The Ponce Inlet Sea Water Temperature is 70 degrees. The rough and high surf this past week has made it difficult for anglers to attempt to catch fish. However, those defying those difficulties have found rare success with larger than usual pompano, bluefish and whiting.
In Mosquito and Indian River Lagoons, anglers are landing redfish using mullet and shrimp. In Haulover Canal there have been good catches of red and black drum. Also catches of flounder have also been reported as have sheepshead even though the water is warming. In Mosquito Lagoon gator trout are being boated using live shrimp. In Ponce Inlet and the Halifax River, there have been there have been good catches of flounder. There have also been catches of oversized redfish, flounder, whiting, bluefish and sheepshead.
Squid has been used to catch whiting near the Dunlawton Bridge. Anglers fishing the Halifax River at night along the private and public docks have been getting good catches of spotted sea trout. Up in the Tomoka Basin and river, there has been a consistent slot sized and slightly oversized redfish bite. There has been a good snook bite in the Tomoka River from east of the I-95 bridge to the end of the Tomoka River.
Offshore there have been some rough seas up to 8 feet, but when it is fishable there have been a large catches of dolphin (mahi-mahi) with up to 25 to 50 fish per boat. Most of the offshore fishing has been limited to chasing dolphin (mahi-mahi). Bottom fishing has also been productive but since so many seasons are closed (eg. grouper, red and vermillion snapper, and sea bass) anglers seem to be more interested in trolling. A few cobia have been caught offshore.
Undercover operation reveals rampant exploitation of fish and wildlife resources
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission law enforcement officers completed a comprehensive investigation earlier this month that included more than 300 criminal violations by 56 individuals in Putnam, St. Johns, Alachua, Volusia and Marion counties. The 15-month operation targeted individuals who illegally harvested, bought and sold protected species of the state’s fish and wildlife resources.
Charges include 34 felonies and 280 misdemeanors related to buying and selling deer, turtles and saltwater and freshwater fish. Several suspects were booked into local county jails on Wednesday for felony violations.
“Our undercover officers did a phenomenal job identifying individuals who were profiting from the illegal commercialization of fish and wildlife,” said Capt. Gregg Eason, investigative captain for the FWC’s Northeast Region. “When people illegally buy and sell fish and wildlife, they are depleting not only the resource, but also the profits that could be made by legitimate, law-abiding businesses that deal in legal fish and wildlife.”
The FWC is responsible for protecting Florida's abundant natural resources. This case represents the work by FWC investigators and the offices of the state attorney to ensure those resources are managed and protected properly.
“By catching these intentional violators, the FWC is supporting the law-abiding, honest commercial and recreational fishers, recreational hunters and business owners by helping to restore balance in the competition for the resource,” Eason said.
Capt. Budd's PostScript
It has been written “The first principle of reading water is that fish are found at the edges of things.”
So whether you charter, ride a head boat, run your own vessel, stay in the river, surf fish, or fish from shore or a bridge, there are fish to be caught. Fishing is not a matter of life or death, it is so much important than that.
NSB News is a 24/7 Internet newspaper in New Smyrna Beach accessed through NSBNews.net and VolusiaNews.net, launched April 7, 2008, by award-winning breaking news and investigative reporter Henry Frederick and award-winning blogger Peter Mallory. It is the first fully-online newspaper in Florida and among the few in the nation with continuous editorial content picked up by Google News Directories.
