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