Canaveral National Seashore at Playalinda Beach to Cocoa Beach and on down to Sebastian Inlet were all experiencing the start of the summer surf fishing season. Dotting this transitional time frame was our first tropical storm Andrea which rolled thru the northern part of the state in early June. Fortunately, Andrea was not strong enough to hold back the surf anglers from doing their duty as they saw it. To that end black drum, several species of sharks, whiting, few blues and a lone guitarfish (shaped like a guitar in the family of rays) came ashore keeping the surf anglers honest. This increasingly large variety of fish species continues to show us how special it is to live and fish along our Brevard County Coastline. Let’s keep it that way for those who follow us!
Tip: As the seas calm and winds die down its time to start salting your baits. Why you ask should I salt my bait and the answer is forth coming: If you have ever been surf fishing in Brevard during the hot summer months you may have noticed that many times when you reel in to check you bait you find it’s gone. You didn’t see the bite so what happened. Well my friends you have got the crabs. Those little beggars will eat you bait so gently that you won’t see the rod move. Without the wave action and other factors that force the crabs to stay out of sight during the winter season the crabs have free run of the sandy bottom during the summer months. So where does the salt come in. To salt baits I use Kosher Salt for two reasons: It dries out the bait and makes it tougher for the crabs to eat it off your hooks. Secondly, using Kosher Salt in the drying process keeps the baits at their natural color while other brand salts do not. The result is tougher bait with natural color that the grabs can’t eat it off your hooks as rapidly.
As I suggest in the last issue, I have been fishing in the evenings to dodge the heat and summer beach population explosion. I am reporting back that it works and we have done very well so far this summer season. It’s a little hard ducking the afternoon storms but the fish are there and hungry. The beach is less crowded and much, much cooler in the evening by the water. One time out we caught 11 whiting, all easily over 13 inches in a one and a half hour trip. We had none stop action from the time the first bait hit the water. I still think evening surf fishing is a good tactic and recommend it for your consideration.
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