What's up, fellow Blog readers?
Here is my fishing report for January 24th, 2017. The statistical fishing chart was updated as well.
Location: Anglin's Pier
Time: 10:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Fishes caught:
-- 5 White Grunt (Haemulon plumierii)
-- 6 French Grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum)
-- 1 Lane Snapper (Lutjanus synagris)
-- 2 Blue Striped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus)
-- 1 Smallmouth Grunt (Haemulon chrysargyreum)
-- 7 Tomtate (Haemulon aurolineatum)
-- 1 Sailor's Grunt (Haemulon parra)
-- 1 Porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus)
-- 1 Houndfish (Tylosurus crocodilus)
-- 3 Striped Croaker (Corvula sanctaeluciae)
Video:
Below are the highlights for this fishing session:
My 9th outing of 2017. Don't forget to watch it in HD quality (1080p60)! If you enjoy watching my videos, please support my YouTube Channel by subscribing to it. More likes and more subscribes = more time to make videos!
Summary & Photos:
After spending my entire day with my mother at the mall and down the shore, I sneaked out at night for some more Florida pier fishing.
I arrived at the Anglin's Pier around 10:00 p.m.. I was ready for some fishing, 1Rod1ReelFishing style. I setup a Shimano Sedona 4000 FD, tied with 20lbs KastKing Fluorokote, with a Penn Pursuit II medium-heavy rod; high-low rig with two size #10 Mustad hooks, with a 2 oz. river sinker on the bottom. The additional hook was due to the fact that the wind had calmed down considerably since last evening -- staying in the range of 15-20 mph. Recall, folks: less wind = more "feel." The technique for the night remained unchanged as well: vertical jigging along the pier, right on top of the coral reefs, with small pieces of squid. :)
Within two hours of my fishing session, I already had caught all the Species of the previous evening:
Fish #157. A Tomtate
Fish #161. A French Grunt.
Fish #162. A Lane Snapper
Fish #163. A Sailor's Grunt
Fish #164. A Smallmouth Grunt
Fish #171. A White Grunt
Fish #175. A Blue Striped Grunt
Thankfully, that was not everything! One small lost Porkfish decided to join me as well:
Fish #165. The Porkfish
The cool thing about Porkfish is that they are not only gorgeous fish, but also amazing fighters. Thus, even the smallest ones give you an amazing fight on light gear! Reeling them in is always a lot of fun.
Then, around 1:00 a.m., I actually noticed a huge school of Needlefish around the pier. I was almost positive that those were Houndfish; therefore, I had to double check! I put away my high-low rig and tied on a weightless steel leader with a size 2 octopus Gamakatsu hook. I connected the leader to my line with a regular Eagle Claw swivel. For bait, I used small pieces of chopped Grunt (which is entirely legal in Florida).
The trick in catching Houndfish or any type of Needlefish is really to keep your bait as close to the surface as possible. Sinking a little bit is no problem whatsoever; however, this type of fish will lose interest in the bait pretty fast if it sinks too fast or too deep. After my first cast, I just did a steady and slow retrieve to keep my bait as close to the top as possible. And not too surprisingly, the Houndfish started to catch up on the scent really quickly.
In the end, it took me only two casts to catch one of them:
Fish #169. A Houndfish! :)
Finally, among all the smaller Species from the reef, there was one that stood out for sure. It was definitely the highlight of the day:
Fish #170. The Striped Croaker. Species #152 on my list!
When I first caught it, I immediately thought that the fish looked awfully a lot like an American Silver Perch (Bairdiella chrysoura). However, the fish had these patterned stripes in its body that just don't belong to the American Silver Perch Species. Through the lack of canines on top of its mouth, I excluded the Sand Seatrout as well (Cynoscion arenarius). So, in the end, I really had no idea what it could be.
I ended up taking a few photos of the fish under the LED light, and sending them to my friend Patrick Kerwin, who is an expert in identifying all kinds of weird and unusual fish Species. Heh. Meanwhile, I did a little bit of reading on my own and narrowed it down to Reef Croaker (Odontoscion dentex), Striped Croaker, and Blue Croaker (Bairdiella batabana).
After some discussions and a closer analysis of the fish, it turned out to be a Striped Croaker! Species #152 for me. :)
Two new Species in two evenings? Not too shabby, folks! Around 2 a.m., I was too tired to continue fishing. So, I decided to call it a night!
Best of luck to all of us!
Long Days and Pleasant Nights!
Tight lines!
Sincerely,
Leo S. a.k.a. Extreme Philly Fishing
0 comments:
Post a Comment