Fishing Where it's Warm (Florida)

I've neglected this blog for a couple months now, mainly because I haven't gotten much fishing in, and have been really busy with just about everything else in my life.

I just returned from a 5-day long weekend in which my family and I went to Florida. Between the sightseeing, hiking, and spending time with relatives, a piece of my time was devoted to fishing.

We arrived at a tiny airport at St. Augustine on Friday. We toured the Old Town and visited the Castillo de San Marcos. The Castillo was especially cool, with the cannon-firing demonstrations and the old stone walls. I also managed to get an hour of fishing at the local marina.

At the marina, I pulled out a size 12 sabiki to catch some bait, to eventually try to catch some snappers of something of that sort. I could see a lot of tiny fish in the calmer waters, but weren't sure what they were. It turns out that I caught one, which I identified as a Bay Anchovy! This was my first lifer and fish of 2015! (although tiny)

the Bay Anchovy

They came in rapid succession, and I hooked a couple and put them on the bottom. I had a couple stolen baits, and one hooked fish, but none came to hand. Maybe it was because I was fishing on Friday the 13th. With the temperature in the low 50's, and the wind at 10 knots, I decided to call it a day.

After that, we toured around some more, and headed to our hotel. 

The second day was spent at the Kennedy Space Center. No fishing was done, but the space center was really cool, and I learned a lot. We arrived at my aunt and uncle's place at West Palm Beach during the night.

The next morning, I was up early and itching to get fishing. Prepared with a hot dog and some shrimp, I set off to the canal across the road, with high hopes for exotics like cichlids and walking catfish.

And I got skunked.

I tried the nearby lake, where I caught a couple of bluegills and some dinky bass, but nothing noteworthy. After breakfast, it was time to head to Okeeheelee Park for me to fish, my dad to golf, and my sister, mom, and cousin to canoe around the lake.

At the first spot I tried, the water was murky and I caught nothing but plain 'gills. While I soaked bait, I whipped out my tanago hooks and tried microfishing, which quickly produced my second lifer of the trip (and its still tiny). 

the all-too-common Eastern Mosquitofish 

I then tried the dock near the boat rental area. The difference in the water was exponential, considering that it was still the same lake as my first spot! The visibility was probably around 30+ feet. 

But because of the clear water, the fish were wary. Very wary. I could see 'gills up to 10 inches, as well as every single leaf of the aquatic plants under them. Oh yeah, there was also huge bass. HUGE bass, maybe up to ten lbs. I tried catching both bluegills and bass, but none of them responded. Even the bluegill, which i know as a rather dumb fish, were super spooky. 

A family started feeding bread to the fish, and the bluegills, after a while, started to take the bread regularly. By freelining a piece of bread on a small hook, i finally managed to hook into a bluegill. Not a bad sized one either, although not a titty bream. But... It was a Coppernose Bluegill, white-tipped fins and all!

the coppernose

You may be able to see just how clear the water was. The water right behind the bluegill was a good 15 ft deep. 

The day was getting hotter and hotter, and nothing else took. The bass shunned all the lures I had, and i simply couldn't catch a bluegill for bait. Finally, I hooked into a small bluegill. Without wasting a second, I rigged it up on my heavier rod and cast it at the largest bass within sight. Apparently the biggest had swam off, but this one was still huge to me.

First cast by the bass, and the bass lunged with the most fury I've ever seen a fish strike. So much fury that it missed the bait entirely. I reeled it in as fast as I could, and sent it out for a second cast. The bass immediately hit again, this time hitting home. The water was so clear, I could see every detail in the strike; the flared gills, the white mouth, and the bluegill trying to swim away. The fish, having felt the hook, streaked off for deeper water, but even then, I could see every headshake, every little muscle in its body tense up. 

After a bit of time, the bass started to tire and it was time to land it. I crouched down, slowly grabbed it by the lip, and tightened. I lifted the thrashing fish up, and it was mine. My personal best largemouth bass! (It might not be big by Florida standards, but I'm from Jersey)

It was a good 6 lbs

That fish sure made my day. 

I didn't catch any other fish, but I did see some big shiners that I didn't hook. 

At the end of the day, I went fishing at the Lake Worth Pier. I got skunked really badly, lets just put it at that. 

Getting skunked at the pier

The fourth day of the trip, I was up early again to try the canals one more time. After an hour of no bites, I finally felt weight and a fight as I reeled in my chunk of hot dog to check my bait. I reeled it in, and I was surprised to see a little White Catfish on the end of my line! Another lifer, still small but at least respectable... I almost thought it was a channel catfish at first; it was so smooth in color and thin, but the tail was a dead giveaway.

It was a pretty little catfish

I received no further bites, and after breakfast the whole family went to downtown West Palm Beach for an art gallery and some fishing time for me! 

My uncle was kind enough to stand by while I fished for about an hour and a half, which I really appreciated. The first two spots we went to were private or didn't allow fishing. But eventually, we found a spot right next to a big bridge. I fished for a while using squid with no luck. I jigged a swimbait near shore, and something big took it when I was jigging under a rock. I didn't see it; it retreated as fast as a bullet back into the rock. The first time it took, it let go. The second time, it snapped my line. :(

After quite some time, my uncle left. Ironically, that was the point in which i started to catch fish! Jigging a chunk of squid under the lost swimbait rock produced a Hairy Blenny, which I quickly brought ashore. Another lifer, this time from Florida's saltwater!

It was actually quite beautiful!

There was a tiny dock nexy to the bridge, and I fished of it with some more squid. I felt some strong taps, and brought up a Checkered Puffer! The puffer fought pretty hard, I didn't expect so much from a blobby-looking fish.

A very cool fish nonetheless

Those little buggers sure bit hard, my finger strayed to close to its mouth, and it left its mark on me which remained there for the next two hours.

Jigging a piece of squid under the lost swimbait rock gave me a lifer Pinfish! (the rock was huge) The Pinfish also fought pretty hard for its size, and was a gorgeous fish with its yellow body and blue stripes.

After that, jigging under the same rock produced one more checkered puffer. 

Satisfied, i joined my family on the drive from West Palm Beach to Fort Myers. Along the way, we stopped by a wetlands preserve. I saw some GIANT tilapia, but fishing was prohibited. That was a bummer. 

On the last day of our trip, we made a decision to go to Manatee park because of the manatees, and because of a report on Roughfish.com (thanks Gunnar!)

Shortly after gazing in awe at the manatees (as they were so much bigger than expected), I headed to the fishing pier armed with two rods and bait and tackle. This was my last shot at some cichlids and some Florida Gar. I was happy to hear that both had been recently caught there. 

Setting up shop, I noticed gobies in the water, and it about a minute to catch one, of which 58 seconds were spent setting up the tanago hooks. Another lifer, the Crested Goby!

I set of squid on the bottom, and waited for events. I also cast some spinners and lures with no luck. As I reeled in my squid to check, I felt a strong tap. I set the hook and something took off on my ultralight. The mangrove-stained waters made it hard to see what it was, but there was a flash of orange, the right color.

I was ecstatic to pull up a colorful Mayan Cichlid! It fought really well, living up to its "atomic sunfish" nickname. It even peeled some drag as I fought to turn it away from the mangroves. It was radiating orange light. This was awesome! 

It flopped around, tangling my gear, but I didn't mind. It was a cichlid! There was also plenty of big tilapia by the manatees, but fishing is only allowed at the fishing pier. I guess the fish there are smart.

No gar were brought to hand, but lets just say I didn't catch a gar so I'll have something to take my revenge on when I come back (not like there isn't anything more to catch in Florida :D).

We stopped by more preserves, where I saw gar, but again, fishing was prohibited...

So concluded my adventure in Florida. I left with 8 lifers, bringing my total to 39 species, as well as some fishing memories I'll never forget.

Thanks for all the people on Roughfish.com for giving me tips and info!

More Paintings

I've finished some larger scale paintings this past couple of weeks. One is an acrylic painting of a shad I caught on the Raritan River, my header pic, and another more contemporary oil painting of mackerel at a fish market. 
I actually started the shad painting in early July, but never got around to finishing it until recently. 

You can see in this painting the gold rooster tail I caught it on, as well as the sunset and the dam I caught it under.

Not as related to fishing, but I thought I'd post it up because it was fish.

The pictures don't really match

I hope to finish by this spring a sucker painting and a new pickerel painting ( I already have one from a year or so back). I'm heading for Vermont for winter break, so maybe I'll get some ice fishing in? Until then, happy holidays!

Rainbow Trout Art

Happy Thanksgiving! I've recently been drawing a lot, mostly because of all the cold weather, rain and snow we have been getting in Central NJ. I decided to share a set of rainbow trout paintings I just finished. I thought they were pretty cool.

As you may recall, I caught this fish by Abrams Falls in Tennessee.

This one was from the Queets River in Washington 

This Beardslee was from Crescent Lake, Washington.

All of them next to each other.

One thing I realized about rainbow trout, the variation between the strains can be amazing. All these fish are oncorhynchus mykiss, yet are so different. I just thought that a matching trio might be quite beautiful and interesting to the eye.

Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains

School was cancelled for two days last week, so my family planned a four day weekend trip to Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The fishing (you knew this was coming) was spectacular, for both game fish and new species. 

The first day was beautiful, but was unable to accommodate any fishing. However, the amazing scenery and foliage covered that aspect. 

The second day, It was to my delight that our hotel in Gatlinburg was right over and provided access to the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River. So I got up in the morning and fished! I tried fishing for trout, but with the lack of action, I took my cane pole and tiny hook to fish for micros. Surprisingly, the very first spot I tried yielded a new species- the mottled sculpin!

This specific mottled sculpin wasn't very mottled

The view from the hotel

I was very happy with this new catch, but another hour of attempts turned out to be fruitless.

After morning was over, we went driving to different places, hiking, viewing historical landmarks, and enjoying the atmosphere. For lunch, we stopped by a picnic area adjacent to the Little River. While my family munched on lunch, I took the rod out to fish. I happened to have a chartreuse panfish tube on, so I thought, what the heck? I might as well try it. To my surprise and delight, I got a strike on my very first cast! However, the fish popped off. The second cast delivered the same result but further casts didn't result. Thinking that the fish were spooked by the tube, I quickly tied on a black and gold Rooster Tail inline spinner. On my first cast, I got a strike and quickly brought to hand a small, but wild and beautiful, rainbow trout.

Cute

That was it fishing wise for the second day. However, much more was to be enjoyed. 

The third day was the highlight of my trip. We began with a seven mile hike to Abram's Falls on Abram's creek, a known rainbow trout producer. I brought my spinning rod along, to see what I could catch. As I arrived at the falls, I immediately began fishing, to not waste any time (I'm kinda obsessed). The water under the falls was very deep, probably around 30 feet at its deepest. On one of my first casts to to shallower part, I felt resistance and set the hook. The fish fought doggedly and splashed with much vigor, but I was able to coax the fish to shore and bring up what was a much larger, and much more deeply colored, rainbow trout!

absolutely beautiful

For another half hour while my family ate lunch, I explored the area. Just as we were about to leave, I got another hit, again on the shallow end of the pool. I speedily hoisted up another trout, this time smaller but equally beautiful.

Me fishing at the falls

2 trout in half an hour seemed like a great time for me, so I packed up my rod and journeyed back to the lot. Along the way, I gave a couple more casts, but nothing took. 

We happened to be driving on a scenic loop we had taken already, and I remembered a small creek full of logjams and deep pools right by the visitor center. So I decided to stop by while everyone else looked at historical landmarks and got info from the center. At the first nice pool, there was a huge log that went across the water. I thought it might be interesting to climb on this log and fish. So I climbed on the quite slippery log and fired a cast under the log, allowing my spinner to drift under the log. I felt a bite not long after I learned the technique, but almost fell in the water fighting the fish. Luckily, I avoided such a fate and was able to land the fish as well! It was another rainbow trout, and it had the deepest colors I have ever seen on one.

Mugshot

After that fish, I decided to move to another pool downstream. On the second cast, my spinner got slammed. I could immediately tell this was a good fish. The arc of my rod swayed as the fish peeled my moderately loose drag (remember, this is ultralight and 4 lb test, and I take all cautions). Suddenly, the fish was right there, thrashing violently in the shallows. Somehow, my line had become entangled in the bank-side long grass, so now I had to untangle the line and land the fish, still enraged at being tricked. Somehow, someway, I did it and landed what is my largest trout to date, a 12 inch rainbow. (keep in mind that this fish is a beast by Smoky Mountain standards) 

I have no idea how the spinner made this into a motion shot

just before release

At that point, the sun was setting and it was time to go back. The grin on my face couldn't have been wider as we headed back to the hotel.

On the last day, we checked out of our hotel, and drove back to Atlanta. Along the way, I got to fish a river we passed earlier but was unable to stop: The Oconaluftee River. At this particular water, I was able to pull off two new species with my cane pole, the river chub and the mirror shiner!

 The mirror shiner was especially frustrating. A group of these tiny, silvery fish were situated under this rock right next to shore in water that was free from current. The fish would nibble the worm, then spit it out. They attacked my split shot more than my bait. Furthermore, every time I hooked one, It would fall off the hook abruptly after leaving the water. It took we a while to finally catch my lifer mirror shiner.

Some scenery and wildlife photos:

On the plane ride back, I reflected on my trip. I had seen bears, turkeys, and elk, stunning east coast mountains, caught plenty of rainbow trout (including my new Personal Best), and caught three new species in a matter of four days. 

And thus concluded a one of my most memorable trips and one of the longest blog posts ever.