Roy’s Redfish Tournament that was to be held today, Sept 2nd, has been postponed until Saturday, September 9th. The captains meeting will be at Finnegans Pub Friday, Sept. 8th from 5:00-8:00 pm. For more info call 386-439-1027.
Driving along the beach in Flagler it appears that the schools of pogys that were abundant a few weeks ago are now gone. They have headed south and along with them the tarpon. This years tarpon run was a good one with the only setback being the upwelling that dropped the water temperature. They came right back though after the water warmed again. We may get to see a few more tarpon as the mullet run begins to pick up.
With the tarpon gone it’s time to get back to inshore and snook fishing. Snook season officially opened Sept 1st. There are two new rules for snook this year, a new slot size, 27”-34” and you must squeeze the tail when measuring the fish. There is a 2 fish per day per person bag limit here on the east coast. If you travel to the west coast of Fl. there is a 1 fish per day per person bag limit. You must also have a snook stamp on your license to have the fish in your possession. A snook stamp costs $2.00.
Over the next few weeks I’ll cover some of the different methods to catch linesiders. For now I’ll say live shrimp is one of the best ways although other live baits also work well. It seems like snook can’t resist a big live shrimp, the bigger the better. Most of the tackle shops will sell select shrimp if they have them although you’ll pay a little extra for them. They are best fished by free lining them. There are different ways to place a shrimp on a hook. The most common is under it’s horn.
Beef up your tackle when targeting snook especially if your fishing docks or bridge fenders. You’ll want to use a medium heavy rod rigged with 15 to 20 lb test mono or 30lb braided. Tie on a 2 to 3 ft. length of 30 to 50 lb flourocarbon leader tied to a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. I like to use short shank small hooks as I believe less is better. Live shrimp can also be used effectively under a sliding cork rig. This setup allows you to fish at a specific depth. Your local tackle shop can show you how to rig the cork setup.
Roy’s Bait House reports lots of whiting in the surf along with some pompano, blues and sheepshead.
Photo: Chad Squires of Jacksonville displays a nice flounder he caught in the Flagler surf while fishing with a plug
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Roy’s Redfish Tournament that was to be held today, Sept 2nd, has been postponed until Saturday, September 9th. The captains meeting will be at Finnegans Pub Friday, Sept. 8th from 5:00-8:00 pm. For more info call 386-439-1027.
Driving along the beach in Flagler it appears that the schools of pogys that were abundant a few weeks ago are now gone. They have headed south and along with them the tarpon. This years tarpon run was a good one with the only setback being the upwelling that dropped the water temperature. They came right back though after the water warmed again. We may get to see a few more tarpon as the mullet run begins to pick up.
With the tarpon gone it’s time to get back to inshore and snook fishing. Snook season officially opened Sept 1st. There are two new rules for snook this year, a new slot size, 27”-34” and you must squeeze the tail when measuring the fish. There is a 2 fish per day per person bag limit here on the east coast. If you travel to the west coast of Fl. there is a 1 fish per day per person bag limit. You must also have a snook stamp on your license to have the fish in your possession. A snook stamp costs $2.00.
Over the next few weeks I’ll cover some of the different methods to catch linesiders. For now I’ll say live shrimp is one of the best ways although other live baits also work well. It seems like snook can’t resist a big live shrimp, the bigger the better. Most of the tackle shops will sell select shrimp if they have them although you’ll pay a little extra for them. They are best fished by free lining them. There are different ways to place a shrimp on a hook. The most common is under it’s horn.
Beef up your tackle when targeting snook especially if your fishing docks or bridge fenders. You’ll want to use a medium heavy rod rigged with 15 to 20 lb test mono or 30lb braided. Tie on a 2 to 3 ft. length of 30 to 50 lb flourocarbon leader tied to a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. I like to use short shank small hooks as I believe less is better. Live shrimp can also be used effectively under a sliding cork rig. This setup allows you to fish at a specific depth. Your local tackle shop can show you how to rig the cork setup.
Roy’s Bait House reports lots of whiting in the surf along with some pompano, blues and sheepshead.
Photo: Chad Squires of Jacksonville displays a nice flounder he caught in the Flagler surf while fishing with a plug
Driving along the beach in Flagler it appears that the schools of pogys that were abundant a few weeks ago are now gone. They have headed south and along with them the tarpon. This years tarpon run was a good one with the only setback being the upwelling that dropped the water temperature. They came right back though after the water warmed again. We may get to see a few more tarpon as the mullet run begins to pick up.
With the tarpon gone it’s time to get back to inshore and snook fishing. Snook season officially opened Sept 1st. There are two new rules for snook this year, a new slot size, 27”-34” and you must squeeze the tail when measuring the fish. There is a 2 fish per day per person bag limit here on the east coast. If you travel to the west coast of Fl. there is a 1 fish per day per person bag limit. You must also have a snook stamp on your license to have the fish in your possession. A snook stamp costs $2.00.
Over the next few weeks I’ll cover some of the different methods to catch linesiders. For now I’ll say live shrimp is one of the best ways although other live baits also work well. It seems like snook can’t resist a big live shrimp, the bigger the better. Most of the tackle shops will sell select shrimp if they have them although you’ll pay a little extra for them. They are best fished by free lining them. There are different ways to place a shrimp on a hook. The most common is under it’s horn.
Beef up your tackle when targeting snook especially if your fishing docks or bridge fenders. You’ll want to use a medium heavy rod rigged with 15 to 20 lb test mono or 30lb braided. Tie on a 2 to 3 ft. length of 30 to 50 lb flourocarbon leader tied to a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. I like to use short shank small hooks as I believe less is better. Live shrimp can also be used effectively under a sliding cork rig. This setup allows you to fish at a specific depth. Your local tackle shop can show you how to rig the cork setup.
Roy’s Bait House reports lots of whiting in the surf along with some pompano, blues and sheepshead.
Photo: Chad Squires of Jacksonville displays a nice flounder he caught in the Flagler surf while fishing with a plug
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
The big news this past week is the display that the tarpon were putting on along the beach. I was driving home from Daytona on Saturday when I got a call from Capt. Chris Herrera. Chris was on the pier telling me about the aerial show the tarpon were putting on. I turned my truck and headed north along A1A. When I reached Flagler Beach you could see large pods of pogys everywhere. As I proceeded north to the pier there was a very large pod about 300 yards off the beach that had a lot of action in it. It only took a couple of seconds and tarpon were busting on them. A couple of times there must have been close to 10 tarpon busting at once. The sight was so incredible that cars were pulling over to view the spectacle and people across the street were on their decks watching. It was something to see. I called Chris back and we planned a trip for the next day.
I met Chris and Tommy Derringer at Bings landing the next morning and we headed out of Matanzas inlet in search of the silver king. We stopped on a small school of pogys to fill the live well then went to look for the mother load. We found a large school of pogys with tarpon rolling and crashing on them. We quickly baited up and cast into the school. It took about fifteen minutes and Tommy was hooked up. The fish made it’s first jump and it was a beauty, about ten feet in the air. None of us had ever seen a tarpon jump that high. After about 20 minutes and six more jumps the tarpon was boated, photographed and released. No other tarpon were caught that day but there were a couple of breakoffs. I don’t expect the tarpon to be around much longer as they are on their migration south so this could be the last hurrah until next year.
Snook season opens next Friday so you should be reminded that there are new rules on size limits and how you measure the fish to be able to keep one. The minimum length has been changed from 26” to 27” with the maximum size still being 34”. When you measure the fish you must now squeeze the tail and measure it from the tip of it the jaw to the tip of the squeezed tail. If your not sure how this is done go to www.myfwc.com and click on fishing and then on measuring.
Roy’s Bait House reports king mackerel in the 20 lb range are being caught from the pier and that whiting, small pompano and some small cobia are in the surf. Corky Giddens had a 22” redfish and Rick Fisher landed 50 whiting.
Photo: Bob Rees shows off a 7 ½ lb trout that he caught in the back waters using a plastic jig.
I met Chris and Tommy Derringer at Bings landing the next morning and we headed out of Matanzas inlet in search of the silver king. We stopped on a small school of pogys to fill the live well then went to look for the mother load. We found a large school of pogys with tarpon rolling and crashing on them. We quickly baited up and cast into the school. It took about fifteen minutes and Tommy was hooked up. The fish made it’s first jump and it was a beauty, about ten feet in the air. None of us had ever seen a tarpon jump that high. After about 20 minutes and six more jumps the tarpon was boated, photographed and released. No other tarpon were caught that day but there were a couple of breakoffs. I don’t expect the tarpon to be around much longer as they are on their migration south so this could be the last hurrah until next year.
Snook season opens next Friday so you should be reminded that there are new rules on size limits and how you measure the fish to be able to keep one. The minimum length has been changed from 26” to 27” with the maximum size still being 34”. When you measure the fish you must now squeeze the tail and measure it from the tip of it the jaw to the tip of the squeezed tail. If your not sure how this is done go to www.myfwc.com and click on fishing and then on measuring.
Roy’s Bait House reports king mackerel in the 20 lb range are being caught from the pier and that whiting, small pompano and some small cobia are in the surf. Corky Giddens had a 22” redfish and Rick Fisher landed 50 whiting.
Photo: Bob Rees shows off a 7 ½ lb trout that he caught in the back waters using a plastic jig.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Things have been pretty quiet on the fishing front the past week. Mostly everyone I have spoken with had the same thing to say, SLOW. Fish are being caught but it seems most of the fish are on the small side and a lack of quantity. When I talked with Randy Homer, one of the better trout fishermen I know, and he told me he had one small trout on his last outing you can bet things are slow. He did have one good thing to say though, flounder. Randy’s been picking up some good size flounder using grub tail jigs around dock pilings.
One thing I have observed on my last couple of charters is that you can catch fish up to about 10 AM then things just seem to shut down. This can probably be attributed to the fact that the temperature starts to heat up about that time. Once it heats up the water also gets warmer and the fish become lethargic. Things pick up again once evening sets in. Fishing the dock lights at night is always a good bet. Fish the docks that have their lights closest to the water, they will hold the most fish.
Last Saturday , Jim Gage from Massachusetts fished with me and landed 6 snook to 18”, a couple of trout to 16”, flounder and jacks. Once it hit 10 AM things slowed down. Sunday Capt. Chris Herrera and I had the Saling family, Joe and his sons Daniel, Chris and Brian, from New Jersey out. The day started out promising catching trout and ladyfish under dock lights but things slowed as day went on. The highlight of the day was when 11 year old Daniel caught a 20” trout. Monday Bob Madge from Cooper City, Fl. fished with me and he had 4 snook to 21”, flounder, trout and mangrove snapper. Once again the action slowed around 10AM.
The only feed back I’ve had about offshore has been from Tom Moleski. He and his friend Judy hit some of the local wrecks and had a couple of cobia and some good size flounder.
Roy’s Bait House reports that someone landed a 32 lb king mackerel on the pier. Chuck Kaszupski caught and released a 30” snook fishing the rte. 100 bridge at night. Whiting and small pompano are being caught in the surf.
Roy’s Bait House is holding an inshore redfish tournament on September 2nd, 7AM-3PM. Captains meeting is at Finnigans Beachside Pub Sept 1st, 5pm-8pm. Entry fee is $50 per person, 2 people per boat. 1st place will pay $1,500 based on 100 entries. For more information you can call 386-439-1027
Photo: Daniel Saling shows off a 20” trout caught on a recent family outing
One thing I have observed on my last couple of charters is that you can catch fish up to about 10 AM then things just seem to shut down. This can probably be attributed to the fact that the temperature starts to heat up about that time. Once it heats up the water also gets warmer and the fish become lethargic. Things pick up again once evening sets in. Fishing the dock lights at night is always a good bet. Fish the docks that have their lights closest to the water, they will hold the most fish.
Last Saturday , Jim Gage from Massachusetts fished with me and landed 6 snook to 18”, a couple of trout to 16”, flounder and jacks. Once it hit 10 AM things slowed down. Sunday Capt. Chris Herrera and I had the Saling family, Joe and his sons Daniel, Chris and Brian, from New Jersey out. The day started out promising catching trout and ladyfish under dock lights but things slowed as day went on. The highlight of the day was when 11 year old Daniel caught a 20” trout. Monday Bob Madge from Cooper City, Fl. fished with me and he had 4 snook to 21”, flounder, trout and mangrove snapper. Once again the action slowed around 10AM.
The only feed back I’ve had about offshore has been from Tom Moleski. He and his friend Judy hit some of the local wrecks and had a couple of cobia and some good size flounder.
Roy’s Bait House reports that someone landed a 32 lb king mackerel on the pier. Chuck Kaszupski caught and released a 30” snook fishing the rte. 100 bridge at night. Whiting and small pompano are being caught in the surf.
Roy’s Bait House is holding an inshore redfish tournament on September 2nd, 7AM-3PM. Captains meeting is at Finnigans Beachside Pub Sept 1st, 5pm-8pm. Entry fee is $50 per person, 2 people per boat. 1st place will pay $1,500 based on 100 entries. For more information you can call 386-439-1027
Photo: Daniel Saling shows off a 20” trout caught on a recent family outing
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Right after I wrote last weeks article about all the tarpon action along our beaches we were hit with an upwelling. The upwelling dropped the water temperature about ten degrees causing the tarpon to disappear. There are still a few small schools of pogys lingering around but no tarpon on them. They’ll probably show up again on their southern migration.
This past Monday Capt. Chris Herrera and Tom Derringer headed out of Matanzas Inlet in search of some pogys and hopefully some tarpon. They found a small school just outside the inlet and cast netted some for bait. The duo decided to head due east to see if they could locate a larger school with some fish on it. A school was found and they began to live line a couple of pogys. Tom soon hooked up to a fish and to his surprise was rewarded with a 62 inch sailfish. Sailfish are normally found in deeper cooler water but must have come closer inshore with the cooler water that the upwelling brings in. They also jumped a couple of good size king mackerel that day. Congratulations guys.
Capt. Ralph Olivett traveled farther offshore this past week, 55 miles, to load up on amberjack to 50 lbs, cobia, vermilion snapper and triggerfish. He also fished inshore and had reds to 25” and a 28” trout.
The ICW is yielding lots of flounder up to 5 lbs. The flounder bite has turned on probably due to the fact that the mullet run has started. Best baits of course are live mullet followed by mud or tiger minnows. Live shrimp will also work along with plastic jigs. Tip the jig with a piece of fresh shrimp for the best results using a jig.
Trout, snook and reds will also be feeding on schools of mullet. Look for reds to follow the schools into the flats. Fish the weed lines and oyster bars with topwaters for some good results. Trout and snook will be feeding on live mullet and shrimp. Artificial baits, hard or soft plastic, resembling mullet will also work well as will topwaters in the AM or PM. Capt Chris Herrera fished the night dock lights of Palm Coast this past week using Riptide soft plastics and was rewarded with a 6.05 and 7.12 lb trout.
Roy’s Bait House reports that the inshore fishing is picking up due to the start of the mullet run. Six year old Cole Blackburn landed a 28 ½” trout. Dennis Richard – 9.14 lb bluefish in the ICW. Lee Robert – 18” trout at the Flagler bridge. Seven year old Dylan Olsen – 14” flounder. Joe Walkup – 10 flounder to 4 lbs at the inlet. Mark Francis – 10 flounder to 5 lbs at the 206 bridge. Nathan Starke – 6 flounder to 4 lbs and two 20” weakfish. Mike Delaney – 22 whiting from the surf and released 20 plus undersize pompano.
Snook season opens in less than three weeks, September 1st. It’s time for all snook fishermen to start preparing their gear for the fall snook action. Best time to fish will be at night under lights and around bridges. I’ll cover more on this subject as opening season nears.
Photo: Tom Derringer poses with a 62” sailfish that he caught and released 2 miles east of Matanzas Inlet. The fish was caught on a live pogy.
This past Monday Capt. Chris Herrera and Tom Derringer headed out of Matanzas Inlet in search of some pogys and hopefully some tarpon. They found a small school just outside the inlet and cast netted some for bait. The duo decided to head due east to see if they could locate a larger school with some fish on it. A school was found and they began to live line a couple of pogys. Tom soon hooked up to a fish and to his surprise was rewarded with a 62 inch sailfish. Sailfish are normally found in deeper cooler water but must have come closer inshore with the cooler water that the upwelling brings in. They also jumped a couple of good size king mackerel that day. Congratulations guys.
Capt. Ralph Olivett traveled farther offshore this past week, 55 miles, to load up on amberjack to 50 lbs, cobia, vermilion snapper and triggerfish. He also fished inshore and had reds to 25” and a 28” trout.
The ICW is yielding lots of flounder up to 5 lbs. The flounder bite has turned on probably due to the fact that the mullet run has started. Best baits of course are live mullet followed by mud or tiger minnows. Live shrimp will also work along with plastic jigs. Tip the jig with a piece of fresh shrimp for the best results using a jig.
Trout, snook and reds will also be feeding on schools of mullet. Look for reds to follow the schools into the flats. Fish the weed lines and oyster bars with topwaters for some good results. Trout and snook will be feeding on live mullet and shrimp. Artificial baits, hard or soft plastic, resembling mullet will also work well as will topwaters in the AM or PM. Capt Chris Herrera fished the night dock lights of Palm Coast this past week using Riptide soft plastics and was rewarded with a 6.05 and 7.12 lb trout.
Roy’s Bait House reports that the inshore fishing is picking up due to the start of the mullet run. Six year old Cole Blackburn landed a 28 ½” trout. Dennis Richard – 9.14 lb bluefish in the ICW. Lee Robert – 18” trout at the Flagler bridge. Seven year old Dylan Olsen – 14” flounder. Joe Walkup – 10 flounder to 4 lbs at the inlet. Mark Francis – 10 flounder to 5 lbs at the 206 bridge. Nathan Starke – 6 flounder to 4 lbs and two 20” weakfish. Mike Delaney – 22 whiting from the surf and released 20 plus undersize pompano.
Snook season opens in less than three weeks, September 1st. It’s time for all snook fishermen to start preparing their gear for the fall snook action. Best time to fish will be at night under lights and around bridges. I’ll cover more on this subject as opening season nears.
Photo: Tom Derringer poses with a 62” sailfish that he caught and released 2 miles east of Matanzas Inlet. The fish was caught on a live pogy.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
The seas have remained relatively calm for the past few weeks making the run out of Matanzas Inlet a fairly easy one. For those willing to venture forty to fifty miles out you can find fish. Steve Martin did just that and was rewarded with amberjack, cobia and an african pompano. The wrecks and reefs closer inshore seem to be producing a lot of small red snapper and barracuda. Along the beaches the tarpon are still ravaging schools of pogys.
Last week Dan Rutkowski and I headed out in search of the silver king (tarpon). We cast netted a bunch of pogys from a small school and then headed in search of a school that would be holding tarpon. It didn’t take but a few minutes to find a large school with tarpon busting on them. We pulled up next to it and cast our baits out. It took about a minute and Dan was hooked up, it was his first tarpon encounter. The fish took off and had Dan’s reel screaming as it peeled off line. The fish made its first jump and we estimated it to be around 100 lbs. After many acrobatic jumps, some two feet from the boat, the fish surged quickly snapping Dan’s line. It sounded like a 22 rifle being fired when that line snapped.
After the line broke Dan turned and picked up his other rod and tossed out another pogy. It took about thirty seconds and he was hooked up again. This time the fish was smaller, about 65 lbs, and using heavier tackle the tarpon was boated, photographed and released. We fished a while longer and could see tarpon rolling and feeding but couldn’t connect with another one. I never did get a tarpon that day (1 shark) but it was still fun to see Dan land his first one.
Fishing in the ICW has improved over the past week or so. There is a large variety of fish biting right now. The other day Mike Broderick and Elise Broverman fished with me and the duo scored different species of fish. Ladyfish, jacks, mangrove snapper, black drum, redfish, flounder, trout and snook were all boated by the couple. Mike lost a couple of big fish. One he couldn’t stop and it broke off the line on a dock piling. The other picked up his shrimp and and took off so fast it just snapped the 10 lb test line. I think that fish may have been a 30 lb tarpon that I saw rolling just a few minutes before the bait was picked up.
Last Sunday I had a charter cancel so I decided to go fishing anyway. I was on the water before daybreak and made my first stop at a place that produces trout on an out going tide. I made a cast with a topwater plug and was instantly rewarded with a trout. I put the rod down and picked up the flayrod. After a few cast I laned a 19” trout. After about 30 more casts and a few missed fish I finally did something I’ve been trying to do for a while, I caught my first snook on a fly – 25”. The topwater bite quit so I changed my location and switched to a 7m mirrolure. I landed a 2½ lb and a 3 lb trout then called it a day.
Roy’s Baithouse reports that Paul Baudet fished the surf for whiting, blues and 2 small tarpon. Anita Dillon fished the ICW for a 2.11 lb flounder and Fuzzy Jim had 3 flounder – 15”, 18” and 20”
Photo: Dan Rutkowski with a 65 lb tarpon taken on a live pogy. The fish was released.
Last week Dan Rutkowski and I headed out in search of the silver king (tarpon). We cast netted a bunch of pogys from a small school and then headed in search of a school that would be holding tarpon. It didn’t take but a few minutes to find a large school with tarpon busting on them. We pulled up next to it and cast our baits out. It took about a minute and Dan was hooked up, it was his first tarpon encounter. The fish took off and had Dan’s reel screaming as it peeled off line. The fish made its first jump and we estimated it to be around 100 lbs. After many acrobatic jumps, some two feet from the boat, the fish surged quickly snapping Dan’s line. It sounded like a 22 rifle being fired when that line snapped.
After the line broke Dan turned and picked up his other rod and tossed out another pogy. It took about thirty seconds and he was hooked up again. This time the fish was smaller, about 65 lbs, and using heavier tackle the tarpon was boated, photographed and released. We fished a while longer and could see tarpon rolling and feeding but couldn’t connect with another one. I never did get a tarpon that day (1 shark) but it was still fun to see Dan land his first one.
Fishing in the ICW has improved over the past week or so. There is a large variety of fish biting right now. The other day Mike Broderick and Elise Broverman fished with me and the duo scored different species of fish. Ladyfish, jacks, mangrove snapper, black drum, redfish, flounder, trout and snook were all boated by the couple. Mike lost a couple of big fish. One he couldn’t stop and it broke off the line on a dock piling. The other picked up his shrimp and and took off so fast it just snapped the 10 lb test line. I think that fish may have been a 30 lb tarpon that I saw rolling just a few minutes before the bait was picked up.
Last Sunday I had a charter cancel so I decided to go fishing anyway. I was on the water before daybreak and made my first stop at a place that produces trout on an out going tide. I made a cast with a topwater plug and was instantly rewarded with a trout. I put the rod down and picked up the flayrod. After a few cast I laned a 19” trout. After about 30 more casts and a few missed fish I finally did something I’ve been trying to do for a while, I caught my first snook on a fly – 25”. The topwater bite quit so I changed my location and switched to a 7m mirrolure. I landed a 2½ lb and a 3 lb trout then called it a day.
Roy’s Baithouse reports that Paul Baudet fished the surf for whiting, blues and 2 small tarpon. Anita Dillon fished the ICW for a 2.11 lb flounder and Fuzzy Jim had 3 flounder – 15”, 18” and 20”
Photo: Dan Rutkowski with a 65 lb tarpon taken on a live pogy. The fish was released.
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