Any advice for fishing @ grayton beach?

:welcome: Welcome Henk!

:welcome: Henk

In the lake you'll find Largemouth Bass, Bream (panfish), Speckled Trout, and Redfish - along with a few other types and an occasional gator and lots of crabs.

Use the search function on the menu to find info about what types of fish to catch in the lakes and the surf.

For instance, a search for "trout":
http://www.sowal.com/bb/search.php?searchid=87808

:welcome: aboard Henk!!! Enjoy your stay!!!

Is Henk the first board member from Amsterdam?? Very cool! 😀

Thank you for your welcoming reactions.
I wrote Amsterdam, sorry that's not entirely correct. I lived there for years but I bought a house just on the edge in a more rural area. I still work in A*dam though. So the wait for the first echte Amsterdammer is still on..
Concerning the fishing:
King mackerell and seatrout are on top of the wishlist. I guess I'll pack a 7 foot rod& reel with a casting weight of 50 gram for casting plugs and a 12 foot rod of 1.1/5 pound. Drilling northern pike up to 43 inch worked out fine with those.( in fact it works out so good that I sometimes catch the same fish again after release.( catch and release is very popular in the Netherlands). I'll bring some jigs, some spoons & spinners. Then I wonder what sort of weight is needed if you go fishing for pompano in the surf. Here in the Netherlands I need a good 100 gram at the least to stop my bait from rolling away in the tide. Sometimes 175 grams doesn't even do the job....
I heard on my local fish forum that the barracudas eat the fish of the line very often and that fishing without a steel tracer doesn't make any sense. can anyone confirm on that?
Oh bye yhe way, what ate gators??? those monsters with legs and loads of teeth , or the so called alligator gars?? Does it mean I can't wade safely in the western lake part???
T.I.A.
Henk

Where is Aquaticbiology when we need him???:idontno: Yoo hoo!

Hi Henk,
Surf fishing, you're most likely going to encounter pompano, whiting, catfish and ladyfish. The last two are not good for eating. Whiting are ok, pompano are excellent. You may also encounter some spanish mackeral, which are a smaller version of king mackeral. They do not put up much of a fight, but are good eating unless you don't like fish.

Both spanish and king mackeral do not come in real close to shore so you'll probably have to wade out near the edge of the sandbar. Even then you will need to cast pretty far, so your 5-yard surf rods may be useful there. Use bright, shiny silver spoons and plugs, fished fast to catch spanish. For kings, you'll do best with a small, live pinfish or cigar minnow...just hook near the tail and let it swim freely. You can probably catch pinfish in the lake using a sabiki rig.

For pompano, live sandfleas work well. Live sandfleas are difficult to catch and impossible to buy in the area. You can buy a little wire basket scoop at some bait stores to catch them with...they bury themselves in the sand at the edge of the surf. They are also known as 'mole crabs'. Fish them near the bottom in the surf using a typical weighted surf rig. You can catch pompano right from the beach.


Redfish, use gold spoons and chartreuse (bright greenish-yellow) soft plastics...tipping the plastics with a little piece of shrimp sometimes helps. Shrimp and live pinfish also work, but you tend to catch more catfish that way.

We do not have a true "seatrout" here, but we do have speckled trout (also known as "spotted seatrout"). They typically do not venture into the Gulf, but stay in inshore, brackish water such as the lake at which you'll be. Fish for them the same way you do redfish.

While redfishing, you might also catch a flounder...a flatfish similar to halibut only smaller.

You will need a license...they can be obtained at most bait/supply stores. Also, get a copy of the regulations and abide by the size and bag limits. The park officials do enforce the regulations and fines can be high.

Jellyfish--nothing much you can do. Hard to spot in the surf. The sting is painful but not dangerous (although I suppose it's possible some people may have allergic reactions).

Gators are alligators. They are not usually overtly aggressive, but there are sometimes attacks. I personally prefer to not wade in the lake, especially with the Gulf right there. It's mucky, there are stingrays and who's to say a gator might not decide to become aggressive that day? And, yes, I know shark attacks are possible in the Gulf, but they are extremely rare despite the media hype.

Finally, do NOT go into the Gulf when the surf flags are red. We have a lot of drownings here and most of them occur because of people going into the water during red flag days. Any doubts, ask the park rangers. They know what they're talking about.

Wow!!
Slowmoving, that's a very useful answer thank you.. :clap_1:
Baitcasting with those long rods must be tiresome. I am fishing-crazy enough to walk to a bank as far as I can. I guess my solution will be the 3.60 meter carp rod in combination with a 0.1 mm( 10/100 mm.) braided line of about 10 pound breaking strength. I found that with that combination I can get up to casts of 110 yards if the wind doesn't face me.
I wonder if the water is cold though. I remember feeling like a fish in the deep freezer in France last year when I tried to catch trout in a freshwater stream in the Dordonge. Although the wheather was pretty warm at the time( about 25 -30 celcius)
Henk

The water will NOT be cold. Water temps will probably be in the low- to mid-70s, air temps in the mid- to high-80s.

The water will NOT be cold. Water temps will probably be in the low- to mid-70s, air temps in the mid- to high-80s.

I think the current water temp of the Gulf is in the low 70's F. The Lakes are even warmer, somewhere around 76F.

I am in Western Lake all the time. You should be more concerned with septic leakage after hard rains than with alligators if you are a grown man. Sharks have been recently spotted around Grayton Beach, but that is very normal, most people just don't notice them. You are more likely to experience death from the Sun causing skin cancer from being here on vacation than you are to be bitten by a shark.

The easiest fishing in the Gulf consist of wading out to toss your Pompano rig, then walking back on shore to wait and relax. ;-) Depending on the roughness of the surf, you should use a 1 ounce (oz) weight on calm days, and a 3 oz weight on rougher days. If you get tired of fishing at the beach, you can go back to the Bay and fish for Redfish, Sheepshead and Trout, all of which are yummy. Live or dead shrimp work best and some people have success using Squid.

Good Luck!

Good info slow moving! The last time I was at the Grayton Market they were selling frozen sand fleas which have worked fine for us and the pompano did not seem to mind that they were frozen. Also wanted to add that if you are wading into the gulf please don't enter the water at sunrise or sundown. The sharks are feeding at these times. Have a great trip and :welcome:

Where is Aquaticbiology when we need him???:idontno: Yoo hoo!

here - working

i don't know much about fishing from the bank, but here's a few items

gator (aliigator) -

on florida pompano rigs - http://floridasurffishing.net/forum/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=100&topic_id=22543&mode=full

on florida surf fishing - http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/2615/photos.html

enjoy

Once more thank you forum folks, I am amazed to find this good help with such late notice.

Slow movin,
Nice to know I won't be cold. If the water is that warm I'll be happy to be cooling down and fishing at the same time. :clap_1: Compared to the stagnated spring we have here(high 50 low 40s it is going to feel like being in the tropics. Apparently Florida aveage wheather is called heatwave over here ... :roll: I am looking forward to arrive at the beach on monday :floor:

Aquaticbiology,
Thank you too.
Very interesting is the fact that through your links I found a site( the wannadoo thing) that is Dutch and shows fishing is quite the same over the world but what the fish eats is different. I can just use the same paternoster rigs I make for fishing here. fish get hooked if you know what they want for supper, as long as they don't know what I want for tea. At Greyton beach the Dutch seaworms are sandflees.
How big are sandfleas actually? In the U.K. I have seen something like it and those didn't exeed over half an inch??? The pic with hook from SlowMovin makes them look like they are bigger then a whole inch!!!

Further on, the top ten things to do-list is very usefull too!!! :clap_1:
I'll be packing tomorrow. Thanks all for answers, I'll check out this site once/twice more tomorrow, And maybe we'll meet at the waterside.
I am pretty sure that I am going to be smiling so long and so bright I'll be having muscle ache in my face.

There is a tackle shop in Grayton Corners market where you can get pompano rigs along with bait, hooks, line, rods, reels, etc. You might even be able to rent gear here and not have to lug it on the plane.

Oh, and in case you guys wonder whatever happened to the catweazl guy, I'll report as soon as I am back home. There is not going to be any pc's around at the camping. Maybe I'll even manage to make some pic's.
For the lovers of another spiecies of fish you guys propably don't catch yust click this link;

http://fotoalbum.roofvisforum.nl/index.php?p=bekijkalbum&user_id=400

or, if that doesn't work copy/paste in browser.
Greetings,
Henk

Have a fantastic trip Henk! Make sure you get a SoWal.com sticker while you are there! Or maybe you will wake up and find one stuck to your tent.:clap_1:

Have a fantastic trip Henk! Make sure you get a SoWal.com sticker while you are there! Or maybe you will wake up and find one stuck to your tent.:clap_1:

Oh yeah....that's what I am talking about...a sowalled tent!!!

Henk...you are a great addition to the sowal family!!! And yes...you will be smiling the whole time you are here!!!! 😀

Hi there,
I am back!!
Very sad that I had to leave the beach. I had a wonderfull time at Grayton beach and am already dreaming of going back..
I am so in love with your beaches....
Good things are that I know now how good pompano?s taste when brought fresh from the beach and grilled straight away on a bbq. The best fish I ever ate!!!!
Apart from that lucky catch,
I caught a redfish!!!
On a morning a friend who had been snorkling told me that there was no fish around in the shallow waters. Since I was there with a long fishingpole I decided to get out in the water and give a good far cast . the line was out for at least 170 yards. for a long time nothing happened, Apart for me and my son where playing in the surf.
A little later i was just back in the shade the rod suddenly bent in a tense 90%. I pick it up and see the 10 pound line running of the spool. I then have to stop it because there is hardly no line left on my spool. I hold, walk into the water to give me some play. 5 minutes later i have fought back about 50 yards of line. Then the fish runs again. I feel hopeless. for the second time the fish gives up right at the moment I run out of line. then i fight it with a bit more ease and 15 minutes later see the fish in the surf . When I land it I don?t know what sort of fish it is. One thing is sure, it looks good to eat. Then someone out of the crowd of about 20 people that gathered when I was fighting the fish tels me it is a redfish, to big to keep. That stuns me. TO BIG TO EAT??????
I never heard of such a thing. I then quickly mesure the fish and tel him it is 35 inch long. The man ensures me you have to release redfish when they are longer then 28 inch.Otherwise I?ll run a risk on a 1500$ fine. That convinces me, I am happy for the fish and let it go with good feelings. the release of a big fighter is a nice reward. Later I can?t help but thing of how it would have tasted. Later we try to buy some but we can?t find it in any of the fishmarkets we visit.
1-0 for the redfish.
I run out of time to tell more, a foto has been made, the lady who took it promised to sent it to me, If i get it I?ll do my best to post it.
See you later,
Henk

Congratulations on your catch and trip.

Yesterday, I saw some photos of a recent catch from the east end of Grayton Beach -- Two sharks!!! One was only about 4' long and the other was 7'-8' long and weighed a bit over 200 #. The larger one was pregnant and had about 10 pups in the belly.

:shock: