FISHING SEASON 2K12!!!!!!

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Got a late start and didnt get the lines in until 11:30 or so.

Armed with three rods a cup of fresh dead shrimp and a dozen live fleas I hit the beach to see it muddy. Honestly, if I had something better to do I most likely wouldnt have stopped to fish.

Got set up and not long I landed my first fish, a 12" whiting. Then two more quickly followed.

After a short while with out a bite I notice the line on one of my rods is all slack. I start reeling and to my surprise had a 12" pomp. Not too long after that his 13" brother decided to join the party.

Meanwhile I see my other rod about to break in half. I normally use light mono but this was my buddies reel - a shimano baitrunner - loaded with braid and the drag was pretty tight. I forgot to set the baitrunner and the hook pulled. I quickly rebaited and threw it back out. Not 30 seconds later and the greedy fish was still there and bit again, a 33" red.

Next fish was 20" black drum followed by a nice 15" pomp.

I had to pick up my daughter by 2:30 so at 10 till I decide to wrap it up when the baitrunner gets slammed again. This fish had some steam and after about 10 minutes this 35" black hit the beach.

Interestingly I only caught one on my long surf rod - cast further with it - as I usually catch the most fish on it. Also all fish but one came on the fresh dead shrimp. I guess they could smell the shrimp better then the flea as they couldnt see either.

Overall for 2.5hrs and crappy muddy water the haul was pretty nice.

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Fishing down here has gotten me spoiled. Not only do they fight alot harder but they taste so much better too. Last night I had blackened drum and tonight its going to be pecan encrusted pan fried pompano and whiting.
 
Nice Catches JD7.62!

How are you guys holding up in the tornados?
Saw in on the news today, looks pretty bad.
 
yeeeeeah i pretty much hate you right now JD.... thats an awesome day, especially for only a couple hours of fishing?!?!? geeze. hoping to land my first red drum this year, maybe first black too but red is the goal... first red and a 20"+ speck
 
Im hitting the beach in the AM, hopefully with the same result. This time of year the big bull reds are roaming the beaches.

If you ever end find your self around here, I can guarantee a red and on most days a 20"+ speck. I dont fish too much for specks though. They dont put up too much of a fight but they are ok on the table.
 
if i ever end up down there i will most definitely take you up on that. y'alls inshore fishery is just some of the best in the world... ours could be a lot better with better management, still isnt bad though by any means. I really need to learn how to read the surf. Going on vacation with my girlfriends family in june and will most likely be stuck surf fishing so between then and now i need to find how to find the holes
 
The inshore fishing isnt bad but I think its better in South Florida. We really only have reds, specks and flounder - alot of them but really thats it. In S. Florida, you have all of the above plus tarpon and snook. At least its alot less crowded around here and we dont have miles of no wake "manatee zones".

Offshore though is fantastic, yeah we have to go a bit further to get to blue water then SE FL, but we do produce some nice bluewater fish, afterall nearby Destin is the "Luckiest Fishing Village in the World". Our bottom fishing is some of the best if theyll ever let us keep anything!

Reading the surf is pretty easy. Look at the waves breaking. Waves break more violently over shallow water so youll want to find that cut where the waves are breaking less violently. This is an area where the undertow is ripping out to sea creating a "cut" through the sand bars and the fish sit up in these areas to feed. Also sometimes there will be scalloped shaped cut out in the sand. We dont have large tides here like where you do so I dont know if looking for the scalloped cut out would help.
 
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