Cocoa Beach, Merritt Island Fishing Report

The Fall Mullet Run

It looks to me like the fall mullet run has been underway for about a week now. When the finger mullet show up in the surf and in the rivers you can be sure the fishing action is about to improve. In my last report I described the fishing like a roller coaster, up one day and down the next. With the mullet showing up we should be up most of the time for a while now. It’s the time of the year anglers wait for because the predators will be following closely behind and the fishing should get great.


[img] http://inshorefishingadventures.com/Christians%20Red.jpg [/img]


The Port and the Nearshore Ocean should produce some good redfish and snook action along with all the other predators that will be following the mullet. Some reports of tarpon to the north, suggests that these bruisers will be down our way soon. Use your cast net to fill the well with mullet and you are on your way. Rig up with a Diiachi Bleeding Bait circle hook and free line those mullet in the surf along the beach and also around the jetties. Beef up that rod to at least a 20 pound class and use a 40 pound leader. If you get into the tarpon take that leader on up to at least 60 pounds and bigger than that if the fish go over 100. With the 20 pound rods and the appropriate leader you will be able to shorten the fight and improve the chances of a strong live release.

On my last two trips on the Banana River we were greeted with high winds from the get go. The first trip resulted in only one fish after a lot of looking and casting. The one red we picked up came on a 5 inch Rip Tide Flats Grub in the glow color. The grub was rigged on a 1/4 oz. Pro Jig head from Rip Tide. The nice 23 inch red was lying up close to the mangroves on a small spoil island. Anytime you can find this situation with some deeper water nearby chances are good there are some fish around.


[img] http://inshorefishingadventures.com/Rip%20Tide%20Red,%20rs.jpg [/img]


The next trip was also a windy day. I was joined by John from Chicago for the days fishing. John started the morning casting topwater lures hoping for a snook. After fishing a couple different points without success we changed over to a small subsurface lure in a white color. It wasn’t long until a small juvenile tarpon took the bait. Unfortunately, one jump and he was gone. At least it got us pumped a little because we had fished an hour without success. Soon we had a pole bending jack for a little more action.

The bite was slow on artificial so we decide to try some live shrimp. The shrimp produced more jacks, some nice mangrove snapper, and several small reds. The largest red was 21 inches. The wind continued to blow hard and by the time we called it a day we ran though large waves and a couple of rain showers getting back to the ramp.

As always, you can visit my website at www.inshorefishingadventures.com to view pictures of the fish we catch in the Cocoa Beach area. That’s what it’s all about. Good fishin’.

Capt. Ron Presley
Phone 321-454-7285
presleyr@bellsouth.net