Florida fourth report - mutton snapper and snorkel fishing

[BenCantrell]

Fourth Florida report! I recently bought a diver down flag, and on Saturday I wanted to try it out by snorkeling a wreck just off the beach in Vero Beach. It seemed like a cool way to check out what species of fish are down there that I haven't caught yet. Our launch was the easiest we've done in the surf.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51334290928_257785f2dd_c.jpg

Early in the morning there wasn't anyone else diving the wreck, so we drifted around it and fished a bit. There wasn't anything biting besides a couple of hairy blennies.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51339830211_e2940f8888_c.jpg

We wanted to troll lures up and down the beach too, so we did that before snorkeling so the sun would be higher when we got in the water. I trolled a pair of Rapalas and got my first kayak mutton snapper.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51335072935_bfaee3bf79_c.jpg

Ally got one as well.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51334074746_1347f6f76c_c.jpg

We paddled up to a small private pier and saw a school of decent sized jacks, but I didn't get any follows when I cast to them, and pretty soon I lost track of where the school went.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51334290703_bec683f365_c.jpg

Trolling back to the wreck I got a blue runner and another mutton snapper.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51333285412_31342ec016_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51334232818_14069b212e_c.jpg

Back at the wreck I dropped my anchor, but I didn't like how close my kayak was to some other people snorkeling, so I pulled it up and towed the kayak forward to a better spot. I was really amused with myself, haha.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51334334108_c38c73c52c_c.jpg

Ally tied her kayak to mine so they'd make a steady platform for climbing back in.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51334074601_9d88184f49_c.jpg

We both have waterproof cameras, but mine has a floating wrist strap, and hers doesn't, so we took turns using mine and left hers safe in her kayak.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51333341982_9f45c0cfcf_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51335073105_d296e4bbd8_c.jpg

Visibility wasn't the best, but we still got to see a lot of fish. It was a really cool experience. Here's a school of mostly silver porgies and sergeant majors.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51335073010_d231cec7f3_c.jpg

Juvenile damselfish, probably cocoa.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51337827316_0ba70d2e6b_c.jpg

Juvenile yellowtail parrotfish (a species I need) and adult Molly Miller.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51337100132_a8f7740dd9_c.jpg

Bar jack flanked by two yellow jacks.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51339197537_3f8c4af52d_c.jpg

Molly Miller posing.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51337826931_1f205dd14b_c.jpg

Bluehead wrasse (another species I need) and dusky damselfish.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51338044798_b0f1baf735_c.jpg

Found this and a pair of sunglasses.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51338045353_3cb63a5fe5_c.jpg

The last thing I wanted to try was snorkel fishing. I've done this in shallow water near shore, but fishing the wreck in deeper water with a bit of current would be more challenging. I saw three fish species I hadn't caught before - yellowtail parrotfish, bluehead wrasse, and some sort of scorpionfish - but I wasn't able to catch any of them. There was always something more aggressive that got to my bait first, even though I actively tried to jerk it away from them. Here's the worst of the worst, a slippery dick.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51339830076_83319bc9a1_c.jpg

The paddling and the snorkeling and the sun wore us out, so we called it a day even though there were fish that needed to be caught. This was the first time we were able to land on the beach exactly where we wanted. It wasn't as crowded as previous days/beaches.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51339829996_e320a2aa25_c.jpg

Here's the route. We barely left the beach!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51339109842_ec6a7c3a38_c.jpg

Miles: 6.6
Hours: 5:59
Water Temp: 82

[SoCalEDC]

looks like a great day out on/in the water and the water temp at 82 had to feel great.

Pretty cool report.

Every time you post a pic of that eddyline it intrigues me. :cheers1:

[iethinker]

Mutton Snapper is delicious!

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[JohnMckroidJr]

Good job on the UW photos. Using a snorkel to put your bait in front of the desired species is a new level of selective fishing.:D Too bad the other fish kept getting to the bait first. Just South of there is Walton Rocks beach, it is on my list of places to try for access to the power plant outfall, which reportedly attracts a lot of fish during the colder months, including Permit. Permit is still on my bucket list of species to take off the kayak. Snorkel with caution as there are reportedly a lot of sharks in that area.

[JohnMckroidJr]

[QUOTE=iethinker;314982]Mutton Snapper is delicious!



2x -- They are delicious!

[BenCantrell]

Just South of there is Walton Rocks beach, it is on my list of places to try for access to the power plant outfall, which reportedly attracts a lot of fish during the colder months, including Permit. Permit is still on my bucket list of species to take off the kayak. Snorkel with caution as there are reportedly a lot of sharks in that area.

Permit would be an exciting target! I'm game.

[BenCantrell]

And sharks I'd do from shore... :reel:

[JohnMckroidJr]

Permit would be an exciting target! I'm game.

I need to do more recon on this. I have seen successful videos using, a Crab casted on a lead head at breezing schools near the outfall in April.

[Revoguys]

Mutton snappers are delicious! I just came from the florida keys for a week, windy as hell but still managed a few snapper and groupers

[BenCantrell]

Nice! Hope that Nassau grouper went back in the water quick.