West Wind… hit the surf!

by Raymond Munoz, Capt. Jax

ere’s nothing I love more than waking up early on a summer morning to a West wind. I will snatch up my rod and head to the beach before rst light. In the interest of convenience and dexterity, I take only one rod and a small tackle bag. I have to choose my lures wisely. My decision is based on the weather. Is it cloudy and raining, sunny and windy, hot or cold, and what is the water visibility? I like to choose lures that match the color of the water. so depending on conditions my bag might contain, an X-Rap olive, size 12, a Yozuri Crystal Minnow, and maybe some NLBN(no live bait needed.) My all-time favorite go to lure is the X-Rap Ghost, size 12. is lure seems to work in any conditions and has even worked at night.

My spinning combo of choice is the Tsunami Salt X 4000 and a Tsunami Carbon shield 8 . heavy. If you need any help nding a perfect combo for the type of shing you can visit me at captain Jax Bait and Tackle, 490 C East 4th Ave. Hialeah, Florida 33010 786-300-5362.

June regularly makes for great beach shing. I had just such a trip planned a few weeks back, almost. According to my weather app, the wind was supposed to be out of the North East at 5 to10 MPH. When I woke up in the morning it was blowing out of the South East at 12 to 15... I hate beach shing a South East wind because it brings in so much sargassum. I was already up, and I just couldn’t stand it, so decided to go anyway.

I was on the sand at 6:40 and it was still dark. I had to wait for a little light and when I could nally see, of course, as I suspected, the weed was everywhere. With heavy sargassum can’t throw the X-Rap. It’s treble hooks are weed magnates. So, I started throwing the “NLBN “AKA the No Live Bait Needed. I cast the NLBN and let it sink for a second and then start a steady retrieve. Down the beach, I see bait blowing up. All of a sudden, there are turns and gulls and pelicans. Crevalles are streaking through the shallow surf.

I run down the beach like a mad man and throw into the pod of bait sh. Boom I’m hooked up! e sh starts running le , peeling line o the big spool, then turns to and runs right. While ghting the sh I’m removing the seaweed as it’s sliding up my line toward my rod. I knew it was a big jack. e jack crevalle gets a bad rap as a sport sh because it’s not a meat sh. Pound for pound I would pit a crevalle against a permit any day. A er about a 30 min ght, against the seaweed, I landed the sh. It was over 20 lbs. I got a quick picture and released it right away. I ended up catching 6 more jacks and then came the snook. ese sh were all caught on that NLBN Lil mullet, within a span of 2 hours. Another advantage to early beach shing, I am home by 9:30 and ready to start my day.

786.300.5362