Daytona Beach Report

April 12, 201610 yr

Headed to Daytona beach this weekend for my girlfriends sisters dance competition. (I was along for the ride) We got there Wednesday night around 11pm and went straight to bed. Each morning of the trip I got up around 6:30am to get some fishing in before everyone else woke up.

Day 1:

I only had my bass stuff with me so I was restricted to freshwater or back water reds and such. On day 1 I decided to head to a pond I was directed to by someone on another forum. It was about 20 mins from my hotel and one of the few ponds I fished that had brush all around the lake and no houses around it. I was told there were big bass in there and it sure looked like there would be. I spent about 1.5 hours there with only a few 1 pound bass to show for it all caught on a senko.

I decide to head up the road a mile to a neighborhood pond to see what I could do. Right when I walked up to the lake a big swirl left the bank and it looked promising. I steadily caught some 1-3 pound fish (all post-spawn and SUPER skinny) all on senkos. Some of those fish were 20" inches and only 3 pounds because of how skinny they were. I decide to start throwing my Matt Lures 5" Bluegill ( http://www.***.com/Mattlures_Ultimate_Bluegill_Series_Swimbait/descpage-MLUBG.html ) to see if I could get any bigger bites and almost immediately caught another 3 pound 20" bass with a huge head. Then I made a cast to a corner of the lake and saw a huge swirl by my bait that was 20 ft away from me. I set the hook with my heavy flipping rod and she did not budge. I got super excited. I was shaking the whole time as this was by far the biggest bass I had ever hooked. I get her on shore and could not believe what I was looking at. the 5" swimbait has disappeared in her mouth. I think she wanted it. I snapped a few pictures took some measurements and she swam of strong.

This thing was a beast. Almost reminded me of the barramundi they catch down in Australia. She measured 26" yes that's 26"(calling it 26" because she was bent a little and her mouth was past the 0" mark) but was so skinny that she only weighed 7.69 pounds. It was a bitter sweet moment because if I caught her a week or 2 before or after she would have been over 10 pounds which is a lifetime goal of mine. Even with being so skinny she was still my PB. but this just means that I will have to catch her again sometime down the road. So enjoy some pictures:

Day 2:

Tried for some reds in a creek off the Halifax river with some live shrimp and only ended up with a few jacks, mangrove snapper, and ladyfish. I did however find a brackish water pond. At first I didn't know it was brackish and picked up a few bass. I tried for a bigger bass that was on a bed but couldn't get him to bite. Then I saw a monster and tried for him for a while. only to realize that it was not a bass. I'm not actually sure what type of fish it was but it looked like a huge ciclid or maybe tilapia. any info on what it could have been would be appreciated. I found out it was a brackish water pond when I saw a school of mullet swim by with a few bass chasing after them. that was cool.

Day 3:

I rounded out the trip by going back to the same pond as the first and caught plenty more 2-4 pound bass bu nothing big this time.

Overall it was a great trip. Shannon (my girlfriends sister) won the national championship with the JMU Dukettes, I got to hangout with my girlfriend at the beach, and I got some great fishing time in. I cant wait to go back and try to get that fish when she is fat.