Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[Scuba_Jenny]

50 divers? So, basically empty! LOL

 

[PBcatfish]

When I say west, I mean anywhere within the area outlined in blue. I have been on the pilings west of the channel, but not often. Even hugging the bottom on a not busy day I prefer to avoid crossing the channel.
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Right. so all these little fish swimming around have lots of common and generic names. Probably the most apt description is "baitfish". To further add to the confusion, there are sometime as many as eight species all mixed together. However for the REEF fish surveys I do try to identify some of them down to species level, the ones I cannot identify get marked down as "Unidentified Silvery Fish". By far the most common occurring of these is the "Scaled Sardine" Harengula jaguana aka Pilchard, aka Greenback, aka Greenie. According to the FWC fact sheet Scaled Sardine, they can grow to 7 inches long. At the bridge they seem to never get bigger than 2 inches. The second most common occurring is the "Spanish Sardine" Sardinella aurita. According to the FWC fact sheet, Spanish Sardine they can grow to 10 inches long. At the bridge they seem to never get bigger than 3 inches. The species look alike color wise, however the Scaled Sardine has a deeper body. When I am watching them underwater the give way is swimming style. Scaled Sardine are totally polarized look fish like. Spanish Sardine is less polarized and swim in a fashion that makes them look like eels. It seems like they are weaving a pattern with each other instead turning in a polarized fashion like the Scaled Sardine. Red Ear Herring Harengula humeralis aka Red Ear Sardine is also common. About the same size as the other 2 species and can be distinguished and red mark at the corner of the operculum.

Sorry to be a little slow with this response.

The local fishermen use the terms greenbacks & greenies interchangeably to describe the same fish. They are generally harvested with cast nets when they are in the 1.5 - 2.5" range. Pilchards, is a term that usually describes a slightly larger baitfish that lacks the green stripe, but a few guys call almost all torpedo shaped baitfish pilchards. It's mostly a regional thing. Regional changes add lots of confusion.

The sardine type bait fish commonly come in 3 varieties in this area. The spanish sardines are available in 10 pound boxes at almost all bait shops in south Florida, so almost every fisherman knows what they look like. I have never seen them at or near 10". 8" is a big one. 3-7" is common. Most of the big schools of the adults in this area are around Boynton, which may explain why we see the juveniles up here. The prevailing northerly current probably carries the fry this way. Scaled sardines are often mixed in with the the Boynton schools. So are a few "cigar minnows", generally in the 4-7" size range. Occasionally those get BIGGER. The cigar minnows are more common up around Stuart & down south of Miami. Cigar minnows tend to be a better bait, as they are tougher & generally last a lot longer.

A smaller sardine-shaped baitfish, called the silverside is also common within a mile or two of the bridge and across most of Florida. They are a minnow style fish that flashes silver when they turn a corner. You commonly see flashes of silver in random areas of the school, which makes them easy to identify. 3/4 of the time, they are just used for live chumming, because they are too small to stay on a hook as bait.

The king daddies of the baitfish in this area are the scads. The big eye scad is know as the goggle eye, or gog. They go for $80/dozen on an average day & more when the tournaments are in town. It's close cousin, the fire tail scad, or speedo, is also highly prized as bait. I typically find about 30 gogs for every speedo I get in this area, but a little further south of here, that changes. These varieties are VERY heavily fished in this area. I normally keep my mouth shut when I find them.

Blue runners, aka Hardtails, are a second choice to scad, for the spindle beak boys & the other kite fliers. Occasionally a bar jack or rainbow runner will also do fill-in duty here.

Ballyhoo are common less than a mile from the bridge, although the last few months I haven't seen many. Sometimes, I see their close cousins, the red tipped baleho in the bait shops, being sold as ballyhoo, but I haven't found them in the wild yet.

Most of the herring that guys around here use for bait are thread fins.

A few types of small mackerel, like tinkers, are also used on occasion. Normally I see those outside the inlet. A few guys will aslo use small Almacos, but most fishermen around here shy away from that for fear of misidentifying an undersized amberjack & getting caught using it illegally. These are also usually found on the outside, but occasionally they wander in.

Small black fin tuna, aka footballs, are used for targeting certain larger game fish that shall remain nameless. It's a waste of good tuna in my book. Tuna are almost always on the outside.

Little Tunny, or Florida Bonita, locally just called bonita or bonito, are used as strips, chunks, or occasionally live bait, but those are much bigger than the other things I am calling bait fish here. I have never found a way to turn those squigle backed things into a meal I would want to eat, but their cousins, the straight striped Atlantic Bonita, makes an excellent meal. I even know guys who make them into sushi. Then again, I know people who eat mullet, hard tails, & scad too. Grunts are good with grits and make for a north Florida classic breakfast. Some days you do eat the bait (& like it). Speaking of which, shrimp, squid, & clams are also common local baits, that I have been knows to make a meal out of. Oddly, the Florida Bonita fall into both the mackerel & tuna families, but posses the edibility properties of neither.

Nobody seems to want the horn bellies.

Of course, when Halloween gets close, The mullet move in & steal the show. Black & silver are the mullet varieties I know. They tend to mix in the schools. The silvers seem more common.

Small grunts & pin fish are also used for bait here, especially on days when the other bait fish can't be found. The grunts & pinfish tend to hang around very small geographical areas. The other fish tend to move more. Grunts & pinfish are more commonly used for bait in North Florida, especially the pan handle and big bend areas. Grunts & pinfish are commonly found within half a mile of the bridge too, if you know where to look. Tomtates are very common in the area & were once my most common bait.

That's the fisherman's perspective. If you can translate some of those fishing names into proper names that I missed, I would find that interesting.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

We dove yesterday. Surface water temp was 87 degrees. Met and dove with a few friends. Saw lots of critters, took some pictures. First time I’ve seen the number of beach goers dwarf the number of divers. Literally had someone jumping off the bridge almost land on my head.

 

[tarponchik]

Yes, there is construction. The beach area is closed. Park in the lot, walk across the street, enter on the north side beach area. West side of the bridge, under the bridge is closed to divers.

On the north side?..

 

[Pipehorse]

Went to the bridge for diving Monday and Tuesday. The park and beach were fairly crowded. Sea temp back up to a more seasonally appropriate temp of 85f. Visibility was 35 feet. Stayed on the westside Monday and did not run into any other divers until exiting the water. Did a REEF fish survey 63 species in 65 minutes. On Tuesday I did the east side of the bridge after snorkeling the trail prior to the dive. Stayed on the north side of the east side for the majority of dive and only when the tide was turning did other divers show up. Sea temp at 85f, and visibility at 40 feet. When I passed under the bridge to the south side before exiting I did a video of a group of 5-6 divers. Its hard to tell exactly what they are trying to accomplish. Are they scuba wrestling? Are they just trying to stir up the bottom to find lost treasure? I don't know, normally I would find it annoying on Tuesday I found it to be entertaining. Respectively, Common Hairy Triton, Lionfish, Pregnant Belted Sandfish, and Scuba Wrestling At BHB Video.

 

[Johnoly]

Are they scuba wrestling?

From what I witnessed on the reefs in the last 2 days...........
Nubie lobster hunters stirring up a giant sand cloud just to find out it's an egger. LOL
PS. I saw a Hundreds of big starfish(16"?) on the reefs {very unusual for us}....I wonder if the starfish population will ALSO increase at BHB in the coming weeks?

 

[PBcatfish]

A mile south of the bridge, the water looked fantastic today. I think that I probably could have read a newspaper sitting on the bottom in 10 feet, from the boat I was driving. It's a shame I didn't have time to go for a dip.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

bummer..
I was in Hollywood this morning. Viz was a hazy 35ft, temp 84

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Any word (or individual thoughts) on when they may open up the beach underneath the bridge? I'm hoping that once the bridge construction moves completely to the west that they will open up the beach underneath. May be too much to ask.

 

[NitroxSam]

Parks & Recreation - Phil-Foster

discover.pbcgov.org

Looks like the end of October 2023 according to the website.