A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
Use this area to post inshore fishing reports from the area. Please try to include relevant information such as:
Location, date, time, water conditions, weather conditions, baits, techniques, species caught, etc.
After dropping off both kids at school I met up with a person I’d never met before to do a little red fishing off Cedar Key. Interestingly, we met on the Florida Sportsman Big Bend forum (E-Gator) and we started trading e-mails about USCG Captain licensing and sending each other fishing reports. We shared similar fishing philosophies and interests so a trip was in order.
We hit Cedar Key at 9:30 a.m. and once on the water we motored through light rain heading towards North Key to try a little trout fishing before the tide dropped completely. On the way out we hit a few favorite markers trying to entice a cobia but there were no takers. Stopping on a small bait pod getting worked by terns, pelicans, and a couple of dolphins we picked up a few trout to 17 inches and a large ladyfish throwing topwaters and jigs. After that we fished in 1.5 feet throwing topwaters and we played with a number of smaller trout. There were a lot of blowups, loud slurps, and missed attempts and it was fun watching the action. Even a catfish wanted in on the action as it took a topwater too. At one point I had a small trout on and all of a sudden next to the boat the trout looked real strange and a short amount of line started peeling off with frothing at the surface. A large bluefish had hit it squarely on the tail and took a snack.
Bluefish attack
We saw a number of cruising fish but mostly they turned out to be 3 foot scalloped hammerheads and both large & small rays. We watched as a small hammer tried eating a topwater but couldn’t quite get it in his mouth (thankfully). With about two hours before low tide we switched gears and headed towards Roccasassa to try some red fishing spots. In the shipping channel motoring to the east we saw a “Vâ€
"After several closer passes we could see that the lower portion of the operculum was flared out and the leader was coming from the opercular area and not coming from its mouth."
Is this a fancy way of saying the fish was foul hooked?
Oh and sweet catch of Lings!
Last edited by MudDucker on September 15th, 2006, 1:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Wow, that's cool! That is a real nice cobia, and on 10 lb. line!! We had a buddy that got one almost that big this year, and it had a 2 lb. catfish stuck in it's throat. But yours is the biggest one I've seen this year, congrats and thanks for the report.
MudDucker wrote:"After several closer passes we could see that the lower portion of the operculum was flared out and the leader was coming from the opercular area and not coming from its mouth."
Is this a fancy way of saying the fish was foul hooked?
and an outstanding job of reporting Brian! 
