Dead Loggerback 7/29/2015

Left the house early this morning in hope of catching the last of the incoming tide.  I know nobody wants to admit this, but summer is just about over.  It was extremely foggy this morning as it is in the fall and I could smell the corn drying already.  When I reached the marina there wasn't any air moving at all.  Almost eerie.  The water temperature was 88 degrees.  There was a large pod of Bottlenose Dolphins all the back by the entrance to Turville Creek.

As I reached Rt 90 bridge it was still 86 degrees.  That's warm!  The bay is full of croakers and spot now which they are probably feeding on.  Very few boats out in the bay, except for a hand full of crabbers.  Reached the thorofare and still seeing a few Bottlenoses.  Once I got to Route 50 bridge there were a few boats Flounder Fishing in the East Channel.  Water there was a bit cloudy.  Did get a few storms yesterday afternoon with a lot of storm runoff.

Started fishing the south jetty around 7:00.  The water was still coming in and around 78 degrees. Caught quite a few Croakers which are getting larger.  Most around 10 to 14 inches . Cut one up for bait and the Flounder bite was on. I n the two hours that the tide continued to come in, I landed 10 with 2 nice keepers.  Only brought home one for dinner.  I also caught a 17" Black Drum, at least 10 small Sea Bass, and 20 Croakers.  My greatest catch of the day was a 10" Blow Fish.  Talked to a few fishermen out on the water and seemed like everyone was catching fish but they were all small.

When I was a kid fishing in Indian River you could watch the Blow Fish steal your bait.  The water was probably 6' deep and crystal clear.  If you hooked your minnow thru the mouth they would cut off the tail. If you hooked them thru the tail they would cut off the head.  It was pretty cool to watch as there were always quite a few in a school to agitate us.  I can also remember my father cleaning them as you would a Cat Fish and they were good eating.  I wonder why they're not here like they used to be?  They can't have too many predators.

Heard some wonderful news this week.  Well, wonderful in my eyes.  They are reducing the flounder regulations by 40 percent next year.  Sorry to all of the charter boat people, but no one needs to keep 4 Flounder @ 16".  How about 2 @ 18"?  Yea I like it! Come on, isn't it a lot more fun just to catch fish and know your chances are better to catch another one next time by throwing just one back??!!

When I was heading in, I found a dead Loggerback Turtle up on the shoreline.  Not sure if I am suppose to report that.  Does anyone know?  Will look into it. Still a lot of crabs up on the shore line, Hope to go later in the week.

  Would also like to thank all the people who were at the Indian River Craft and Seafood Festival over the weekend.   It was a great success!!  (Pictures at thecraftycrabs.blogspot.com).