# Ponte Vedra Beach 10/5-10/8/12



## jmbush01 (Jun 25, 2012)

My dad and I decided to take a fishing trip to Ponte Vedra Beach for my birthday which was on Sunday. We have a place in Myrtle, but the surf fishing is relatively poor due to the gentle slope of the beach and lack of structure..

Here is my report. 

We got in Thursday around midnight. We walked out the back of the condo to the beach to check it out and didn't see any mullet or anything. We went in and then back out (can't remember why) and when we got back out there was a thick stream of mullet. We threw in a line or two for 30 mins and got one big strike and break off, and decided to call it a night so we could get up early. 

FRIDAY 10/5/12:

We got out around sunrise, caught some mullet and began fishing. It was pretty slow, til my dad brought in a nice sized blue which happened to get off the hook in the swash zone. We went to lunch and a tackle store and when we went back out we couldn't find any mullet, so we dug for and found a bunch of sand fleas. The we caught 4 or 5 whiting and a lady fish on the fleas. 

As we were doing that a big school of jumping fish came through. I went out with the cast net and couldn't get to the thick of it, but casted anyway and caught about 5 jacks (pretty sure) they were only about 5" or so. I ran back and changed my double drop rig and put on a chartreuse and redhead gotcha (my red/white on was still in the car ). By the time I got it on there the school was way down the beach, so I sprinted about a 1/3 of mile down the beach to catch up with them. I threw into the school a few times, but no luck. 

As I was turning to walk back, I saw another school coming shortly behind. I waited for a minute, then threw into them a couple times, making a faster retrieve. Bam! fish on! I was assuming that it was going to be a bluefish, but I got it in and it was a nice keeper speckled trout, my first! I sprinted back down the beach, fish in hand, smiling like crazy  I also put a big 'ol sand flea on a fish finder rig and caught what I would consider a bull whiting, though that day was the first time I caught a whiting (outside of using the cast net). Also got a stingray. 

I tossed out one of the whiting heads at slack low tide, hoping for a shark. Left the rod there an hour or so and when we called it a day and started packing up I decided to leave it out there and bring it in last, just in case. We make a few trips, get everything into the room and as I'm finally walking down the boardwalk to get the rod I see it bouncing and then BANG the spike is torn out of the ground. I ran down and the line was screaming off the reel. At the time I had 100lb braid on my penn battle 7000. It didn't have much line so I tightened the drag down all the way and it didn't seem to slow it down at all. It nearly spooled me, I got some line back, and then it really spooled me and snapped off. Exhilarating. When intuition tells you to leave a line out, do it 

That night we went to a place called Lulu's Waterfront Grille and had them fry the whiting and blacken the trout. They did a phenomenal job, it was fabulous. 

















SATURDAY 10/6/12:

The day was fairly slow. We had a bunch of stolen bait, didn't seem to be blues, the whole mullet were taken. I got about a 14 or 15" blue and 2 stingrays. Later in the day my line started screaming and I fought the thing for a few minutes before it frayed the 100LB mono. As we were walking back to our spikes, my dad's line went off doing the same thing. His braid to swivel knot apparently failed (learned the berkley braid knot after that, was just using clinch). A woman who we had met fishing the day before saw our fights and brought us out some brunswick stew and fried whiting and trout, probably out of sympathy, hah. It was great, and a very nice gesture. We were quite frustrated about losing the big hookups, but I told my dad that God was just giving us a teaser and that the real action would be the next day for my birthday...
















SUNDAY 10/7/12 (my birthday): 

Things seemed to all flow smoothly on Sunday. We were able to quickly get all the mullet we needed, and my dad \ hooked into 3 jacks and a pompano in short time. "Time to get you on the scoreboard," he said. Shortly thereafter I got my first pomp, something that I had been wanting to catch (besides small guys in the cast net). I then got a jack and it seemed to be more like catching than fishing. I also caught a ladyfish, and there was a whiting on my line when we came back from eating lunch on our balcony. 

The big surprise is when I pulled in about a 22" spanish mackerel! I was thrilled, it was the last thing I was expecting to catch. What an incredible birthday it was! One of our neighbors had mentioned that we could use their kayak, so we decided to yak out a couple of whiting heads on shark rigs. Oh yeah, before that I had had the whole ladyfish that I caught earlier out for a couple hours earlier. Seemed like a waste of a rod, but at about 5 the line went off, and I went and started fighting it. The line went slack, which worried me and then all of the sudden I see the entire shark jump about 3' out of the water. "HOLY ****!" I yelled. It was quite the site to see, though all I saw was its belly, and worth having that rod out of use! Back to what happened later.. We got the other halves of our subs and a couple of sweetwater IPAs and ate, and waited. I told my dad that I was contemplating yaking out my bait further, and just then BAM! the rod doubled over and, though the rod was quite a ways a way, you could hear the line peeling off fast. I ran over, tightened the drag, and fought what was presumably a shark. Ended up being about a 3.5' blacktip, my first! For how hard it fought I was expecting at least a 5'er, ha! My dad ended up getting one too, though it was much less dramatic, we didn't even know it was on there for a while, even though it was around the same size.. hmm.









































SUNDAY 10/8/12:

We got out at sunrise and caught some mullet. We only had till 9am to fish, but wanted to get out and enjoy what we could. I had whole mullet ripped off my hook 3 times! no fish landed, but it was great to get out there anyway. Wouldn't want to wonder what we could have caught had we slept in. Also, it took a few tries, but got a nice action shot of the cast net throw 









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All in all it was an amazing trip, especially my birthday. My dad and I felt like little kids, and it was an incredible bonding experience. My (somewhat) recently passed grandfather, my dad's dad, was an avid fisherman and we just know he was smiling down on us, giggling along with us . Whiting, speckled trout, pompano, jack, spanish mack, stingray, and the blacktip were all firsts for me on line and hook. I loved that. Still haven't caught a red on line and hook though, just two in the cast net (one in the inlet, one in the surf). 

Big thanks to all those who helped!

Much love and tight lines,
Justin


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## HStew (Jan 8, 2009)

Something to remember for sure. Congrats too on the speck and pomp.


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

sounds like a Great Trip with your Dad on your Birthday ... Treasure that time ... Great report and awesome pics


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## jmbush01 (Jun 25, 2012)

HStew said:


> Something to remember for sure. Congrats too on the speck and pomp.


Yes, I'll remember this forever! Thank you


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## solid7 (Dec 31, 2010)

You definitely made the trip at the right time. Fishing on the entire East Coast of Florida is on fire right now.


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## jmbush01 (Jun 25, 2012)

Oh I forgot to tell yall, both my and my dad's pomps were caught on 100lb mono! I bet we could have caught a bunch more with lighter tackle, but I found my lighter tackle rigs getting tangled a lot.


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## jmbush01 (Jun 25, 2012)

Do you know how it is in the gulf? My good friend's parents have a time share in seacrest FL (near PCB), and we are leaving for there tomorrow morning! I feel so blessed to be doing so much saltwater fishing lately!

And yes, my dad and I our talking about making it an annual trip because my birthday should always be during the mullet run and therefore good fishing.


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## solid7 (Dec 31, 2010)

jmbush01 said:


> Do you know how it is in the gulf? My good friend's parents have a time share in seacrest FL (near PCB), and we are leaving for there tomorrow morning! I feel so blessed to be doing so much saltwater fishing lately!
> 
> And yes, my dad and I our talking about making it an annual trip because my birthday should always be during the mullet run and therefore good fishing.


I am unsure about the Gulf Coast... I usually don't make any trips over there for at least another month. (after summer is over) What part are you thinking of travelling to? At the very least, maybe I can help you with a place to stay...

Also, consider a trip to Sebastian Inlet next time you are here. You'll definitely like that one...


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## jmbush01 (Jun 25, 2012)

solid7 said:


> I am unsure about the Gulf Coast... I usually don't make any trips over there for at least another month. (after summer is over) What part are you thinking of travelling to? At the very least, maybe I can help you with a place to stay...
> 
> Also, consider a trip to Sebastian Inlet next time you are here. You'll definitely like that one...





jmbush01 said:


> Do you know how it is in the gulf? *My good friend's parents have a time share in seacrest FL (near PCB), and we are leaving for there tomorrow morning*! I feel so blessed to be doing so much saltwater fishing lately!
> 
> And yes, my dad and I our talking about making it an annual trip because my birthday should always be during the mullet run and therefore good fishing.


Ok, will have to check out Sebastian Inlet. Thanks!


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## jmbush01 (Jun 25, 2012)

surfchunker said:


> sounds like a Great Trip with your Dad on your Birthday ... Treasure that time ... Great report and awesome pics


Thanks a lot, surfchunker!


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