Daytona Florida. 3-09

Spring break, Daytona Florida and a little fishing. What a place to be. A business meeting in Daytona was the main reason for going on this trip but it was the perfect chance to spend a few extra days and check out some local fishing.

Day one found myself, my dad and a good friend of the family heading out to sea at 6am on the charter boat Water Proof. After about 2.5 hrs and 50 miles out we dropped our pin minnows about 100′ to the bottom looking for some Grouper and Snappers. After fighting off a few small sharks on the 1st spot the second area started to produce what we where looking for. This wasn’t a banner day of off shore fishing but Captain Tim sure did his best to put us on some fish and we did end up with a nice mess to bring home.

Day 2 our off shore trip was canceled do wind and waves but that didn’t stop me from finding some fish to chase. A few quick phones calls later I was hooked up Captain Fred and heading out on a half day inshore fishing trip. We started out spending some time catching pin minnows for bait, a Pompano and speckled Trout. Part of this time was also spent waiting for the tides to change and our main target fish to become active. Red Fish.

A few hours into my inshore trip the tide had finely started flowing out of the channel leading to the ocean. It was red fish time. Our set up was 20# power pro with a fluorocarbon leader and a good sized circle hook with a large pin minnow on it. Pin minnows look similar in shape and size to a 1# pan fish. This was casted out in about 20′ of water in the main channel and allowed to free swim with only a couple of split shots on the line for weight.

About 10 minutes into fishing my 1st fish was on. This 1st Red was easily a 50# fish. After about a 20 minute battle and a quick appearance along side the boat he snapped my line and said good by. Still scratching my head and wondering if I just blew my only chance at catch my 1st red fish it was fish on again. with arms still burning from the 1st battle I managed to get this one in. a 35#er and my 1st ever red fish. Life was good and I was very happy with this but it was not going to be my last red. By the end of the trip 2 more had made there way into the boat. One at 37#s and the last at 40#s. This was a fantastic trip and I cant thank Captain Fred enough for putting me on these fish.

The last part of my inshore fishing adventures was spent casting docks and shoreline structures looking for Snook. This was a interesting fish and I would say fishing them seemed to be fairly similar to bass fishing. Our bait where huge shrimp on a circle hook with no weight. Line was 10# Power Pro with a leader again. This was casted around and under docks and boats. We also targeted some shore line current breaks and timber areas. Most of this fishing was sight fishing watch the shrimp swim around and waiting for a silver flash to come by and the shrimp would be gone. In total we ended up catching about a dozen snook and 1 barracuda. This was a fun afternoon of fishing and again couldn’t ask for better conditions but in my book it was a little down key compared to catching big grouper and huge red fish.

For not knowing completely what to expect out of my fishing trips in Daytona I would say they turned out great. They sure have a large variety of fish to chase down there. The one fish I didn’t get to go after was Tarpon as it was still a little early for them but they will be on my list on the next trip to Florida.