Northeast winds kicked up the surf this past week and made surf fishing just about impossible, however it didn’t stop pier fishermen. Bill Allgire at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle on the Flagler pier says a lot of slot size redfish are being caught despite the rough surf. Trout are also being caught but Bill said the bite only lasts about an hour. Some spanish mackerel are around and the whiting bite has begun to pick up along with pompano.
Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports good size snook coming from the bridge at night. Some snook are also being caught during the day along with trout. Night or day the fish are being caught on live mullet or live shrimp. There have also been a lot of black drum caught in the area.
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of flyfishing and last Wednesday my wife Lori and I headed out at daybreak to wet a line. She used live shrimp while I threw a topwater fly. All she could muster were some mango snappers and a flounder. I hooked up with three snook and landed one that went about 16 inches. We tried some other things with no success so we called it a day.
The next day Ron Coppenbarger and George Doyle, both from Jacksonville, fished with me and once again things were slow. They picked up some mangos, small trout and a couple of keeper flounder on live shrimp. It wasn’t until we moved to the south end of the county and they started throwing artificial baits that the action picked up. I hooked up both guys with the same color 7m mirrolure and the trout started to hit. One caught fish and the other didn’t. Ron who was fishig the plug slow couldn’t buy a hit but George who was working his fast was catching the fish. It just goes to show you that sometimes you have to try retrieving your lure at a different speed to get a reaction from the fish. George had about six trout with the largest going 3 Lbs. Ron landed a 19” trout after he threw a bomber lure into a school of bait fish that was being blasted by a tarpon.
Getting back to the fly fishing, I lost a big snook last Saturday, well over 10 lbs due to the fact that the fish caught me totally off guard and also because of my inexperience with big fish on a fly. I did however land a 15” snook the next day. I will tell you the fly I’ve been using is a Rainys bubble head. I bought this fly at the World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada in the Fla. Keys. They make two sizes but I like the 2/0 size the best. The fly makes different noises depending on how you strip the line. You can order it on line at
www.worldwidesportsman.com.
Photo: George Doyle of Jacksonville, Fla. fished the Flagler County waters for this trout that was caught on a 7m mirrolure