Winter Bites
- February 18, 2009
- 0 Comments
- By Story/Photos By Matt Badolato
Being a UCF student and (unfortunately) an Orlando resident, I've been itching to catch some crappie (aka specks) in this cooler weather, but I've never been quite able to find a decent number of fish. Hooked up with my friend Jeff, an Orlando police officer and part-time charter captain, who took me to his secret spring-fed lake in the woods to nail some specks.
We met up bright and early in the morning and drove to the lake. Being the captain he is, Jeff had everything ready and a bucket full of fresh, lively minnows ripe for the specks.
We got to his secret spot, a private lake surrounded by cypress trees in the middle of a giant cow field. We dragged his aluminum jon boat down the shoreline (literally) and trolling motored out to a sunken school bus that was supposedly littered with fish. Jeff's first bait in gets popped by a big speck, and his next one, and his next one. This was all before I could even pin a minner to my hook. Mind you, the best I've ever done crappie fishing is a couple of small ones, and now I'm pulling them in one after another! Big slabs, too!
We ended up pulling in 11 nice specks, the biggest almost 2 pounds about 17". Also snagged a few agro-bluegills and baby bass. While we are consistently catching fish, Jeff keeps telling me how it's usually much better, how he usually gets at least 30 or 40 and two hours of non-stop action. Psh. I didn't think I would ever get broken off by a panfish, but there were some crappie down there pushing three pounds which could easily peel off my 4lb test and break me off on a part of the school bus sunken below.
Later on I had a fish fry at my house and the clean, white meat of the specks had a date with some italian bread crumbs and a shallow pan of oil. Muy bien.
The offshore fishing, once again, is incredible. The red snapper are suicidal from 60'-120', with a majority of the fish coming from the 90-110' reefs. My roomates found a hungry school of fish over 10 pounds, and quickly limited out this past weekend in 100'. They told me that as soon as their live pinfish hit the bottom they would get smacked by some big daddy red snapper. Paul's dad, Hector Ramirez, boated a 20 pounder!
I was fortunate to have a day off of work and school last weekend to head back beachside for some pompano fishing. I knew the conditions would be ideal, so I didn't hesitate to make the drive, tie some rigs and pick up some fresh clams and fresh dead shrimp. The winds were very light southeasterlies, the water was a clear, cool green, and the sun was shining. Add that to a rising early morning tide and you've got perfect pomp parameters.
Fishing off the beach in Indialantic with my friends Kevin and Seamus (pronounced Shay-mus) we pulled in 10 pompano, 2 big sheepshead, countless big bull whiting, and some croakers and weakfish. We kept a couple whiting, the sheepies, and 6 of the pompano. It was literally non-stop action from 7am to 1pm, and we left them biting. They hit everything we threw out there; cut crabs, peeled shrimp, clam strips, and live sandfleas.
Well, looks like we're finally going to get some surf this weekend, so if nobody reads this because they're out paddling around, I understand. Check back soon for some killer yellowfin tuna fishing that's been going down on the "otherside" of the Gulf Stream and whatever else swims our way.
Till next tide, tight lines, tasty waves, light winds, and peace on the beach,
Matt Badolato