Today I decided to take it easy and just hang out at a park with a pole in the water. My goal was not to catch a bunch of fish, but rather just relax. NOAA called for the surf to be quite high and rough today, so surf fishing was out…. What to do? Enter Manatee Island Park in Daytona Beach. Manatee Island Park is right across the street from The Fishing Hole bait and tackle shop, so it is convenient. It has a floating dock that extends about 75 yards into the Intercoastal Waterway so it has fishing opportunities, and parking is a breeze. So, at about 7:15am I showed up after stopping at The Fishing Hole to pick up 2 dozen live shrimp. I set up two rigs, one for bottom fishing with a 2 oz sinker, and one with a cork to fish the mid water area. I set up my chair, cast the bottom rig out and let it soak. I then cast the cork out, only to find that the current was far to strong for the area I was casting. Simple solution, move to the end of the dock. The current was heading north, and doing so with a vengeance, so under the float I added a bit of weight to keep the shrimp down. After soaking for about 20 minutes my cork disappeared and here is the result
A Spotted Sea Trout. I did not measure it, but the tackle box above it is 11” wide, so it was a keeper, but I didn’t bring a bucket or cooler to keep any fish (intended to just relax) so today was going to be all catch and release. The Sea Trout action continued for about an hour, then the bite up top ended. 2 hours into the excursion the bottom rig started to get some action. A few catfish and a few jacks. A good day for not intending to catch anything! Total Tally: 5 Spotted Seat Trout (all around 15-17”) 3 Jack 2 Catfish (hardheads, no sails)