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