by John Kumiski
Do you want to catch fish while in the Daytona/New Smyrna area, or do you just want to burn off time drowning bait? If the former is what you want, this article is for you!
Ponce Inlet, a natural cut through the beach, connects the Indian and Halifax Rivers to the Atlantic Ocean. A jetty found on the south side of the inlet forms the northern terminus of New Smyrna Beach. Another jetty on the north side of the inlet lies at the southern end of Daytona Beach.
South of New Smyrna lies Apollo Beach, in the Canaveral National Seashore. A fast slope on this beach makes it a good fishing beach, and fish are caught there by knowledgeable anglers all year long.
Fishing the Jetties
Any time can provide good fishing on the jetties. The best time to fish there is during the mullet runs, especially the fall run. This run begins toward the end of August and can last into October. While the mullet are there the angler can, and usually does, catch a varied menu of gamefishes. Redfish, often big bulls over thirty pounds, follow the mullet, as do bluefish. The blues will sometimes be choppers like the ten and twelve pounders I ran into one March. Tarpon and snook may be found there, as will be sharks, BIG sharks. Big doormat flounder and jack crevalle up to the thirty pound range will also put in an appearance. For best results, fish early or late in the day.
Use big tackle but travel light if fishing on either jetty during the mullet run. Big tackle means a surfcasting rod of ten or twelve feet, with a spinning reel capable of handling 250 yards of seventeen pound test line. A ten foot shock leader of fifty to one hundred pound test (depending on the species desired or present) completes the outfit.
All tackle should be carried on one's person so at least one hand stays free for clambering on rocks which may be slick. A small backpack could carry all lures and rigs, although this might be hard to do if live mullet were the bait of choice. A burlap sack can be used to carry fish for the lucky angler who wants a fish dinner.
Another tip concerns footwear for the jetties. Old golf shoes with metal cleats supply superior traction, preventing falls and maybe saving a big fish or your life. Falling in the water during a strong outgoing tide could be very hazardous.
During the mullet run live mullet make a superior bait, and can be captured with a castnet right from the beach. They can be livelined on a single hook, or weighted down with a sliding egg sinker, depending on where the fish are feeding.
Large poppers cast into the surf will also work well. Large here means three, four, or five ounces. If the big blues or sharks are around, use a foot of wire leader to prevent cutoffs.
Once the mullet run is over, is the fishing over as well? Hardly. Redfish prowl the jetties all year, although not in the sizes or concentrations they attain during the run. Like reds everywhere, they take a variety of baits and lures. Finger mullet, crabs, and shrimp are effective naturals, usually fished near the bottom.
Sheepshead are always found at the jetties. The largest fish come in during the winter. Shrimp work well, although fiddler crabs are perhaps the best bait. Successful sheepheaders need nothing more elaborate than a cane pole for tackle. With a sinker and a baited hook, the bait is worked close to the rocks. Regardless of the tackle used, keep the bait probing in the holes close to the rocks.
Another fish found in the area during the colder months and into the spring is the Spanish mackerel. The Spanish advertise their presence by chasing glass minnows or other small forage up to the surface. Terns and other birds join the fracas, tipping off the anglers that the mackerel are in. Using small jigs or spoons with a light wire trace can quickly lead to a limit catch.
Small blues of 2-3 pounds hang around the jetties most of the winter as well. I've seen them so thick that catching two at a time on a single Mirr-O-Lure was the rule rather than the exception. Catching them under these circumstances is anything but challenging.
For those looking for a challenge, divers claim snook stack up under the north jetty all year. They are seldom caught by anglers. Obviously if the fish are living there they must be eating, so why are they such an uncommon catch? The secret of taking Ponce snook consistently is waiting to be discovered by the angler who innovates and perseveres.
The above information is still not complete. Flounder come in whenever bait is plentiful, usually sometime in July through the end of the mullet run. Pompano are another prized summer catch. Whiting are in the surf around the jetties all year. Black drum ranging in size from puppies to enormous are taken from the jetties, particularly during the winter. They prefer clams or crabs, but fellows tossing shrimp take a share too.
Tackle at times other than during the mullet run could be anything which comes to hand quickly. Spinning tackle is probably most popular. Lines need to be twelve pound test or so for spinning tackle and more for plugging gear. Abrasion from the rocks will quickly weaken thinner lines.
The standard rig for bait fishing from the jetties consists of a freely sliding egg sinker on the line above a barrel swivel. The sinker's weight should be from one-half to three or so ounces, depending on wave action and current speed. Below the swivel tie on a section of heavy (thirty to fifty pound) mono for a shock leader. When the blues or Spanish are in, substitute single strand wire for the mono. At the business end, tie on a hook geared to the bait size, #2 or #1 for smaller shrimp or fiddler crabs up to 4/0 or 5/0 for larger mullet.
Many anglers simply liveline live or cut mullet when they can see the gamefish up near the surface. Rig the same way as described above, simply skipping the sinker.
Regardless of what rig you may use, bring lots of extras. The bottom is full of rocky snags that eat rigs like crazy. If you're not prepared to re-rig, you will not be fishing very long.
What it amounts to is anyone who cares to walk out on either the New Smyrna or Daytona jetties with a fishing rod and some type of bait could be in for a very memorable day, and possibly the fish of a lifetime. Bring various sizes of hooks and sinkers, a variety of lures, and plenty of extra leader material. Be prepared to have a blast!
The Intracoastal Waterway
Between the SR 40 bridge in the city of Ormond Beach and the town Oak Hill the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) wends its way for almost thirty miles. In that distance it passes by one inlet, under seven bridges, by ten or so communities, dozens of creeks, hundreds of docks, and thousands of islands and oyster shoals. The ICW itself provides habitat for many popular sport fish- redfish, snook, seatrout, flounder, tarpon, jack crevalle, bluefish, sheepshead, whiting, black drum, and others.
If you travel off of the ICW only a short distance you'll feel as though you're in a remote area. Even along the ICW itself, the bridges, docks, oysters, and seawalls provide plenty of habitat for "urban" fish. Ponce Inlet provides a conduit for ocean-going fish seeking to feed on the area's plentiful shrimp and baitfish. Anglers have many opportunities for fishing in this area, including piers and bridges, wading, and from a boat.
This fishery changes seasonally. The snook and tarpon of summer give way to bluefish as the days grow short and the water cools. Reds and trout remain all year however, and many anglers favor the colder months for these two species.
Snook and tarpon are the glamour species of the area. Many anglers I spoke with had basically the same thing to say about these fish, "The snook and tarpon are really hard to catch." The two anglers I spoke to (Captain Ron Rebeck of Debary and Captain Fred Hill of Edgewater) who claimed to have good success with these species both used the same technique. They fish around structure from a boat, usually after sunset.
Excellent night fishing opportunities exist by the bridges and under lighted docks all the way from J.B.'s Fish Camp in New Smyrna to Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach. Moonfish (near the inlet), snook, seatrout, jack crevalle, and ladyfish are all likely catches. Tarpon are never really likely, but during the summer months remain a constant possibility.
The docks along the Intracoastal from Edgewater north to Ormond Beach will hold such fish as snook, seatrout, tarpon, and redfish. The best docks are old and beat up, with a lot of barnacles, oysters, and other such growth on them. Look for a good current flow under a dock that can't support the weight of a human any more and there's a strong possibility it will hold fish. The least productive docks are new, or have bait buckets hanging off of them.
Fred Hill says, "Most of the time the bigger snook will be right under the dock, as you might expect. But big gator trout will often lie out away from the dock, sometimes as far away as 10 feet." Although the snook action slows during the colder months, these big trout remain and feed all winter long. Regardless of the species or season, Hill prefers jigs for this type of fishing, with the deep running DOA Bait Buster (he calls it the "rubber mullet") being a favorite. He says you need to fish these lures slowly, right on the bottom.
During the summer both tarpon and snook can be taken between the two bridges in New Smyrna on a rising tide, after the clean seawater comes in. Successful anglers use swimming plugs like the Bomber Long A, or live finger mullet. Fly fishers can try using standard tarpon streamers. All of the bridges in this area can produce both snook and tarpon during the summer months. Most successful anglers fish from boats. It's not that the folks on the bridges don't hook up, but they have a hard time controlling an 80 pound tarpon from the bridge!
You can certainly catch fish here during the daylight hours, too. The same docks that produce fish at night will also yield catches during the day. Channels funnelling between islands or oyster bars, creek mouths, seawalls, pilings, and other structure attract and hold fish at all hours.
Ken Bay is a long-time fly fisher who lives in Daytona Beach (as a matter of fact he wrote the first book ever done on saltwater fly tying). Ken fishes the ICW almost exclusively by wading, and was kind enough to share with me the results of some of his years of experience, especially locations.
Ken mostly fishes the ICW north of Ponce Inlet, from Ormond Beach south to Port Orange. He says good wade fishing can be found all along the west shoreline of the Halifax River from the Ormond Bridge (SR 40) in Ormond Beach south five miles to Holly Hill. He also likes to fish three bridges in this area, again by wading: the northeast side of the Seabreeze Bridge in Daytona Beach, the east side of the Main Street Bridge, also in Daytona Beach, and the west side of the Port Orange bridge in Port Orange.
When fishing any of these areas Ken likes the low incoming tide best. He likes fishing with poppers and finds them effective sometimes, but admits that day in and day out Clouser minnows or crab flies work better.
In the Halifax River he mostly catches redfish. Although he sees snook in the main river, he's never had much success taking them there. Ken says most of his better snook fishing occurs in the small feeder creeks flowing into the Halifax River.
All of the creeks on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway from Port Orange down south into New Smyrna will produce fish on the outgoing tides. The predators wait in the run-out for shrimp, crabs, and baitfish to wash down to them. These creeks include Spruce Creek, Ten Mile Creek, Mill Creek, Rose Bay, and others. Of course many of these creeks offer good fishing opportunities themselves, but that is a subject for another time.
Boaters can work the southern end of this area. Captain David Brown works out of LeFil's Fish Camp in Oak Hill, using his Hewes Bayfisher to access the ICW and its backcountry waters for redfish and seatrout. Brown favors a small selection of proven lures. "I like this jig and gray grub tail combination tipped with a bit of shrimp", he said, showing me a rather nondescript looking gray bait. "There's a worm that lives in the bottom here that the reds like to eat, and this is a good imitation of it." Brown also likes two baits marketed by DOA lures, the standard shrimp and a small minnow imitation called the TerrorEyz.
"The redfish are here all year", he said. "Most of them fall within the slot limit. I'm starting to see a lot of undersize fish, and of course there are some bruisers in here, too. We get trout all year, too."
When navigating anywhere in this stretch of water use caution after leaving the channel. Oyster bars are everywhere and most aren't marked. Also, a good portion of the ICW in this area is marked as Slow Speed Only for manatee protection.
So whether you're an aficionado of snook, tarpon, redfish, seatrout or some other species, you can probably find what you're looking for in the ICW in the stretch from Oak Hill to Ormond Beach.
The Canaveral National Seashore, New Smyrna end
On the Seashore's eastern side is 23 miles of fabulously undeveloped beach, the last such stretch on the east coast of Florida. On the west side of this narrow spit of land lies one of the state's premier redfish holes, the Mosquito Lagoon. With such a wealth of fertile waters surrounding them, it is no wonder that the area's natives easily survived on fish and shellfish to the extent that they were able to build shell mounds on the order of Turtle Mound. Due to its large size it was known as a navigational aid to Spanish and English settlers of the New World.
Today's anglers will find a wide variety of choices facing them when they visit this area. Beach or lagoon? What species? On the ocean side, pompano, whiting, black drum, Spanish mackerel, redfish, flounder, bluefish, sharks, crevalle, even tarpon, can all be caught during the right season. On the lagoon side, one can fish the oyster bars and channels in the north end, or opt to try the crystalline flats down south. Let's examine the opportunities along the beach first.
At the north end of the National Seashore, the ocean side is known as Apollo Beach. Access is from S.R. A1A south out of New Smyrna. Five parking areas fill up quickly on summer weekends, but are generally ample during the rest of the year, especially for early risers.
At the south end of the Seashore, the beach is called Playalinda. Thirteen parking lots provide the angler with plenty of places to leave the vehicle. Access is from S.R. 402 out of Titusville.
In between the ends of the roads is a stretch of beach about 12 miles long accessible only to those willing to walk in. Known as Klondike Beach, this area has the least use. The National Park Service allows overnight camping at the north end of this piece of beach for those willing to carry in everything they'll need; however access is limited to between November and May. Nesting turtles during the summer and fall months need protection from human interference, so night access is prohibited during that time.
The beach fishery changes along with the seasons, but regardless of the time of year greater success goes to those with a strategy. Jim Manley, who gives surf fishing lessons at the Apollo Beach end of the Seashore, gave me several tips for placing baits in the high percentage zone.
Manley likes to fish the north end of the Seashore simply because its more convenient to his home. He prefers fishing by parking lot 4, feeling that there's less traffic from bathers and surfers there.
Before he ever rigs a line, he walks to the top of the boardwalk over the dunes, surveying the waters below for holes, sloughs, and runouts along the beach. Since he often fishes in the morning, the low angle of the sun prevents him from seeing the bottom directly. The breaking of the waves gives him the information he needs.
Jim says that these beach features hold fish because bait concentrates there. Once he knows where to cast, he rigs his tackle up at his car before walking down onto the beach. This idea is a good one, as it helps keep sand out of the reels and rod ferrules.
Jim also says that the less stuff on your line, the better. Regardless of what the target species, use the thinnest line, the smallest hooks, the lightest sinkers, and the thinnest leaders you can get away with. Avoid the use of swivels whenever possible. Using the bare necessities will result in more hookups.
Manley usually carries two rods, a 12 footer for power casts out past the offshore bar, and a 10 foot finesse rod for the nearshore sloughs. He prefers to use live or fresh dead shrimp for bait. Fish eat them, they're usually available, and it is less trouble than digging sand fleas. Manley makes his own two hook pompano rigs, claiming self made are superior to what's available commercially. When he puts the shrimp on the hook, he adds a little twist that I had never seen before.
Like lots of other fishermen, Manley breaks off the tail flipper and inserts the hook point through the hole made there. But then he squeezes the head of the shrimp, forcing all of the juices from the head back into the body. He then pulls the head off. Jim claims that the shrimp releases more scent into the water this way, which results in more strikes.
For the fisherman who wants black drum, cut clams or crabs are always good bait. According to Manley, Cotee ProBait, either by itself or in combination with shrimp, clams, or crabs, is a deadly addition to the drum fisher's arsenal. He always keeps some on hand.
Sinker size depends on the size of the surf, and ranges on these big surf sticks between three and five ounces. Jim prefers four ounce sinkers, and says if you need to go to a six ounce weight fishing will probably be pretty bad.
Ace Hardaway fishes for pompano. He's so good at it, he makes his living hook-and-lining pompano commercially. He does things differently than does Jim Manley.
During the winter months he uses a 15 foot rod. He uses a 20 foot shock leader of 25-30 pound test, but then spools up with twelve pound line. Casting it a mile is important in the winter, according to Ace, since the fish will often hold well off of the beach. Also, the length of the rod helps to keep the line up above the breakers, so less weight is needed to hold the bottom.
Like Manley, Ace like to fish the holes, runouts, and sloughs along the beach. He recommends scouting the beach at dead low tide, then coming back to fish during the higher water stages.
All year long Hardaway prefers sand fleas for bait, so much so that he will drive over 100 miles one way to dig up a fresh supply for a day's fishing. Shrimp or frozen fleas are a distant second to live fleas for pompano, he feels.
During the warmer months he puts away the 15 foot surf stick and takes out an ultralight spinning rod. The fish hold right in among the breakers looking for fleas, and that's where he catches them, oftentimes by sightfishing if water clarity and the sun's angle permit it.
Sometime after the middle of August, and extending into October during a good year, the annual run of mullet heading south along the coast passes the National Seashore. One man who has taken advantage of the run for year after year is Kent Gibbens, a lifelong resident of the Daytona Beach area. Kent shared his insights into the spectacular fishing available during the run.
For the beach-bound angler who wants truly big fish, this time of the year should not be missed. Big bluefish, jumbo reds, whopper jack crevalle, sharks, tarpon, an occasional snook, and once in a great while even a kingfish will be caught from the beach.
Kent prefers artificials for his fishing, claiming that dealing with bait is too time-consuming. It also cuts down on an angler's mobility carrying those mullet, whether alive or dead, around. Kent likes poppers, three, four, even five ounce models. Obviously, a big bait like this necessitates a big surf stick, whether spinning or conventional.
The general idea is to find a pod of bait, especially nervous bait, and keep flinging the popper in and around the pod. The bait is nervous for a reason, and the popper should find the cause before too long.
Kent says the absolute best fishing of the year is also the toughest- a northeast wind at night during the mullet run, usually around the end of September or the beginning of October. He mourns the passing of night beach driving, saying that not being able to drive keeps fishermen off of the beach during the best possible fishing times. Also, the National Seashore closes at 8:00 PM, effectively keeping even the hiking angler off the beach at night at this time of year.
All the hopeful fisherman can do during the mullet run is to be at the gate when it opens and hit the morning bite, hoping it lasts well into the day. Enough fish will be caught to make the trip worthwhile.
For those anglers for whom flinging heavy poppers on big tackle gets to be too much like work, live baiting with mullet will certainly account for fish, too. Frozen mullet are more convenient but less effective.
Rig with a pyramid or egg sinker sufficient to hold the bait in place, along with a 3/0-5/0 hook, depending on the bait size. Mustad 3407 or 9174 are two popular hook shapes for this type of fishing. Add a short piece of wire if many sharks or bluefish are around. Of course, the big surf sticks are needed for this type of fishing. Twenty pound line normally will be adequate.
Should beach fishing not be up to snuff, or the water is too dirty for the fish's liking, the lagoon (only a few feet away) offers another option. See Argonaut's Special Report SR-MI, How to Find and Catch Redfish at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, for more on fishing on the lagoon side of the seashore.
Access
Access to Apollo Beach is from S.R. A1A south from New Smyrna. The beach is normally open from 6:00 AM until 8:00 PM daily, all year long. Primitive beach camping is allowed south of parking lot 5 between the months of November and May. A free backcountry permit is required, available at the visitor's center near the Seashore entrance.
To get to the jetty from the New Smyrna side, take any of the beach access roads onto the beach and head north. When you can't go any farther the jetty will be clearly visible on your right.
From the Daytona side take A1A south as far as you can go. A Volusia County park gives access to the jetty (and the lighthouse).
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This article was written by John Kumiski of John Kumiski Outdoors and Travel. Contact him at his website www.johnkumiski.com or via email at john@spottedtail.com. Copyright John Kumiski.
John Kumiski 's most recent fishing guidebooks are How and Where to Catch Redfish in the Indian River Lagoon System (Argonaut Publishing Company), and Fishing Florida's Space Coast (Argonaut Publishing Company).
John Kumiski's newest book is Redfish on the Fly- A Comprehensive Guide .
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