we'll see how that works!

The tide was still comin' up when I got there so I had a little trouble catchin' some crabs but I wrangled up enough to get started. After the tide started out I had to go catch some more and I had one bucket of fine bait. Too bad the fishin' was so slow.

That's fiddler crabs all around the boat!

There has been a bunch of dolphins feeding on mullet here and one of them bastards snuck up behind me and damn near jumped in the boat with me. A little spooky when something moves that much water so close to your plastic boat! I saw another one actually chase a 12" mullet into the air and grab it right out of the air about 30yds in front of my yak as I was paddling back to the hill.

That was pretty much the story....a little slow but I put enough fish in the boat to make a couple messes.

Larry S. 

Fishing Report 5/24/11 - Pellicer Flats

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Pellicer Fishing Report
Tues.  May 24, 2011
Moon - Last Quarter today
M.F.=  5:05 pm
Temp.:  84
wind: SSE @ 10-12  mph, (pretty windy)
pressure: 29.98

humidity:   

rain: 0

sunny

Notes: Barometer was slightly falling thru the day 30.05-29.98! Light chop, water clarity low.

I loaded up and headed for Pellicer flats this afternoon. I got a little later start than I wanted due to a client stopping by. When I got to the launch I couldn't believe how low the water was! There was already 16" of water gone out and many oyster bars were well out of the water. I expect the Southerly wind had help the tide extra low.

The wind was blowing right down the river which made paddling in a little more of a chore. I fished my way in one of the cuts leading to the flats and picked up a nice 16" trout off a point at a tee in the creek. The trout smashed a 5m18 floater on the deeper side of the creek, along the mangrove bushes. He never came up to fan the top of the  water like a trout but it was a good fight and I thought it might be the start of a good afternoon. I have really been wanting to get into some top water trout action. Fooling a big trout into striking a top water plug is as exciting as fishing can get.

Well, I paddled for the flats from there, to a little area with channels and oyster bars that has been good to me in the past. Unfortunately, this day would not be one of those days. I never drew another strike for the rest of the evening. Other than some active bait (mostly mullet) the flat was pretty dead and I never saw any striking activity.

I also fished a curly tail chartreuse jig with no success. After the last trip which I had some trout activity on, I expected to see some action. I will say the tide was pretty low and had been going out for probably and hour and a half by the time I got there.

I had planned to go tomorrow but I may hold off on going back for now. The tide will be better but it has just been so windy it almost takes the fun out of it.

Here's a couple nice pictures anyway,

Larry S.

Fishing Report, Pellicer Flats, 5/13/11

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Pellicer Flats, Fishing Report
Friday,  May 13, 2011

Moon - 3 days past first Quarter M.F.=   7:00   AM
Temp.: 69 deg. (comfortable)
wind: SSW @ 8-12  mph, gust to  - mph  (wind speed greater than reported)
pressure: 29.92

humidity: avg. 60% (43-88)%   

rain: 0

sunny

Tide: (extra high) I believe it changed about 8:00am to start out.

Well, I finally found some fish.

I was going to go to Pellicer flats Thursday afternoon but I got fouled to the point that it was not worth the effort for an hour of fishing. I decided to call it off and go this morning before work. The only negative was the tide was going to full a little late in the morning...about 8:00 AM. That meant I would be primarily fishing the last of the out going which has not proven to be very productive in the past there, as I remember. It won't be right again until about the 25th for early AM fishing so I decided to give it a try rather than wait 2 weeks.

I think I could have caught a limit of trout had the tide been right. As it was I did not put a fish on the boat but I had (1) trout to the boat that was over 20" that tore off right at the boat before I could get my hand on him. He had actually missed it on the first strike and I stopped the plug then sloshed it again and he nailed it! I had another keeper on in the cut on the way in. I hooked him up on the edge of a flooded oyster flat, drop off.  There was a lot of active bait in the area. I was expecting a fish there but could not convert the opportunity.

I had 2 or 3 other good trout strikes including one that did a complete somersault over the plug and missed it.

I fished a 5m18 mirror lure which is a floater and Saltwater Assassin curly tail jig in chartreuse. I expected more action on the jig but only had one bump. All the action was on the floater. This is my favorite top water plug and I have caught a pile of fish on this thing.


Once the tide stopped the little bite that was going on was over and I probably only had 45 minutes of fishing where I stood a chance at a strike. By 9:00 I had to head for the hill so I could get to  business meeting by 10:00.

The wind was blowing more than I expected and that was a pain in the neck. It was difficult to hold a position and I had to do a lot of paddling.

I pretty much had the whole flat to myself and only saw one other kayak come in from Pellicer creek.

There were 2 others fishing the flats by the launch north of Marineland but I have not done to much around there.

There seemed to be plenty of bait. Mostly, finger mullet but I did flush a school of 6" menhaden  on the way out. I did not see any tailing fish on the flat so I don't know what there may be for redfish there but I'm about to lay with it and find out! I did spot (2) big sheepshead pop their tails up along the rocks at Marineland.

I think I'm gona go back on the incoming tide with it in about 1-2 hours, about an hour before dark and see what I can do so I don't have to wait 2 weeks for it to get right again.

Larry S.