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.