COBIA SEASON is EARLY
by Robin

Yes folks, it is probably the warmest winter on record since I have lived in Florida. I had azaleas blooming in January and now that it is mid-February, they're in full bloom. The water temps are 65-68-ish. After this week of 80 deg temps, that water surface temp will be perfect for cobia floating to the surface to swim (69-70).



I have to say that it is quite an exciting thing to see a large fish swimming on the surface. Most the time, they are hungry unless people have been attacking them all weekend long.

So,

So, this is what it looks like. Sometimes you see them in singles and sometimes they are in groups like below.



They are not very shy about seeing the boat. Infact, they're very curious creatures. Probably not the smartest fish in the ocean. But, they are delicious.

In Florida, we are allowed to keep 1 per person per day in State waters (<3 mi) or 2 per person in Federal waters. They have to be 33" to the fork. And they bring a lot of the fight into the boat with them, once landed. Many are caught on the surface with pink jigs, live bait such as eels or shrimp or pinfish and some are caught off the bottom, near wrecks or good bottom surface. Another way to catch them is off of bait pods (see above picture) and swimming on the backs of manta ray. That is probably the funnest way for me. It is a double-pleasure to see the giant mantas.

My job after they're caught is to sit on the cooler for a while. We now have this giant cooler with steel clasps, which should stop the problem of them breaking our latches and attempting to jump out. Wow, what a strong fight. A few years ago, I was whipped in the face by a tail. What a stinger!

Here is a picture of me with my personal best cobia at 61 lbs in 2008. I caught it while looking for snapper and other reef fish. It came up so easily but once it saw the boat, freaked out! Nearly took me over the side and I could not control the fish or the pole. Jack had to help me fight the fish another 15 minutes. I first thought it was a shark as it swam out & away from the boat. Jack said, "No, that's cobia." I couldn't believe it, in late May. We had missed the regular cobia season because our boat was under restoration. I was SO HAPPY. I think it shows on my face, even hours after the catch. Neighbors came out to see what we caught. It was so heavy, I couldn't even lift it for the picture. I'm 5'1" and as you can see the fish is close to 5 ft long. (Forgive the large pic... it's what I had on file.)



Anyhow, if weather holds as predicted, we will head off on Saturday to cobia hunt.

Happy Fishing!
Robin

IT'S A DOG'S LIFE
by Robin

We haven't had time to go fishing lately. Jack is changing shifts again. The winds are up. So, I was looking through some old pics from October. I can't believe I never shared these with you.

One weekend, we thought we would do some river fishing. Well, we ran aground (slightly) 3 times and gave up. Fished right in the channel, catching only catfish. I suppose that is why I never posted up a fishing report.

Anyhow, we took our dogs on that trip. They seemed to have a good time with all the activity in their new world.



I cannot imagine what Captain would do if we put a big wahoo or mahi in the boat. I don't know if he would attack it or only bark. He liked being right in the thick of everybody's feet.



On the other hand, Tiki prefers to be an onlooker from a safe distance away from the action. I guess I would too if I were only 7 lbs. He's pretty quiet when onboard.

Wish I had a fish to show you, but you'll have to settle for dogs & a kid.

Happy Fishing, if the weather lets you.
Robin

KEEP FISHERMEN FISHING!!!!
by Robin


http://www.fishnet-usa.com/KFF_Release1.pdf

U.S. Coastal Fishermen to Rally in DC on March 21, 2012.

KFF organizers unite to fix Federal Fisheries Law. Signed into law in 1976, the Magnuson Steven Fisheries Conservation & Management Act has been transformed from its original intent, to conserve our nation's fisher and support our nation's fishermen, into a weapon employed by a handful of megafoundations and anti-fishing ENGOs they support to drive fishermen off the water.

On Feb 24, 2010, United We Fish brought 5,000 recreational, commercial and party/charter vessel owners and folks together in Washington. More than 2 dozen members of the Senate and the House of Representatives took time out from their busy schedule to address the crowd.

The Mar 21 rally wants to unite everyone again under one common message: fair access to the seas.

Most U.S. fisheries are in better shape biologically than they’ve been for a generation or more. In fact, last year NOAA fisheries scientists announced that 84% of U.S. fish stocks studied for fishing activity were not experiencing overfishing as of 2010. However, despite the heavy sacrifices on the part of coastal fishermen, the same federal agency in charge of managing
the resource has been using a broken law to mete out broken promises upon these constituents to ratchet down regulations as fisheries continue to rebuild.

In December 2011, the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing in which several pieces of legislation to reform Magnuson were heard and debated, providing ample evidence that coastal communities are suffering from the weight of over burdensome regulation due to the rigid statutory definitions written into the federal fisheries law.

For information on how you can get involved in the national rally to help Keep Fishermen Fishing, call 888-564-6732. For more information on the rally as it becomes available, including bus sign-up information and details from the 2010 rally, visit www.keepfishermenfishing.com.

You can also stay up to date with developments via “Keep Fishermen Fishing” on Facebook
and can follow developments on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/FishMarchDC2012.

PICNIK & PURPLE PORGIES
by Robin

My favorite online photo editing program is shutting down in April. I really loved how I could make purple fish with them. I will need to start saving for the real Photoshop program or something like it.

No more purple porgies. My pictures are going to be so boring!




On the bright side, I made some killer Kingfish dip with a side slap of Kingfish that a friend gave us.

High tide will be hitting early-mid-morning on Wed through Friday. I am trying to get my other fishing lady friends to hit the beaches with me & the kids. I need to fill the freezer with some Pompano while they're in town. Not to mention, it will be 79 degrees out!! Hello?? Spring Break hit in January.

Happy Fishing everyone!

KINGFISH!
by Robin



Jack got a text last night from a coworker who caught extra Kingfish meat. He wanted to know if we wanted a piece to smoke. Are ya kiddin' me?? Of course!

So, it will be here in a couple hours. Not sure when we will smoke it but it will make into some nice tubs of dip.

By the way, the winds have picked up the seas again so we will not be fishing this weekend. That's ok. I need a break, especially after loading 20 tubs of manure from a horse farm over to our garden.

Happy Fishing,
Robin

1/9/12 No KINGFISH, but some PORGYS
by Robin

We decided that we wouldn't get up pre-dawn to fish due to the full moon, interferring with the early morning bite. It was a decent way to start the morning. An hour extra sleep makes me a happy fisherwoman. Left the driveway at 7:30 and through the port by 8:30. Loaded up with pinfish on Buoy 5. Headed over to 8A reef to slow troll for Kingfish. I mean, dead slow. Barely bumped in gear, slow. We wouldn't want to drown the little guys.

I knew that last Saturday, they were not there on 8A and on Sunday, they were at Pelican Flats, but we did not want to go that far south. We had a plan to do some bottom fishing for porgys in the afternoon after limiting out on Kings in 30 minutes in the morning. HA! - NOT!

An hour goes by and we got nothing on a "barely" troll with live bait off the back. Jack switches up to a faster troll with a rigged & skirted, weighted ballyhoo. Another 30 minutes, nothing. I suggested that he troll away from 8A, towards our porgy "hole". Jack took my advice and we did that. I stayed on the bow, looking for any signs of fish life. Twice, I saw something break the surface & make big splashes. We trolled through that area and still nothing. I found a nice "hump" while trolling & marked it. We pulled in the lines & tried to go back and bottom drop on it. Didn't have much success with that, or possibly, we weren't very patient with refinding it, either.

Knowing we were only 4 miles from the destination, we agreed that it was better to just move onto the known area. Once we got there, somebody else was fishing very close-by. It didn't seem to bother either of us, or the drifts (which were kicking!). They had their spot and we fished ours.

At first, Jack pulled up a spade fish, then a juvenile red snapper. Both were released, in great condition. I was frustrated because I knew there were fish there, tapping my bait, but I wasn't able to hook-up. Jack helped me a little with my technique and then I hit my stride.

Because there are so many closures at this time of year, our goal is to find the smaller reef fish that we are allowed & bring them home. It's plan B compared to the Kings, but it makes for a good panfish dinner.


These guys are called Vermillion Snapper, or as the locals say, Beeliners. This was my first catch and he's a fat one. But, they're closed from Nov to Mar 31st, so he goes back to grow & spawn some more. However, I will be back in April to claim a few for the dinnerplate. They are extremely tasty, as most of the snapper family fish are.




Here is the Vermillion's cousin, the Red Snapper. Red Snapper have been closed for 2 years now. They have been considered overfished, but that is highly contested & debatable amongst fishermen. Let's not go there today. Even with circle hooks, this guy managed to inhale the hook too far to take the time to mess with. They don't like being kept out of the water for too long, so Jack is cutting the line to send him back down ASAP. He was a happy guy. The hook will rust quickly & fall out.



As the hours passed, the type of fish we caught seemed to change. We went from red to spotted! We call these chocolate chip porgies but they're officially known as Whitebone Porgy. Fun-fighting and yet, they're not too much of a challenge either. It's perfect for me since those bigger ones wear me out. The meat is exceptional! So, we kept all 5 of them, that we caught.




This is one of my porgies. Pretty nice size one. I was very thankful that we didn't spend our day weeding through any black sea bass, which are also closed right now. Down by Pelican Flats, you can't get away from them and it is irritating to spend all your energy bringing them up & sending them back down.



Probably, close to 2pm, the bite changed again. Whatever this monster was, he would take my pole and bend it down. I could not turn it towards the boat. Twice, he bit my hook in half!



He even took Jack for a ride during one of the drifts, but Jack was fortunate to get his hook back in one piece. After I took this picture, below, I swapped to a heavier hook and don't you know, the fish never did try again. He either had a sore mouth or knew I was better prepared for him.




The ride back in was beautiful. Flat seas. Warm 79 degree day. Clouds giving me many opportunities for playing with my camera. It was a good time to reflect on the day. Jack did an awesome job of setting us back on the spot every drift, which wasn't very easy. The current was fast and so we only had 1 opportunity to catch something as we passed by the underwater castle. Jack nailed it every set up. Thank you babe!



The last few minutes before entering the port, we got a gorgeous display of God's handiwork. Gorgeous!! I like the orange-pink skies normally, but it was hard not to love the blue/gold one on Monday night.



God Bless & Happy Fishing,
Robin

Lures & Flys (or is that flies?)
by Robin

Seas are going up to the 12 ft range and gale force winds expected to show up at midnight. Yuck! The good news is that we may have low seas again next weekend. Cross your fingers, eyes, toes and make your puppies say their prayers!



In the meantime, Jack bought some more lead & circle hooks today. He was tying little "flys" (or is that flies?) on the backside of them so we could go catch a bunch more trigger & porgy next time out.

He also discovered a nasty smell in his lure bag. Somebody (that would be me) left some squid on a jig and it sat for close to 72 hrs, in the lure bag, and was quite ripe! Massive cleanout ensued. Jack cleaned his lures while he was also cleaning the bag & lure boxes. Good task to do in the winter while we're in-between those cold fronts.

My glow-in-the dark jig on the left was the culprit for the BIG STINK!



God bless & stay indoors! Florida is going to be near freezing temps this week.

Robin

NYE Fishing trip
with Mike & Helen

by Robin

First, I have to thank our lovely hosts for the gift of the all-expense paid fishing trip aboard their sportfishing boat. It was their anniversary gift to us. Thank you! That was so sweet of you to treat us like that. (Jack and I have been married for 19 yrs!)

This is a photographic timeline of the majority of our day. I didn't even come close to capturing the hundreds of fish that were caught & toss back into the ocean. We spent the morning in rough seas, so my focus was staying on my feet and not rolling over the side of the boat. ha ha. I was also busy catching a lot of fish once I decided to cut my losses with my favorite jig and go to hook & dead bait.

Enjoy these pics.








Bizarre glitch when uploading. Won't go away. Sorry.


Ran through a pod of 50+ dolphin. So much fun to be surrounded by dolphin!











I'm not certain this was the first stop or two. We were having trouble holding the boat over the fishing spots because the current & wind were ripping hard.







Red Snapper, Vermillion Snapper & Black Sea bass are under closures. All fish were released unharmed to repopulate the ocean. Helen had a HUGE Vermillion at one point. Wish I had a pic to prove it.



Jack's trigger was 17" when I measured it at home. Biggest one of the day.



This was Mike's monster black sea bass (although there were so many).






We were waiting to pull into the parking slip.


Jack was not very patient with me wanting to capture a cooler shot. By the time I got back on the boat, half the fish were gone already. So, this is what was left for Mike & Helen to take home. That was Helen's nice trigger. We also had a mess o' Chocolate Chip Porgys.


This was Jack's trigger, fried up and on the plate by 6:35. So delicious! And fresh!



I'll add stories through the week, as time permits. I just had some free time tonight to work on the pictures part of it.

We're about to have a massive cold front & gale force winds tomorrow night. However, it is possible that the seas will lay back down by next weekend. Only time will tell.

Happy Fishing (& catching for many of you who caught your grouper before the season closure)
Robin

FISHING REPORTS

by Robin

I'm doing some homework on the latest reports, which are far & few between. So, it looks like the mahi mahi are running south through the Gulf Stream. Nice size ones. The only problem is getting the full 26-30 miles out there and finding some nice color change & weedlines. Christmas mahi were caught between 250-380' deep.

A couple weeks ago, there were stories of cobia being on the cutting tables, caught off of Port Canveral waters.

The Pompano are also running from now until March (or so). They love the cold water. I see reports coming out of Playalinda and as far south as Sebastian Inlet for the pomps. Best way to fish them are with clams or sand fleas, but supposedly, they're even hitting dead shrimp in Playalinda. I saw a pic with a pink wiggle jig but our tried & true double-jig usually has a yellow piece on it. I love catching pompano and better yet, love eating them.

The whiting & blue runners are also hitting hard at Playalinda on cut mullet, dead shrimp. If I wasn't prepping tomorrow for Saturday's offshore trip, I'd probably do my best to make it out to the beaches and surf fish for some of these favorites.

Also, the large flounder are being found in Port Canaveral & Sebastian Inlet. They love the incoming/slack tide, eating a live finger mullet. Nice black drum can also be easily caught from the sides of the inlets.

Love winter fishing because many of the fish are coming inshore to us because they are seeking the warmer, shallower waters. That reminds me, I've been seeing really nice pictures of Gag groupers (HUGE) that are being caught in the 90 ft range. I've also seen a few Red Snapper pics that look like their in the 18 lb+ range. It is a big shame that they have to be thrown back. Supposedly, they are said to be overfished, but all reports I'm reading say the fishermen are having to weed through all of them to find 1 or 2 grouper. One fisherman said he threw back one over 26" long. They are taking over the reefs and wrecks. It is such a joke every time I hear somebody say they are overfished. I wish I could take all those people fishing, offshore, and then let me hear their new opinion of what they see, not what they heard.

So, that is my report for the week. Fishing days seem to be sparse in the winter, BUT, the fish are always hungry in the winter. I can't wait to go offshore and see what we can bring home. I need to start praying now!

Happy Fishing!

Robin

God is teasing me. We're looking for a good day to head offshore before the 31st to pick up some deep water fish before the fishery closures for spawning season.
(Pic taken 12/31/2009. Amberjack & 2 red snapper, 1 being a monster)

SUNDAY (Christmas): EAST WINDS 10 TO 15 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET. CHANCE OF SHOWERS. (it's minimal)

Of course, we will not be fishing on Christmas, but if the seas continue to diminish, I can definitely see us skipping the stores and heading offshore on Monday.

God Bless,
Merry Christmas,

Robin

PICTURES of STORM
by Robin

Wow, I actually got back here in the same day! A miracle.

It was a big front that passed over us when we first got there. Not as intimidating as it looks because I knew that there was no lightening in there. The rain was fairly warm, considering it is December.



However, there was a much bigger storm offshore. Thank goodness we never actually went out that far. Of course, we met a sub exiting the Port. I tell ya, they are coming & going every single time we're on the water.


Happy Fishing!
Robin

NEGLECT
by Robin

I don't think I've ever neglected my blog so much since its inception. In short, I haven't been fishing since August........... until Monday hit. I might as well have gone out in a hurricane since we had small craft advisories. I thought if we stayed close to shore, we could still work some spots by rocks & walls. Nope. The anchor wouldn't hold anywhere we tried. First Choice has such a high profile, we caught every gust of wind. What a mess! We caught NOTHING but a lot of rain on our clothes.

I will have to do my best to come back & post up some pictures of that weather.

The good news is that the weather may be clearing over the weekend. I'd love to get back out there again. Fishing has been slow for everyone, but I did hear one report of cobia a couple weeks back. Flounder are back in season, too. Black sea bass & vermillion are closed for several months for spawning season.

New legislation has been introduced into the Senate about insisting good science back all these closures that we keep fighting. We'll see if it even gets addressed before SAFMC will take another vote December 31st.

God bless! I'm still alive.
Robin

What??? The seas are high AGAIN!!!! I'm in fishing withdrawls.

I think the Captain said it best....

EXPLORING NEW SMYRNA BEACH
by Robin

I can' believe that we have lived here for nearly a decade and have not visited this beach!!! Shame on us!!!

First things we noticed is how much it resembles Key West. I can see why people love to visit here. They have beautiful old houses, small gift shops, art galleries and lots of good eateries.



They had many shops. This one caught our attention quickly. I have to say that I even brought home a little gift for my own "Robin's nest".

I love all the quaint shops with beach signs. The one about composting caught this gardener's attention.



As we walked further east, we saw this artist painting a HUGE underwater mural. I have to say that this is one of the best muralist I've seen around the area. He actually got the faces of the marine life in perfect proportions. I'll blog more on that later.



We walked a little futher and then.... we caught a glimpse of the beach. I loved this arch over the road. You can drive on the beach, too! Jack loved that part of it.



We went into Breakers for lunch. Here are my mateys. There is not a bad seat in the entire restaurant. Every seat lines the glass walls so you get a view from north to south of New Smyrna Beach's beaches (Did I say that right?)




So, here is my view as I sit in my stool. Oh..... the gentle breeze that blew perfect temps on my face. No humidity. No heat. But, it wasn't cool either. I seriously needed a hammock.



I cannot believe how close to the beach we were sitting. It was high tide, but it makes me wonder how far the water rises during hurricane water surges.


Not long after I was relaxed for a nap, food was served. Breakers is known for their award-winning burgers. They did have a veggie-garden burger for me, but who wants soy & carrots when you can have ahi tuna?? Not me.



You can better believe it that this was absolutely delicious. Jack bragged on his burger on the way home, too.

It was a quick drive home. We promised each other that we would be back to visit & explore this area more. NSB is also home to Ponce (de Leon) Inlet, which is another good inlet to fish out of. Trust me, we are seriously considering hauling the boat up that way for double-dipping on the cobia fall run.

Happy Fishing & exploring!
Robin