Be sure and click on the photos for a bigger view
 View looking west from the Sebastian Inlet's north jetty during a heavy day of fishing. Note the many large snook laying about on the jetty. |
 Robbie Crawford with a prize 21 lb. snook, 40 1/2 inches long taken with a live mullet from the "pocket" at the Sebastian Inlet's north jetty. |
 Anyone care to guess why this lady is smiling so broadly? |
 A long handled shrimp net is a must to land a big fish from the Sebastian Inlet's north jetty. |
 When the first, cooling breezes of early fall bring subtle changes to Florida's climate large schools of finger mullet, like enormous shadows, begin to appear in the surf and move along the beaches. Now, generally speaking mullet don't have any friends as everything eats them and when these huge schools of mullet congregate to migrate they are closely followed by everything that feeds upon them. This includes hungry snook, redfish, flounder, sharks, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, redfish, jacks, tarpon, ladyfish and lots of birds which all tear into the baitclouds eating any mullet not swift enough to escape their jaws or beaks. The baitclouds move towards inlets as they prepare for winter and the next stages in their lives. Its at this point, as they pass through the inlets, that the slaughter escalates. It is good that mullet are a prolific species because they wouldn't survive the orgy of feeding that follows them otherwise. At the top of the mullet feeding chain is man and his fishing tackle. By cast-netting loads of fingerling mullet for bait humans catch the mullet-chasing predators. This frenetic fishing activity lasts only a few months during the fall, but every fall it is absolutely unforgettable.
Some of the hottest fishing in Florida during September and October occurs at the Sebastian Inlet. Located 18 miles south of Melbourne on central Florida's east coast every fall its north and south jetties pack with ardent fisherfolk in pursuit of their favorite sportfish. And some sport it can be at this time of year. As the enormous pods of bait, mostly mullet but some menhaden and glass minnows, gather for the move into the Indian River Lagoon from the stormy Atlantic they are constantly under assault from fish in the sea and birds in the air. Mullet explode in rippling showers as huge snook literally cartwheel out of the water while pursuing them. There is no escape even at the bottom where voracious, doormat-size flounder and large redfish wait for them. When the mullet fly into the air some are snagged by whirling and diving birds. Watching all this activity you don't need a Phd in marine biology to know that the fishing is going to be hot, if you can get a bait or lure past the wheeling-diving birds and into the water.
The abundance of live bait in the water would seem to mean that the predators are well fed and therefore not likely to bite a bait or lure. However this is not the case. The excitement of the feeding frenzy seems to enhance the possibilities of catching fish as they seem to bite just about anything that crosses their path. A good example of this occurred to me some years ago when I lost my last spoon to a big bluefish at the inlet during a run. On a whim I put a two ounce sliding egg sinker on my line, tied a number 3 hook to the end of the line and tore a strip from the ragged towel I had been using to wipe the fish slime from my hands. Hooking the strip of towel on I began casting and continued catching bluefish on virtually every cast although the piece of rag bore not the slightest resemblance to the mullet on which the blues were feeding.
Fishing from the jetties at Sebastian Inlet requires some special techniques. Actually these techniques are probably much the same as one would use to fish from any other pier or jetty crowded with fishermen. First and foremost on anyone's list of crowded jetty or pier fishing techniques is courtesy. When folks are stacked up along the rail nearly as thickly as the bait schooling in the water below courtesy becomes a very important factor. Respect the people around you and you will usually find this courtesy returned. Try and keep your line clear of others. Sometimes this is just impossible. When tangles occur be patient and coordinate your efforts with those whose lines are tangled with yours. When someone standing on a jetty hooks a big fish it is often necessary for the lucky individual to walk up and down the jetty while fighting the fish in order to prevent it from busting off. This means that folks on either side of the fisherman will need to clear the way and reel in their lines in order to prevent fouling the line with the game fish on the end.
Swift currents in the Inlet will move your rigged bait despite your best efforts so its best to learn to work with them. Know the tides and watch wind and swell directions. Knowing how to work with the Inlet's currents and such will help you fish it successfully. You can't fight the tides, currents and waves. An abundance of coquina rocks on the bottom are almost guaranteed to gobble more than their fair share of your carefully constructed fishing rigs so make sure you prepare plenty of extras so as not to waste valuable fishing time when you do get irretrievably snagged and have to bust off. Fishing in the top of the water column requires rigging up a stout hook on 4 or 5 feet of mono leader in the 20-40 lb. range, hooking the baitfish of your choice so it can still swim and chunking it into the roiling waters. This can be a challenge as the many seabirds vying for a piece of the action will often snag your bait before it ever reaches the water. If this happens you have to be able to snatch the bait from the birds beak quickly, before it can swallow your bait and get hooked so watch closely as your bait drops toward the water. A 1/2 to 1 1/2 oz. sliding egg sinker rigged on your leader so as to stay away from the hook and bait will enable you to fish midwater (the current is usually so strong that it suspends your rig even with the lead weight) the extra weight will also make it harder for a bird to grab before it hits the water.
To fish on the bottom a sliding egg sinker of 3 to 6 ounces will be needed to keep your bait in, more or less, one spot. Egg sinkers are preferable to pyramid sinkers because they are less prone to snag in the rocks. Pyramid sinkers will hold your bait in place better, but bring a lot of them because you won't get many back. The best bottom fishing rigs for Sebastian Inlet, with its strong currents and numerous rocks, combine the strengths of components to be effective. For openers a fairly stiff eight foot rod is a good, all-purpose start for the Inlet fishing system. Some people use shorter, lighter more flexible rods and some use longer, heavier stiffer rods but the lighter more flexible rods, while less tiring to use, often cannot turn a big fish before it executes a run through a rockpile or under the jetty. A larger, say 9-11 foot rod, while plenty stiff for turning big fish and distance casting heavy rigs and lures, is very tiring to use as several hours of casting and retrieving will tell you.
A reel, either spinning or levelwind, matched to your rod and loaded with 15-20 lb. test line is essential. Even the best rod and reel on earth cannot compensate for poorly tied knots. I have had this lesson repeated over and over again with such regularity that I've finally narrowed down my knot selection. There are four that I find best suited for my needs. The worlds fair knot, the blood knot, the spider hitch and the Bimini twist. If you're fishing in the water column at the Inlet it is a good idea to use a high quality, high tensile strength snap swivel to attach your hook or lure to since the snap swivel will prevent your line from twisting so badly. Some folks will tell you that a snap swivel will prevent fish from taking your bait. This may be true to some extent, but when the fish are thick in the Inlet a snap swivel doesn't seem to deter bites at all and it will sure save you a lot of grief.
Time was I would've pontificated on about the virtues of using the spider hitch/blood knot/world's fair knot leader system, but time is a great teacher and I now know that to catch big fish at the Sebastian Inlet you'd best use the Bimini twist to make the double line part of your leader. It is a difficult knot to tie and is easiest when done with a partner to help, but if you want to consistently land big fish you'll need it.
Most fisherfolk probably associate the Bimini twist with offshore fishing since it is most often used by those trolling for marlin, sailfish, tuna and mahi-mahi. The reason I switched to the Bimini twist for creating the double line part of my leader system is simple, it won't bust when some monster from the deep inhales your bait, feels the sting of the hook and makes an explosive run. The sudden shock of such a strike is just about guaranteed to bust off your leader system right above a spider hitch. The spider hitch is easier and faster to tie but it doesn't have the impact and shock resistance of the Bimini twist (sometimes also called the rollover knot). I learned all this the hard way on the most spectacular day of fishing action ever in my 26 years of fishing the Sebastian Inlet as I watched fish after fish pop my leader system off right above the spider hitch I was using to form my double line shock leader. The next time I went I was prepared with carefully tied Bimini twists and fresh line on all my reels and I had no more bust-offs. The spider hitch is a great knot for creating double line shock leader under most fishing circumstances, but not when the big boys are running in the Inlet.
Whether you use the Bimini twist, the spider hitch or some other knot suitable for tying off a double line shock leader you'll want about 5 or 6 feet of it tied, using a blood knot, to a single strand of tough, abrasion resistant mono that is at least twice the breaking strength of the line spooled on your reel. About 6 to 9 feet of this single strand mono will usually suffice and then, at its tag end, tie your snap swivel, hook or rig your terminal, weighted rig using a worlds fair or uni knot. Both are very strong and easy to tie.
I'm not going to confuse you by trying to describe, without photos or illustrations, how to tie the Bimini twist. To learn it either find a knowledgeable human to show you how to tie it or go buy the best tutorial on knot tying that I know of which is "Vic Dunaway's Complete Book of Baits Rigs and Tackle." Mr. Dunaway describes, in detail, virtually every knot that a fisherman might need, but while he covers a wide variety of excellent knots he leaves out the spider hitch so I'll attempt to describe it below. There are other books that show the spider hitch knot quite adequately, such as the I.G.F.A.'s excellent book of World Record Game Fishes which has a really thorough knot section in the rear. It is a lot easier to figure out knot tying while sitting with an illustrated book in front of you and line in hand. Try it out. The books are worth the expenditure.
Since Mr. Dunaway's book doesn't describe the spider hitch knot I will attempt to do so now, it may do some folks some good. Start by doubling your line back on itself to make a loop of about 5 or 6 feet in length. Once you've done this twist it into a small reverse loop near the point where the tag end meets the standing line. Hold this reverse loop near its base with the thumb and forefinger. Some folks hold this reverse loop with their thumb extended well beyond their forefinger, some hold their forefinger extended well in front of their thumb. Use which ever method you find most comfortable. Next you wind the double line around the base of the reverse loop and your thumb (or forefinger) five times and then pass the end of the double line back through the reverse loop and pull it down tight. Trim the tag end about one sixteenth of an inch from the knot and then trim the very end of the double line evenly for the next knot. This knot system will work with any weight line up to thirty pound but it works best with light line. As I have stated, the spider hitch works for most types of fishing but it doesn't have the resiliency of the Bimini twist.
Whatever the weight of the line on your reel is the next section of leader should be double its breaking strength. Since this discussion involves twenty pound line doubled back on itself the next section of leader should be at least forty pound. Tie the forty pound line to your evenly trimmed doubled twenty pound line using a blood knot which is described in detail in Mr. Dunaway's and the I.G.F.A.'s books. After tying the forty pound line to the doubled twenty I pull about 6 to 9 feet of the forty pound off the spool and cut it. For bottom fishing the Inlet slide an egg sinker whose weight varies with the strength of the current, 3-6 ounces for strong currents 1-3 for weaker, onto the line followed by a plastic bead to prevent the lead sinker from abrading the knot then tie a stout swivel on the tag end using a world's fair or uni-knot as described in Mr. Dunaway's book. A uni-knot, improved clinch or trilene knot work well for tying the swivel as well but I prefer the worlds fair knot because it is quick and very strong. On the other side of the swivel I tie about two feet of forty or fifty pound line and to the end of this section I tie a well sharpened 4/0 or 5/0 hook again using the worlds fair or uni-knot to tie both ends of the terminal leader. A pyramid sinker attached to a "Fish Finder" sinker slide will work almost as well as a sliding egg sinker but, as I mentioned, pyramid sinkers, while they hold the bottom better in a strong current, are more prone to hang on a rock than an egg sinker.
After all this rigging and knot tying you are now ready to fish and need only bait. Watching the swirling waters on the ocean side of Sebastian Inlets north jetty with a five or six foot cast net in hand ready to cast onto a passing school of bait fish can be productive. One good cast should produce enough bait that you won't need to make another. To keep your bait lively the best technique seems to be a five gallon plastic bucket with a number of three eighths of an inch holes drilled in it around the upper half, a one-half pound lead weight bolted to the bottom and a stout rope harness instead of the wire handle. The lid to the bucket can be slit along its edge about every four inches and have holes drilled in it for water circulation and still fit tight enough to remain on in the swirling waters of the inlet. Tie a stout nylon rope from the buckets harness to a rail on the inlet side of the jetty and drop the bucket full of fingerlings into the inlet. The waves washing under the weir jetty provide a lot of oxygen, more than any live well aerator could and since the waves wash from the ocean side into the inlet your bait bucket remains clear of the barnacle encrusted pilings that support the jetty. To hook fingerling mullet push the point of the hook through the cartilage in the roof of their mouth just forward of their eyes. This method keeps them active longer. Don't put the hook through both the lower and upper part of their mouth or they can't breath, hook them only through the upper part of their mouth. Some folks hook them through the meat just below their dorsal fin but this position tends to cause them to expire quickly and they don't swim as naturally.
Aside from a tackle box full of extra sinkers, swivels, hooks, leader and other tackle (count on losing tackle to the infamous rockfish of Sebastian Inlet) you will need an extendable shrimp dip net. These nets extend out to twenty four or twenty five feet and are available from virtually all tackle shops and you'll need one to land your catch. In these days of strict size limits and other fishing restrictions the use of jetty gaffs isn't such a good idea. You definitely don't want to gaff a redfish only to find that it was a few inches over the twenty seven inch limit.
Although the bottom fishing rigs most folks use to fish the waters around Sebastian Inlet work well for flounder and reds some blues, Spanish mackerel and even snook are also hooked on them. The best way to hook one of these mid and top water predators is to use the same type of rig described above but use sliding sinkers from one half to on and one half ounces in weight so you are fishing in mid-water and slowly retrieve your rig while attempting to avoid tangles.
Tides, moon phases and time of day can really affect the fishing at the Inlet. The best action in the fall seems to occur about dawn and dusk when the tide synchronizes so that it is about to turn at these times. Outgoing tides, just as they begin, seem to be the most productive. When all the conditions come together at the inlet get ready for some incredible fishing action. Just be sure and observe all the constantly changing fishing laws because the armed park rangers constantly patrol the jetty with tape measures and handcuffs. Getting arrested because you were unaware of some obscure fishing regulation can sure ruin an otherwise great time.
Despite the snags, crowds, armed park rangers and other assorted hazards (like rude fisherfolk and crazed boaters) the Sebastian Inlet remains one of Florida's premier fishing destinations. All you have to do is look at the photos accompanying this tale to see that the fishing can be great. There is a campground and boat ramp on the south side of the Inlet. Be sure and make reservations if you plan to camp. If you plan to fish the Inlet from a boat be sure it is equipped with a couple of extra stout anchors with 8 to 10 feet of chain to prevent the anchor rode from chafing on the rock. Fishing from a boat at the Inlet requires careful planning and staying alert to changing conditions and other boaters. Its a whole other story and one I will cover in the near future.
|
(Finland in WWII, Photos P.1, P.2, P.3, P.4, P.5, P.6.) (Fishing Intro) (Free Brochure) (German Photos WWII) (Google Search)
(Hendrix Photos) (WWII Japanese Photos P.1, P.2, P.3, P.4) (Old Aircraft Photos) (Papa's page) (Sea Bird Publishing)
(Self Portrait)
(U.S. Ships p.1)
(Surf Stories)
(Tater Says)
(U.S. Medium Bombers P.1,
P.2,
P.3)
(Vanilla Fudge Photos)
This page, its design and content © James E. Culberson 2007 All Rights Reserved