Folly Family FL Trip - Sweetwater Success?

[Johnsfolly]

Still in Orlando metro area, we left the tropical park to fish the Little Econlackhatchee River. My goal was to catch a metalic shiner, one of my target species for this trip. The Little Econlackhatchee River is a clear water tannin stained river. Wasn't a black river, but light tea colored. We were going to spend about an hour or hour and a half before going to a spot further upstream to try for ruddy bowfin. Livie was fishing a river bend pool using trout magnet jigs. I headed down past the overpass to try for the metallic shiners using a tanago with tiny worm piece. The banks were covered in live oaks.

Livie wasn't able to get much love from the Florida bass and sunfish using the jig and plastic body. She added a bit of worm to the jig and then had success with redbreast sunfish and coppernose bluegills.

I was fishing my bait below a float. As the float hit the water and drifted by, the shiners would avoid it. I removed the float and drifted the bait such that it was in the face of the shiners. Several would rush the bait and turn away as they got close. I had a few grab the bait but got no hook ups. The retention system below the overpass was a cloth covered concrete system. My hook got hung in a little piece of the cloth next to the water and I had to carefully get down to it without sliding or falling in the river. Once I got my rig dettached, I saw a darter and another. I then focused my attention on this lifer darter species. I spent 35 or 40 mins trying to get one on the hook. They were not too shy once I could battle the current and get the bait positioned well. I did even pull one out of the water but not to hand or into the photo bag. Once they bit the bait and I tried for a hook set they did shy away. Livie was helping to spot more. In my frustrations I handed her my rod when she saw one in a good position. Well She caught it🤔.

Livie's Westfall's Darter.

After her catch the others stopped playing and actively swam away from my offerings. I only ended up catching a few mosquitofish just to say that I did catch something. I did have plans to try again at this spot before heading to GA at the end of the trip.

We headed next to Blanchard Park to try for Plecostomus (sailfin catfish) and ruddy bowfin. They weather turned on us. The wind picked up, the clouds got heavier and the temps that were already cool (e.g., mid 60's) dropped to the high 50's. Livie has wanted to catch a pleco since she saw one at this park a few years ago. She made up a gelatin/spinach bait. It seemed a good idea but the gelatin dissolved too quickly and the many plecos that she could see were not interested. Livie had no luck on the Plecos and I could only get one redbreast sunfish to use as cut bait for the bowfin. We set up near the outlet and fished for 40 mins until nearly dark before we left for the hotel.

We did see limpkins and a swallowtail kite (one of my favorite FL birds), so not a dissapointment. 

Jump to the end of the trip, we did go back to the Little Econ rvr. Livie tried for some large bass that reacted as if everyone casts to them and ended up catching a few large redbreast and a couple of spotted sunfish.

She also found the smallest FL softshell turtle that we had ever seen.

I again wanted a chance at those darters, but never saw any on this trip. The metallic shiners were mostly gone with just a couple swimming about. I did manage to get into a fallen tree that had a school of minnows in it's branches. I lost one and caught one coastal shiner after having to extract the rod carefully without losing the fish.

I also caught a few coppernose bluegill on a trout magnet jig and a few decent spotted sunfish while drifting a worm.

We caught fish, not the targets that we were hoping for and Livie did end up with a cool lifer.

 

[Quillback]

Looks like a great place to catch some bream!  😀

 

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

Looks like a great place to catch some bream!  😀

 

Would have been great to have about four or five hours to explore and fish. Maybe next time😉

[Foghorn]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

Looks like a great place to catch some bream!  😀

 

And a few snakes and gators!

[Quillback]

2 hours ago, Foghorn said:

And a few snakes and gators!

Snakes and gators I can deal with, but if there are any ticks, I am out.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

You mentioned the fish showing interest the quickly turning away.   That seemed to happen to me when I used coffee scented red worms.  It was very frustrating.    I wonder if your worms had a scent that was turning the fish away.  

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, Daryk Campbell Sr said:

You mentioned the fish showing interest the quickly turning away.   That seemed to happen to me when I used coffee scented red worms.  It was very frustrating.    I wonder if your worms had a scent that was turning the fish away.  

Daryl that's a possibility. I have found that some fish do not like the red worms that Walmart sells that don't need to be refrigerated. I noticed those do exude more yellow liquid when put on the hooks than other brands of redworms. Redworms are mostly of the species Eisenia fetida. So even their name implies a possible smell. I usually try worms first. I have had some luck with using micro pieces of Gulp baits and natural baits from the creek. 

[Johnsfolly]

15 hours ago, Quillback said:

Snakes and gators I can deal with, but if there are any ticks, I am out.

It's been my experience that spanish moss is loaded with chiggers🙄

[dpitt]

Thanks for the Report!

[Quillback]

6 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

It's been my experience that spanish moss is loaded with chiggers🙄

I hate chiggers too.