car accidents

Contributing Writers :

Freak on the Beach

Marco Pompano

Capt. Jamie Thrappas

Yellow Dawg Fishing yellowdawgfishing.com

Capt. Michael Savedow 386-689-3781

Cap. Evan Sanders solfishing.com

Capt. Barry fishingguidedaytonabeach.com

Capt. Bryn Adams 1-800-525-3477

Capt. Matt Graves www.limitlessfishing.com

Kyndal Lynn @kyndal_lynn

Blake Abbey @blake_jay_abbey

Skye Burkhardt @Brassyangler87

For advertising inquiries, Call Jamie at 386.366.3424 or email volusia@CoastalAnglerMagazine.com

Weed, weed, weed, weed - and I don’t mean the smokin’ kind… It’s on the beaches.

Northeasterly winds. For the last few weeks the beaches have been inundated with Sargossa seaweed. Not the main batch but enough that has broken off and washed in.

The good news is the West winds arrived and all the seaweed mysteriously disappeared! The ocean temperature has been a perfect 74°. The best result is that the pompano stayed, and it’s on! Ya, mon!

During the time of the seaweed inundation there were only a few hours to fish, and the pompano were there, so I knew when the seaweed went away, they were going to go crazy from hunger.

Here’s a little information on what Sargassum seaweed is. Sargassum seaweed is a macroalgae that has a tendency to show up in April and stay to October, with the peak season being June and July. It generally inhabits coral reefs and shallow waters. There is a 5,000 mile wide bog of the seaweed out in the Atlantic, the biggest one ever recorded, and some of it has already touched South Florida. Fort Lauderdale to Cocoa Beach have a big problem. It usually comes in waves. Another interesting fact is Sargassum seaweed is also used in the island of Jamaica as fuel. Burning it leaves very little smoke. It’s used for cooking jerk chicken and pork. Bet you didn’t know that!.

The weeds went away with some westerly winds. Cleared, we went to the beach early and set up. It was Bamba time, and the sun wasn’t even up yet. The rods were dancing.

A few local fishermen were out here, together. Chip and Tommy all running to the rods. Perfect way to start the day.

The sun is up now, and the water is a perfect blue-green. Not a lot of current. Another tropical Wilbur By the Sea morning.

In between catching pompano, a lot of lady fish are chewing it up, with some bluefish in the mix. My Vietnamese friends like to freeze the lady fish, use a spoon to scrape out the meat, and make their favorite fish balls, a delicacy.

We are having a little fillet attack at my place. We put on the reggae music with Collie Buddz singing his new song “Take It Easy,“ and I agree with that! Let the filleting begin, as me and these fillets are heading to the smoker.