Looking forward to fishing the mullet run this year. Last year I camped at Jetty Park at Port Canaveral for a week and fished the pier. I never caught such big numbers of shark in my life! Sure, they were all small, but still exciting!
Anyone seen these baitfish schooling up yet? Cooling water temperatures are what trigger this phenomenon.
Some showing up around Palm beach but no big schools yet.
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Ormond beach and Daytona are reporting a ton of mullet. I'm going to try Port Canaveral tomorrow and Sebastian Inlet on Wednesday (as long as my time doesn't get eaten up).
Let me know how port Canaveral is. I would head out there this week but I have an exam Thursday.
They are starting to get thick in the intercostal, but no schools on the beach yet. Look for a strong NE wind, that usually gets the mullet run going
I just got back from Jetty Park. During the day, they aren't running in a way that fills up the whole inlet with bait fish. But they are present and there are enough of them to improve your bite (I caught 1 juvenile blacktip during the day). If I was on a beach instead of a pier, I would probably want to be mobile to stay on top of the schools. After sunset, the bait action really picked up. There were schools of mullet gathered up, but again were not a constant stream of bait (I caught 2 more juvenile blacktip and saw action from other fishermen). When I pointed a flashlight into the water, I saw plenty of predator fish around. Barracuda, bluefish and nurses weren't shy at all. If I were on a beach at night, I could easily leave my baits in the one spot and expect some good action.
I'd say it's a great time to get to your favorite spot. But the best is yet to come.
Alright Thanks for the heads up. Ill probably head out Sunday midday if you want to go, you're free to join.
Just got back from Sebastian and the fishing was similar to yesterday. The locals are saying the mullet are late this year, but I easily caught what I needed for bait off the beach (typically I cast a net into the river and canals to get mullet). I chased around the pods of bait where I could reach them with a surf caster. Made for about 5 miles of walking up and down the beach, it was pretty cool. Spotted eagle rays were also plentiful. Caught and tagged a 4 foot 10 inch lemon shark around 4:00, a 3 foot reef shark 30 minutes later (fully mature at this size) and a few spanish macks to freeze for future fishing sessions. As the sun was setting, there were several jumping blacktips out in the distance, way past where I could reach with the surf casters. At 9:00 I pulled in a 3 foot 5 inch nurse shark and called it quits. I just wasn't reaching the bigger fish, but I still had fun.
It's pretty much a guarantee you won't get skunked out there, something is going to eat your bait.