Where they're biting in the Daytona Beach Area Dec.14, 2007

[BigEarl]

Surf & Piers

The seaweed snagging lines in recent weeks has dissipated, but there are hints of red tide. The worst concentrations seem to be south of Ponce Inlet.

In Ormond Beach, Ed Countryman at Ocean's Bait & Tackle said "black drum are here in force." Dead shrimp is the bait of late, he said.

Schools of pompano are here and Countryman said he saw a 21-inch, 6 1/2-pounder. Whew! He said a load of blues are being caught and he's seen bull whiting in the 3-pound range.

At the Flagler Beach Pier, regular angler Bob Burns reported sporadic catches of blues, drum, pompano and small sheepshead.

"Whiting have been on and off with most being caught in the early mornings and late evenings," Burns said. And 12-year-old Alexis Chomich of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., caught a 5-pound, 2-ounce drum, he reported.

Ponce Inlet area

Capt. Luke Pearson said pods of greenies are all over the place from the inlet down through New Smyrna Beach. He said there are "acres of them."

The snook bite has become "pretty spotty" with the bigger ones seeming to be quitting the inlet (red tide sensitivity?) to push into the backwaters, he said. Sheepshead fishing has been outstanding and there are so many blues around it's hard to keep them off a live bait, Capt. Pearson said, but the big reds are there on the inlet channel bottom.

Top-waters are taking some really big trout in the backwaters, plus some snook and plenty of reds, he said.

Matanzas Inlet area

Capt. Chris Herrera said these backwaters have warmed up enough in the last week or so that a bit of an algae bloom is starting to take its toll. As a result, 90 percent of the fish are in 10 percent of the water, he said. Capt. Herrera said the reds are in huge schools of several hundred fish and if you bump up a school, go ahead and anchor up and wait for them to come back. They're eating anything, but live mullet is best as schools of mullet are all over the backwaters, he said.

Offshore
Capt. Herrera said boats fishing near-shore numbers are finding a lot of cobia coming to the surface. He said Capt. Ralph Olivett had 6 keepers with most of them 40 pounds or better.

Symone Sorenson, 11, caught her first grouper, snapper and sea bass on Saturday on the Sea Spirit with Capt. Lee Lingo fishing at The Mound, Capt. Robert Sorenson said. At mid week, Sea Spirit anglers got a dozen cobia on a half day at The Cracker, he said.

Big wahoo are being caught off The Slot off St. Augustine and some sailfish are around, but everyone is dropping down because bottom fishing it is going off, Capt. Sorensons said.

Not everyone is finding the snapper, though. A diver reported finding nothing, but Capt. Sorenson said their trip on Saturday had 30 or 40 keepers.

Tomoka Basin area

Capt. "J" at the Tomoka Outpost said some keeper mangroves and some reds have been caught, but the black drum in the basin have faded. It seems they're a stronger bite under Halifax River bridges now.

Mullet are jumping all over the place, but fish seem a bit shy, perhaps because some dolphin have been working the area, Capt. "J" said. Another consideration is that high pressure moving into the area is effecting fish. Capt. "J" said Capt. Kent Gibbens told him even when he finds a school of reds once you catch one the school splits.

Water levels are very low but the clarity is good and water temperatures in the morning are 68 in the river and 66 on the flats, Capt. "J" said.

Mosquito Lagoon

A 34-inch trout, an incredible fish, was caught by Teresa Clark guided by Capt. Neal Goodrich on Wednesday. Capt. Goodrich said it hit a live finger mullet and it was mixed in with some redfish that were tailing.

On a sad note, he said red tide has created some minor fish kills in the lagoon.

Capt. Michael Mann said the mullet have thinned out some and he's also finding big trout with tailing reds and also cruising around real shallow.

Capt. Mann said reds are taking live shrimp, jerk baits and top-waters. He said water levels have been fluctuating by about 4 to 6 inches a day and when the water is up the reds are on the grass flats and when it's down they're on the drop-offs. He said he's found redfish schools of up to 20 fish and noted that water temps are back up to about 70 degrees.

Indian River Lagoon

Mark Drown at Lelle's Bait & Tackle said small groups of redfish are patrolling the flats by the bombing range and he fished Thursday morning and saw a couple of big trout but they wouldn't hit anything.

Halifax River

David Kelly at the Fishin' Hole said drum and sheepshead are doing well along the bridge fenders. He also tried to get away with advising that snook are being caught in the corner of the mouth. Nice try, buddy!

Bill Allen at Howard's Bait & Tackle said a lot of sheepshead and drum have been caught and redfish are doing well but news on snook has dropped off.

St. Johns River

Bryn Rawlins at Highland Park Fish Camp fished with her dad, Capt. Rick Rawlins, and caught 14 bass up to 5 pounds in the Norris Dead River fishing with live shiners under a bobber cast to the weed cover. She said the river is looking real good lately. As for specks, only a few are being caught here and there, she said.

[Frogfish101]

Is surf fishing legal in Ormond Beach?

[BigEarl]

Yes it is, Ormond is a great place to fish