# Delray report



## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Hello guys. I used to post a little in the Va/NC forums as seamullet. But that was about 5 years ago. I have been watching the Fla forums for a bit and thought that since no one did much posting for my area, I would start posting some reports. 

I guess the best place to start is yesterday. We hit the beach about 5:00pm (Most of our fishing is in the evening/night.) We tried to net some bait, which was plentiful, but the attempt was futile. The beach, as usual, was covered up with seaweed. I started using a sibiki and had more luch. We saw TONS of bait. Most of it was in huge schools and all of it was moving south. Due to the seaweed, it was hard to fish but we managed to get in 10-15 blue runners averaging about 1-2 pounds. We also hooked a tarpon that would go about 50 pounds, but there wasn't much hope of getting it in. We could also see quite a few rays. Oh yeah, there was also one bar jack landed that was about the same size as the runners. Today we will probably hit Boynton Inlet. 

We went to the inlet last friday to get bait to use on the Sea Mist that night. (We caught a king, a huge YT, 2 muttons, a mahogany snapper, a mangrove, three big blue runners and two squirrel fish on the Sea Mist. We will probably be fishing on there for the full moon this friday. Now back to the inlet...) There were many HUGE snook milling around the inlet and it wasn't too hard to get them to bite. We didn't take tackle for them, but we had fun playing! There was also quite a few small mangroves being caught. 

I'll let you know how we do tonight if we go. I can tell you for sure that we will not be on the beach. We are sick of seaweed and dog sh..uhh... stuff.


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## Kozlow (Oct 25, 2002)

Welcome Back
Thanks for the report from your area DLTalr. We all apreciate the Info and its always great to hear what others might be geting into.  Good Luck out there.


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## sprtsracer (Apr 27, 2005)

Glad to see you here on our forum DLTair. Keep the reports coming and WELCOME to our neck of the woods.


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Thanks guys!

There wasn't much going on at Boynton Inlet. We were on the south pier. Some guys were out there fishing with HUGE cast nets. There wasn't much hope of catching anything so we headed back to Delray Beach. The tide was up and we had some wave action but the seaweed was spread out at least 30+ yards and the water was nasty. We got skunked.  

Oh well, next time perhaps.


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## Kozlow (Oct 25, 2002)

I always like the next time it works for me.


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Yeah, the next time is ALWAYS better than "You should have been here yesterday..." lol


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Just a quick report as there is not much to report. lol

We went a few days last week and caught large Lady Fish as fast as we could cast in. They were from five feet out to as far as we could cast. We had a ball!. There was also plenty of bait to be had. A few Blue Runners and JCs. But mostly Ladies. Then the wind changed....

We gave up trying the beach for a fw days because low tide is falling in the afternoon when we fish and the waves are a bit rough for wading out. We tried Deerfield Pier last night. I spent my time catching bait for the others to use. At least I caught some fish...

I only saw a couple of Jacks caught after we got there. You could barely move on the T because of all the people. That's why I gave up the piers. I'll stick to the beaches for now on.


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Hello fellas. I've been pretty buisy this week. I did manage to fish every evening though. It was a great week. There was tons of bait. Tons of Lady Fish. Blue fish galore. A 20 lb Cuda. A few Jacks and blue runners. And then last nite, there wasn't even a nibble...  I don't know what happened. Winds out of the east. Nearly full moon. Great timing for the high tide. It's weird. After getting several mullet in the net thursday, I figured yesterday would be great. Oh well, there's tonight!  

Yesterday I had my fishing buddy over with his family to eat... blue fish. Yeah yeah, I've heard it all before. Don't eat them. They are crap, blah blah blah. You just have to know how to prepare them. Coming from eastern NC, we know how to do just that. We ate them all the time. The first thing you have to do is cut their throats as soon as you get the hook out. Then throw them head first into a bucket of water so they can thrash around and bleed out. Then fillet them removing the skin. There is a big blood vein on the skin side you will want to remove. I usually just split the fillet in order to get it all. Next, you soak the fillets in salty water for at least 24 hours to remove as much of the oil as you can. Now they are ready to eat. The fillets will already be a bit salty so do not add salt to the batter/breading. If you want, you can soak them in fresh water for an hour or so to remove some of the salt. It really isn't much more involved that cleaning any other fish. My friend is now convinced. And you will be too. You CAN eat blues and they taste pretty good! Give 'em a try. Or don't. That would just leave more for us!


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## Big Bill (Dec 31, 2004)

*Blues and Sharks*

I agree with the post, and many people in the northease consider Bluefish a great table food. 
The only thing that i do differently with my bluefish is that I soak it in iced milk overnight. If I have 8-10 filets, I will put them in a baking pan, cover them with milk, and a few icecubes, and cover it with saran wrap. The advantage of milk is that the natural enzymes in it will help break down the oil in the fish's flesh, and get it out of there. If you have shark filets or steaks, it will also help remove any uric acid that has been recently excreted. 
Once soaked overnight or so, I will place the filets in a collander, rinse them off for a min or so, and prepare.
DO NOT.......and I mean DO NOT EVER.....drain the used milk back into the jug. I thought I would be cute and do that once, and my wife did NOT see the humor in it.  :--|  although I thought it was pretty funny, walking to the store for more milk in the rain kind of stunk


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! That sounds like something I would do!


I have heard that about using milk. I will give it a try next time. Incidently, you can soak liver in milk also. It is much better that way.


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## Big Bill (Dec 31, 2004)

*you could*

soak liver in honey and I still wouldnt come within a mile of it
:--| :--| :--| :--| :--| :--| :--|


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

LOL Fair enough. Then again, I wouldn't eat honet dipped liver either!

Here is another fish update. We went fishing again yesterday and today.


And that about sums it up. I caught one Lady Fish. We did notice that there are millions of tiny sand fleas on the beach. There is also alot of plant debris washing up. Just no fish.


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## KodiakZach (Mar 16, 2005)

The only thing I do different with the Blues is that when I take the filets out of the refridgerator after soaking them in milk for 24 hrs, is that I lay the filets on a sheet of plywood to dry. Once they dry, throw the bluefish filets in the trash and eat the plywood...


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## mattio (Sep 21, 2005)

*Boca Beach advice ?????*

Hey, 

I've been fishing the beach near Spanish River, without much luck. I'll get the occasional blue runner or some bait fissh on a sabiki just sitting in the surf, but not much else. I'm using a couple of 10' + rods with spinning reels, I've usually got 1 oz pyramid wieghts on a Nylon slider & sm - med circle hook, my casts are probably 20 - 30 Yds out. Am i doing something wrong ? Should I be using egg sinkers instead ? Are live shrimp likely to increase my hookups ? Is Spanish just a dead part of the beach ? I've been looking for sand fleas and have't seen any, am I too far south for them ? Any advice is apreciated.


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## fisherkid (Jun 30, 2005)

well I don't surf fish much but I'd like to be helpful so, I either use a two hook dropper rig on the bottom with slices of squid on 1/0 to 3/0 or you can make a fishing finder rig which is basicly what you have. try a heavier sinker by a couple of ounces maybe. shrimp would be good i'm just bad with getting it on my hook. to get more distance walk out into the water a bit. my casting is terrible so i really don't know. also you might get more replies by starting your own thread. and I don't know much so anybody please correct anything i may have been wrong about.
tight lines


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## mattio (Sep 21, 2005)

*Thanks*

It's cool that you replied so quick. I will give those things a shot. Heavier lead though, I'll try it and the shrimp. I've used a double drop rig before, it was in the Outer Banks though and the surf was much heavier. I probably should start a new thread, but I thought I'd read through the forum first. 

Thanks !


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Hey there Mattio

I can't tell you much about the beach down that way. It shouldn't be any different than the beaches here though. We always try to use whatever bait is running. Remember, fish with what the fish are eating.  If possible, we use livies. I have not used live shrimp here. It works quite well in most other areas I have fished. Your rig should work fine. I use egg sinkers most of the time. But I will throw on a pyramid if it is too rough. I prefer the egg sinkers though.

Like Fisherkid said, try walking out into the water. Especially if the tide is out. We will often go out about chest deep to cast and then back up to a more manageable depth. About the only time we will get out of the water is when we get cut off or need pliars to get a hook out. Well, we also get out of the water by dark. Don't wanna become shark food! lol


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Oh yeah, I forgot. The weight sinker I use depends on the waves/current. I try to use as little weight as possible. Caler days I'll use a 1 oz. The past few days I have been using a 3oz.


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## mattio (Sep 21, 2005)

That's some good advice ! I just got back from the beach this morning, caught a few jacks on Dead shrimp, but last nite........Those shrimp were live, produced a snook ( 22" ) and 2 lady fish. The trick semed to be jerkin it through the trough, a 1 oz egg sinker kept the shrimp on the bottom. I was using a regular spining outfit. On my Long rods I had 2 oz Pyramid sinkers and I was able to get my casts past the 1 st break, setting the rods in spikes, only brought in catfish with that setup though. I tried to sabiki some bait from the shore, it's too weedy. K, live shrimp work well, I haven't had much luck with cut squid, I was thinking about trying it with a double drop rig, any thoughts ?


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Way to go!

You might have a little more luck with that double drop if you try getting some cut mullet since that is what they are mainly feeding on right now. Also try a DOA shrimp. I will try one when I go back. How deep is the trough down there? We had a nice one on the north side of Delray Beach until this round of waves. Wednesday it was about knee/thigh deep and there was an ankle deep bar on the other side.  We have not tried the south side in a few weeks. Cat fish? I have not seen one of those since I left Melbourne, Fl. I didn't know they were all the way down here.


Did I tell you there is a Snook fillet fee for advice? lol


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## mattio (Sep 21, 2005)

Cool, I'll look around the IC for some mulet, sounds like a good idea. As for the catfish, first time I've caught them from the surf, gaff tops. I'm not sure how deep the trough is, only walked in to my knees, and I'm 5'4, so not too far. I'm really psyched that I've been able to catch ! I'll be back out there this evening, gonna try a DOA shrimp and I wanna try a new X-RAP that's dyin to get wet. 

Thanks Again, everybody. 

OMG, I would have pic's but my digicam crapped out , next time for sure !


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Here are a couple of surfcam links for the area. 

From the top of Boston's. It also gives other surf info below the image.

http://www.mydelraybeach.com/Delray/Departments/Parks+and+Recreation/
Beach+Conditions.htm

Boca Inlet. This cam actually moves. Just wait a minute.

http://www.evsmartin.com/boca_inlet_live.htm


Boynton Inlet.

http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/webcams/slwi/


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## mattio (Sep 21, 2005)

Well, the wind was up a little last nite and with the cloud cover it was pretty dark. I picked up a couple of pompano rigs for the long rods and some frozen sand fleas, still had the dead shrimp from friday night. There wasn't much action in the trough, but the pompano rods produced a few ! Funny thing is, i thought they'd go for the sand fleas, catfish seemed to like them, but the pompano only wanted to eat dead frozen day old shrimp tails. 

Bad news is, I thought the slot for Pompano was 12" -20", all mine were an inch short, get home read the regs and 11" is min  Guess that only happens once.


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Ouch. That hurts. Here. This might help.

http://www.cyberangler.com/articles/fishing_regulations.html

 lol


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

We went down for a few hours yesterday evening. Three of us were fishing. One of us was catching...  


Two small jacks, a small Mangrove and a small Blue Fish. That's it.  

We'll try again tonight.


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

That was a good day. It has been pretty crappy. A few tiny pomps. Baby Jacks and blue runners. And last night I caught the smallest lady fish.. well, it was more of a little girl fish... 

Tons of nibblers. But they were not big enough to hook. I think they were just biting the smell off of my bait...  

But I will keep trying!


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

Went the day before yesterday. The bite turned on a little before dark. We ended up with about a dozen Bluefish. One was a monster! Easilt twice the size of the rest. We actually caught it on a rod set up for sharke! Three Lady Fish. Two of them were huge and one was average. (We used one of the bigguns and the small one for bait.) Three Jacks. Four Whiting. And two Black Tips going about two feet each. 

We went yesterday. We stayed long enough to cast in twice before the storms chased us off. It was still low tide and it was to rough to wade, so we really had not planned on catching anyting. Well, things went according to plan! lol


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## fisherkid (Jun 30, 2005)

good reports but PLEASE start a new thread it's getting very hard to figure out where the newest stuff is if i missed anything. not trying to offend just trying to read. once again thanks for the reports.


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## DLTalr (Aug 16, 2005)

LOL Ok, no problem. I promise my next report will be on a new thread.


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## fisherkid (Jun 30, 2005)

Thanks, I got really scared when I saw another post  just kidding. I figiured (?) you'd understand


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