Roseland Park Saltwater Fishing Report 4/30/2015

[Pferox]

Roseland Park saltwater fishing was quite productive today.  The water in Cedar Bayou in Roseland Park looked muddy, but with brown polarized glasses I was able to see about 6 to 8 inches down into it.

I got to Roseland Park about 9:30 and left about 4:30 in the afternoon.  It was the longest fishing session I have had since my surgery, and with the exception of being a little tired, and some sore legs I feel pretty good.  The weather started out cool in the high 50s, and rose to the mid to high 70s during the day.  It was sunny with a slight breeze.  The breeze then picked up about 12:30 which had a nice cooling effect against the midsummer sun.

Although comfortable in the morning the Coveralls, sleeveless flats shirt and long sleeved undershirt seemed to be a little warm for the mid day.  My wife found this Guy Harvey branded shirt that had drirelease and fresh guard on the label.  To my surprise I was very comfortable even though I knew I was getting warm.  When the breeze picked up, I cooled down quickly.

This was the first time I had a chance to try out my birthday present which were some #1 and #1/0 Academy brand circle hooks.  I'll post a review of them in another thread.

I cast the first rod out with some still frozen shrimp, and while setting the third rod, I caught a keeper croaker.  After re-baiting and casting it out, I brought in another keeper croaker on the second rod.  Then it went slack for about half an hour. This cadence ran more or less about the same all morning long.  Re-baiting about every 5 to 10 minutes was the norm because the crabs were on a feeding frenzy, seeming to slow down when the croaker bite would pick up.  The high activity of larger fish correlated to the Solunar Chart I use. 



Right near the low tide which was around 1:20 pm, I hooked on to a 12 inch Black drum, which is 2 inches shorter than a keeper.  This fish swallowed the #1 Academy hook so deeply that I couldn't even see it.  I have never seen a bait taken that deeply before.  Sorry to say I decided to cut the line and hope for the best rather than risk further injury.  The drum did swim away in a lively fashion.



I then replaced the hook on that rod with a #1/0 hook of the same brand and didn't catch another fish on that rod the rest of the outing, although there were many massive rod bends, but no hookups.  The other three rods that I rotated in and out had #1 circle hooks of various brands on them and they all produced fish.  So it is safe to say that the difference between Agony and Ecstasy in catching today was the difference between a 1/0 and #1 circle hook.

All but a few fish were caught on I don't know how many times frozen shrimp, I also used a cut up finger mullet which did catch fish, but kept the crabs busy more than anything else.

There was a lull in the action for about a half an hour or so right around slack low tide.  As the water started to move in again, the crabs started up again.  It is also nice to say that the croaker started up also.  At about 2:30 everything started to slow down, during this time I caught a shimp eel and had to work on untangling that slimy thing.  Fortunately for the eel, I was able to get it untangled and free from my line and back into the water without it biting me.  Sorry but I didn't get a picture of this critter, I was too busy fighting with it to worry about taking a picture, hopefully next time.

About 4 PM I started to pack up, and as luck would have it, the last two rods left out had a massive hit and miss on one (the one with the 1/0 hook), and the other produced another keeper sized croaker. 

Equipment used:

Tournament Choice Angler 7ft M casting rod, H2O mettle baitcaster, 14lb cajun lightening line, home made light and cheap single drop rig with green pool noodle hook trace float, 1 ounce cannon ball sinker, #1 Red Eagle Claw circle hook.

Tournament Choice Angler 7ft M spinning rod, Okuma Avenger ABF30 baitrunner reel, 12lb CXX hi viz green line, Carolina rig, 1 oz bank sinker on a sliding clip, #1 Academy circle hook, replaced with a #1/0 of same brand.

Tournament Choice Classic Edition 7ft M spinning rod, Okuma Avenger ABF30 baitrunner reel, 20 lb Ripcord Si ++ Braid with a 2 foot long 40lb Ande Premium Pink Mono anti-tangle leader, home made light and cheap single drop rig, #1 Mustad Perfect Circle hook, 1 oz disk sinker.

Tournament Choice Angler 7ft M spinning rod, 2000 CDM Reel, 8lb CXX hi viz line, home made light and cheap single drop rig with red pool noodle hook trace float, #1 Red Eagle Claw circle hook, 1 oz disk sinker.

So the final count was over 30 (I lost count at 32) croakers smallest being around 5 inches, one puppy Black drum with a belly ache that was released, and one Shrimp eel that barely survived to fight another day.  Of that I kept the largest 14 croakers.  As I was unpacking my cooler, I saw two fish that were "what was I thinking then" size, but they are all big enough to fillet, and will make a nice dinner.  I want to note that croaker are not game fish and thus don't have a size of possession limit, but I try to fish sensibly and try to be a positive on our fishery as compared to a negative angler.

[Pferox]

Something I should add.

The salinity in the bayou is rising, I can tell that by the fact that salt water fish are biting all the way to slack low tide, meaning that as the salty water flows out, it isn't being replaced by fresh water.  The fact that the fish started to bite almost immediately after the tide started moving in again is a reinforcing factor to this. 

The pool noodle floats on the dropper rigs worked nicely, keeping the bait slightly off of the bottom, but not high enough to deter drum from finding and eating the bait.  I don't think they did much to thwart the crabs though.  I was surprised that the big chunk of foam floating around didn't seem to scare fish away either.

[SFL BassHunter]

Great report Pferox! I see these croakers are abundant in your area. I don't recall ever catching any down in miami or the florida keys. I assume they taste good if you keep them for dinner. Do they have a similarity in taste or texture to any other fish i may be more familiar with?

[Pferox]

Thanks Rick.

Fish sticks.  Since they are an abundant and a big commercially caught fish used in processing.  Might have a similar taste to whiting, although a little firmer and don't fall apart as much.  Very slight if any "fishy" taste.  I can't think of anything that has that "bland" of a taste that you would catch.  It is a good fish for seasonings.

Black drum might be close, but the croaker's texture isn't as firm.

Although I fillet them, most people gut and scale them and cook them whole, but we are spoiled.

Croaker are both eaten and used as bait.  Over the past few years, these fish were either all over the place or hard to find, I think a lot of that was due to the fact that they are harvested heavily, and how well the breeding cycle goes.  There was a stint a couple of years ago that they were the major bait of choice for the Bull Red and Big Black drum crowd, and it put a hurting on the populations.  Recently I have heard of an increased usage of blue crabs and mullet as bait and I am seeing more of them being caught.

Whiting is the other "Panfish" we see around here.  Although there is a slight difference in taste.

I've caught them on the Sunshine Skyway in Tampa, and a few in Sebastian, but not as many as I catch here.  MIght want to try a bottom rig, small circle hook and a piece of shrimp about the size of your thumb and see what you come up with the next time you get out that way.