Weather is HOT!!! I stayed on the pier this morning as long as I could stand the heat, which was until about noon:30. I was a little late getting started this morning. I got involved doing something last night and didn't get my "stuff" ready to go this morning until after 8 am. There was a trout and a couple of spanish caught before I got there, along with a good number of blues. I went loaded for flounder, but didn't have the ammo I wanted, which was live shrimp or finger mullets. So I settled for mud minnows, which I can catch most anytime with a trap and a piece of loaf bread. So I put the mudders on ice in my cooler and headed for the pier making a stop at Hardee's for a ham biscuit. To be clear, perfectly clear, just like the water was this morning, I didn't catch a thing. To add insult to my already shattered ego, I used the same mud minnow, a whoper about 2 and a half inches long, from the time I arrived at the pier until I left. I couldn't even loose my bait. I saw a couple of undersized flounder come over the rail, and one really nice keeper, a beautifully spotted summer flounder, probably about 20 inches long. The doormat flounder was hooked under the pier in the shade of the pier. There were also a few, maybe a half dozen small mullet caught that I saw, and some pin fish. Pier friend Glenn hooked up with a nice sheephead and with help, landed the big fish in a drop net. Our friends Andreaus and Karen were out this morning, and their luck was about like mine, landing no keepers. Andreaus did hook into something huge out near the end of the pier. After a brief but intense battle, the mystery fish proved to be the winner this time, escaping without being seen by anyone on the pier. There were several large sheephead roaming under the pier, picking barnacles from piling to piling. We also could see very large spadefish feeding on some of the numerous jelly fish that were floating in the water. As I walked to the pier house after deciding to leave until cooler temperatures prevail, possible tonight, I looked here and there in the clear water and noticed more than a few stingray, most about the size of dinner plates, cruising or just laying on the bottom just behind the breakers. I don't think I would wade in the surf today after seeing these.
Until next time......
Tight Lines!
Johnny
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