Fishing Roundup: You can't always catch fish, but you can always find a good picture
Sometimes your best catch might come with your camera and not your rod-and-reel.
“A couple minutes with the camera might bring your catch of the day — like a jumping, feeding fish, or a great sunrise or sunset, reflections off the water. The situations of what you might see are endless.”
So says David Tucker, one of our News-Journal photogs and one of a couple guys on staff (OK, maybe three) who’d rather fish than eat.
He sent along a couple of shots from this past week — the types of pictures usually reserved for the glossy fishing mags — and it got me wondering why more of us don’t kill the idle time more often with our camera or, yes, cell phone cam.
“Cell phones work for some people and the cameras get better all the time, and everybody has one, but I'm an old-school camera guy,” David says.
“Sometimes fishing gets slow, sometimes fish don’t bite what you’re using for bait.”
If you’re a live-bait angler, you don’t even have to stop fishing. Toss your line, set the rod in a holder, and relax with the camera while scouring the current and shoreline for the potential shot that just might make your Christmas card. If you're the cast-and-retrieve jig or plug type, and you're in a slump, maybe a short break will change your luck.
And if you get one of those great shots, send it my way so others can see it here — Lord knows we see plenty of victorious anglers holding frightened and defeated fish, and we enjoy those, but a little aesthetic beauty might be a nice break.
FISHBITES' LOCAL ANGLE The idea for Fishbites began with young Billy Carr in New Smyrna Beach
“You might have to put some effort into your work,” David says. “I fired off maybe 50 or 60 frames of fish feeding to get a shot of a snook in mid-air — I got several photos but that was the shot that made my quick morning trip.
“I only planned to stay out an hour, only had one lure, and after 20 minutes I realized it wasn’t the lure they wanted. But another 20 or 30 minutes with the camera made it worth the trip.”
It’s also not a bad way to spend a day on the water if you’re one of those who only reluctantly tags along to keep your boat mate company while pretending to enjoy yourself. You know who you are.
Halifax/Indian River
Seems like the snook didn’t realize they were off the catch-and-release list. They’re still plentiful, but still carrying a daily bag limit of one per angler and that mail-slot of 28-32 inches.
“They’re catching a lot of them on pigfish, pinfish and shrimp,” says Craig Patterson (Donald’s Bait Shop in Port Orange).
FISHING ADVICE Gone fishin' but not getting any bites? These area anglers have some tips for you
“Mangrove snapper are still everywhere, hitting shrimp, both live and dead,” Craig adds. “Bigger mangroves are being caught on mudminnows.”
Some reports of sheepshead, preferably on fiddler crabs, are out there.
Capt. Bart Rutan (Red Talon Charters) has been seeing reds "crawling the edges of mangroves," while also finding snook and mangrove snapper in most creeks.
Also, he says, "find the birds diving and catch your fill of ladyfish on the flats."
Ike Leary says his folks on the Granada fishing pier are seeing, and occasionally hooking, some good-sized snook.
Ike is now serving occasional fish chowder from the slow cooker on his back counter. Two bucks a cup. His wonderful cup-of-collards special has been bumped from a buck to a buck-50 — yep, even collards are susceptible to the modern price hikes.
Surf
The pompano are out there but whiting seem to be the most plentiful edible fare coming through the waves.
Our regular chronicler of all-things surf fishing, Marco Pompano, has finally returned after a whirlwind world tour of sorts and, as he confirms, “there’s no place like home.”
“I went out today and got five pompano in the morning and I’m sitting here with a smile on my face,” he said midweek. “The small mullet are running … tons of them in the surf.”
A handful of black drum are also being brought to shore.
Flagler
Things are picking up all over in the Palm Coast areas of the intracoastal.
“The creeks and flats have seen a good uptick of trout and reds,” says Capt. Mike Vickers (Hammock Bait).
The Matanzas Inlet area has been offering solid reports of reds and flounder, “with drum and some sheepshead around the bridge,” Capt. Mike says.
Offshore
All in all, we shouldn't complain. Hurricane Lee, chugging along out in the distant Atlantic, has enough reach to churn our waters and make inlet passages dangerous, if not impossible for a few days.
Could've been worse, as we know.
St. Johns
Crappie season (specks, to most of us) is rounding into form as the water cools, and “better news on the bass front,” according to Capt. Bryn Adams at Highland Park in DeLand.
Threadfin shad are starting to populate in the lakes, an annual happening that gets the bass turned on.
To the north, in Astor, Kerry McPherson says the fishing is great right now but the fishermen are hard to find most days.
“It’s just that time of year,” Kerry says from his South Moon Fish Camp perch. “School starts back, hunting season starts … everybody shifts gears. Fishing overall right now is as good as it’s been all year long but nobody’s fishing.
“That’s not a bad thing. Gives the fish a break and let’s them do their thing.”
In a few weeks or so, Kerry will start taking in a bunch of speck-fishing visitors from the near and not-so-near north.
The St. Johns run of white shrimp is ramping up in the northern reaches of the St. Johns, from Palatka northward.
Grand Slam tourney
Never underestimate the fun to be had at a tournament weigh-in.
Want to test that theory? The Fysh Bar & Grill, that fancy (and big) new restaurant on the Halifax in Port Orange, is sponsoring a Grand Slam tourney Saturday, with weigh-in next door on the docks of the Carefree Boat Club from 2-4 p.m.
The targeted fish are reds, flounder, trout and … jacks? Yep, jacks.
The prize fund is $6,500, so it should be a spirited weigh-in dock.
HSFC: This month, learn to fish for sharks
Want to catch a shark?
You can learn a lot next Thursday (Sept. 21) when Dustin Smith visits the Halifax Sport Fishing Club for its monthly meeting and seminar. Dustin runs NSB Shark Hunters, and will provide all the details on hooking sharks from the area surflines.
As always, there’s a brief club meeting beginning at 7, followed by the shark chat at 7:30.
More info: HSFC.com.
ALWAYS SHARK WEEK It's a nightly event for this New Smyrna Beach fishing guide
Hook, line and clicker: Send us your fish pics
We want to see your most recent catch. Email your fish photos to ken.willis@news-jrnl.com.
Please include first and last name of angler(s), as well as type of fish (we're occasionally stumped). All are included with our online fishing report, and some occasionally make the print edition.
Do I need a fishing license?
You can find all the license info, including exemptions, on Florida's Fish and Wildlife Commission website: MyFWC.com. But the basics are: No: If you're 65 or older, 15 or younger, you don't need a license. No: If you're fishing with a licensed guide or charter boat, both of which purchase commercial licenses that cover their customers. Yes: Most everyone else, including visitors from other states. Yes: Even if you're a shore-based angler (shoreline, dock, pier, bridge, etc.). However: The shore-based license is free . . . But: You still need to register for that free license.
Where do I get a license and what does it cost?
Many bait shops sell licenses, as do the bigger retailers (Bass, Dick's, Walmart, etc.). Florida's FWC uses a third-party site for buying or renewing fishing licenses: GoOutdoorsFlorida.com. The cost: $17 for an annual license. Don't forget: Whether you're fishing fresh or saltwater, you need the specific license. Freshwater and saltwater licenses are both $17 annually.
I’m here on vacation, do I need a license?
Yes you do, and they're also available at GoOutdoorsFlorida.com or certain bait shops and big retailers. Cost: $17 for three days, $30 for seven days, $47 for a year.Also: Non-residents need to purchase that license even if they're just fishing from shoreline or shore-based structures. (Florida residents need that license, too, but they're free.)
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Fishing Roundup: Yes, sometimes your best catch comes from the shutter
