Fishing Pics Tomoka area

[carvinthings]

Ok, heres the pics I promised. Im probably posting them in the wrong spot. If I am, someone please mention the fact and next time i'll be better about following the rules.

First fish in Florida in 12 years. Sure beats those 3 pound smallmouth in NY! A big ol sheep that hit a sweetened chart. Jig.
He was about 7lbs, What a fighter!




Next is me in my official BSH (big stupid hat). Oh and im holding a nice 25" red. I had about 7 of them that morning dragging me around the river in my kayak. Great fun!



Next up is a perfect example of a micrometer snook. I had to punch him in the nose to make it swell about a 1/8" Not really but he was Just legal.



Some weird flat kind of fish that put up a surprising fight in light tackle. I wasnt sure if it was edible so I threw it in my compost pile ) I think it measured 25" That same night I caught about 20 seatrout under my secret dock lights. They were out of season.



Cant live in Florida without making this every now and then!



Theres a few others buut this is the best of them SO FAR. Hope you enjoyed.

[fishnfool73]

Nice sheephead , hopefully you can get the rest of the pictures up and online.

[bolo]

Nice catch, especially the big sheephead. His the bottom picture of smoked mullet?

[carvinthings]

The sheepshead was quite a suprise! I fought him for quite some time on 6lb mono thinking it was a red or black drum. I was wrong.

Ya man, smoket mullet! Some of it was turned into an awesome dip I make. Smoked some bluefish too but I try not to eat to many of those mercury infested mad men. They sure are tasty though, way better then mullet IMHO.

[WhoDey]

Good stuff dude!

[S.S.Tupperware]

Nice job... I believe the kayak club has a trip planned up at the park this sat.

[BRunner346]

nice sheepie!

[FriskyMullet]

Nice job! Gross on the mullet though. lol.

[carvinthings]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. I've been a quite observer on this site for a few weeks and it seems most of you guys aren't strangers to the rod and reel yourselves. Like I said, I was born and raised down here so I learned a few things as a youth. I spent a lot of time in the brackish waters mostly north of sanchez park in ormond. We had a small jon boat that my friends and I would wheel down to the end of the road and slide her in. Not sure if theres many left these days but back then most days we would see a gator or two back there, along with lots of sea cows. Sometimes the fishing would be pretty good and most times it was fresh water and bad. Schools of Jacks and Tarpon would occasionally make there way back there and offer up a lot of fun. Also, lots of undersize snook and ladyfish. Eels too! Honestly, I believe my biggest lesson was fishing wasnt catching and to enjoy your time on our beautiful Florida waters. Ok, im rambling, sorry for the flashback.
Before I come back to the present day. I have a neat old story I would like to hear your opinions on. On one of our childhood adventures we had rowed through a tiny drainage hole under US1 into the narrow mosquito ditches on the west side of the road. If you travel another 100 or so yards to the west you hit the tracks and That drainage hole is to small to get the boat through. Anyway, when we got back to the tracks we saw a few decent sized fish floating belly up. When we got closer we found four or five dead El Dorado probably 20" long. They looked untouched? I have always wondered how those fish got all the way back there. Did someone catch them and then decide to toss them off US1? OR did the fish migrate back there and then get lost or caught in a cold snap, warm snap, or a large down pour that made the water to sweet? I can remember it being a comfortable day so it was probably between the months of January through December. Honestly I cant for the life of me remember what time of year it was. I have heard tales of barracuda being caught in the river on OCCASSION. Maybe a shark but Dolphin fish? What do you guys think? Have you ever had an experience similar to this? Maybe someone should try trolling a ballyhoo through the 3 foot wide drainage ditches of our back country.

Frisky Mullet, I have to ask. It seems you have an obvious obsession with mullet yet you dont like to eat them? Whats up with that. Unless maybe you only fish them for sport? If you think its hard to get mullet lit when smoking it, you should try dipping shrimp!

Thanks for the note on the kayak trip.

Hey feel free to ask any questions you might have. If I can help, i'll do my best.

Later!

[snapperfanatic18]

nice sheepie. and good eats.

[fishinChris]

awesome fish man. welcome back to saltwater