Anglers fishing the ICW are being kept busy by trout and undersize snook. The trout are averaging between 14” and 18” with the occasional fish over 20”. These are nice healthy fish that have been feeding on mullet and glass minnows. Most of the snook that are being caught are under size fish and are feeding on the same baits as the trout. If your using artificial baits downsize to smaller ones to imitate glass minnows. I have received reports of people seeing huge snook sunning themselves in the Palm Coast canals but they will not eat when they are in this mode.
There are reports of tarpon in the 5 to 20 lb range in the Tamoka Basin/River and also in Sanchez Creek that runs off the Tamoka River. These fish are hitting on small Yo-Zuri 3D minnows and flies. If you’re a catch and release fisherman and want some great action from small tarpon give it a try.
Jim Melley and his buddy Tom fished with me last Friday. I put Jim on a 17MR Mirrorlure and he nailed a couple of nice snook in the 20” range and a couple of trout. Tom used live shrimp and had small snook, reds, trout and mangrove snapper.
Sunday Richard and Carol McCleery fished aboard my boat. Although the fishing was a little on the slow side Carol did manage to catch her first snook, she had two, and her first trout of which she had a couple.
After I dropped off Richard and Carol off at the dock I headed back out to do some fly fishing. I fished for about an hour and had no luck with the white feather fly I was using. I went through my bag of flies and found my last Enrico Puglisi fly, a white mullet. After my 3rd cast I landed a 10” snook that swallowed the fly. I got the fly out and didn’t check the 30 lb leader that I use. (Snook have very abrasive lips.) I then hooked an 18” snook that swallowed the fly. Again, I didn’t check the leader. Then I hooked a 25” snook that jumped out of the water with his head thrashing. He jumped a couple of more times and when I finally got him next to the boat Those abrasive lips finally broke my leader and the snook swam off with my fly. Next time I’ll practice what I preach and check my leader after each snook I catch.
Snook season closes Dec 15th and reopens Feb 1st on the Atlantic coast of Fl. It closed Dec. 1st and will reopen March 1st in the Gulf of Mexico, the everglades and the Keys.
A few more cold mornings like we had this past week and it should drop the water temperature enough to shut down the snook bite. But don’t fret because this should trigger another bite, redfish. It’s this time of year, when the water temps drop, that the reds start schooling on the flats. Usually it’s right after Christmas that the water in the 206 flats and Pellicer flats becomes crystal clear and you can sight fish for reds. You can expect to find schools of 50 to 100 or more fish.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports lots of whiting being caught on the pier. Johnny also reports lots of bluefish, flounder to 21”, black drum and a few pompano.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports lots of trout although they’re out of season in Volusia County. He also reports that small snook are being caught and black drum are in the deeper holes in the backwater.


Photo: Jim Melley with a 21” snook he caught on a MirrOlure

Snook and trout continue to provide steady action for anglers fishing in the ICW. It doesn’t matter what time of day you fish as long as you fish the right tide. I have found the best times to fish are the outgoing tide, especially the last two hours of it and the first two hours of the incoming tide. During this time when the water is reaching it’s lowest point the bait becomes more concentrated making it easy prey for feeding fish. I expect the snook action to continue until the water temperature drops.
What type of bait to use? That’s up to the individual fisherman. For those fishing live bait shrimp is the best choice right now. Either free line it or fish it under a popping cork such as a Cajun Thunder. A live shrimp on a jig head that is bounced along the bottom will also work well.
There is more of a variety when it comes to artificial baits. Jigs, diving plugs and flies are all catching fish right now. The Storm Wild Eye is one of my favorite jigs. This jig can be worked at a steady retrieve using various speeds to achieve different depths in the water column. If that doesn’t work try bouncing it along the bottom, this method is very effective when the water temperature is cooler.
When it comes to plugs the Mirrolure is very effective. The 7m, 17m and 52 m all do the trick. The 7m and 17m will swim about 12 inches below the surface when retrieved properly. The 52m is a heavier, deep diving plug. These three plugs should be retrieved with a twitching motion. Read the box it comes in and will tell you how to work the plug. The Bomber long “A” in the 3 ½” length and the Rapala X Rap are good plugs for working depths in the 3’ to 6’ range. The Rapala Twitchin Rap is also a very effective plug that is worked below the surface. All of these plugs, except for the 7m and 52m, have rattles built into them. You can get a variation of the 7m that does come equipped with rattles.
Fly fishing with streamer flies has also been very effective as of late. White, chartreuse/white and yellow or yellow/white are the best colors to use. These colors work best if there is some flash material tied into them. I had ten snook on a chartreuse/white fly last week.
Last week I had Molly, Anna and Cindy Messerly fishing on my boat. After a few casting lessons the mother daughter trio wound up landing 26 fish. They had trout, redfish, ladyfish, mangrove snapper and a snook. All fish were caught on live shrimp.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports lots of snook, trout and reds being caught in the bridge area. Most of the snook are under the slot size and the trout are out of season. Anglers fishing from the bridge are still landing some keeper size snook using jumbo live shrimp and deep diving plugs.
Johnny at Flagler beach Bait and tackle reports lots of black drum in the 4 to 12 lb range are being caught on shrimp at the pier. Whiting, blues and a few pompano are also providing action. Spanish mackerel are still being caught in spurts from the end of the pier.


Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein holds a snook that Molly Messerly caught on a live shrimp.

Last week the snook bite was incredible. On three of those days I took advantage of the nice weather to wet a line. On the 14th I set out about 9:300am to do some fly fishing, it turned out to be a very productive day. On about my fifth cast I hooked into my first fish of the day. When I saw what it was, a bluefish, I hoped it wouldn’t bite through my leader and I’d lose my fly. Luckily that didn’t happen because he was lipped hooked. The fly was an Enrico Puglisi mullet imitation that has a rattle tied in it and the color was chartreuse and white. A very productive fly for the color water we have here. I retied the fly to the leader and continued to cast. My efforts were rewarded with 11 more fish, 1 trout and 10 snook.
There were so many snook around that at times I could see 4 to 5 snook come up and swipe at the fly on a single retrieve. I even had them follow it right back to the boat then swim underneath the boat. At one point all I had to do was hold the fly rod out over the water, jiggle the fly and they would come up and smack it. I figure that if I would have landed every snook that either smacked my fly or I hooked and lost, I would have had over 30 of them that day.
The following day, the 15th, I took a friend of mine out who loves to catch snook. Maybe it was because of the cold front that was coming through that afternoon that the snook were everywhere busting on bait. All you had to do was throw to where you saw the fish feeding and you were almost guaranteed a fish. Between the two of us we landed 23 snook, a redfish and jumped 2 small tarpon. Artificial baits or fly were used to catch the fish. The artificial baits were Storm wild eyes, MirrOlures or flies. However, on this day, my EP fly did succumb to the abrasive lips of the snook.
The cold front came so I stayed home on the 16th. That evening I got a call from a buddy who wanted to fish the next day. I said ok but let’s wait till about 9:30, let it warm up a bit. On the way to the launch I told him that the bite might be off because of the cold but we should get some fish as it warms up. We used Storm baits to land 10 snook that day despite the low overnight temperatures. Hint, we had to fish the baits slower and deeper to get hookups.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports that big black drum, whiting, blues, pompano, sheepshead and some flounder are all being caught from the pier. Johnny also told me he got his first tarpon, 10 lbs on a fly, fishing in the Tomoka River.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle says ther are big reds coming from the banks of the ICW south of the bridge. Shrimp or mullet is the bait of choice.
Roy’s Bait House is holding a Fall Surf Fishing Tournament on Dec. 1st. Entry fee is $20. for more information call Roy at 439-1027.

If it’s action you’re looking for on the end of your line get out and do some trout fishing in the ICW. They might not be big but there are a lot of them around. You might have to catch 10 before you get a keeper but the action can be steady. The best time to find them seems to be around the change of the tide. Don’t rule out the rest of the tide though. As long as you have moving water you will find fish.
These fish will eat almost anything you throw at them. Live shrimp, soft plastic jigs, plugs or Berkley Gulp baits are all working. If you’re not an experienced artificial bait angler would like to learn, now is the time to do it. Put a Berkley Gulp shrimp on a ¼ ounce jig head and bounce it along the bottom and you’ll catch something weather it’s a trout, flounder or black drum. The 3” Storm wild eye is also producing a lot of fish. It comes with the jig head built in so there’s no guess work involved as to how heavy a jig head to use. This jig can be bounced along the bottom or throw it out and use a steady retrieve with a slight twitching motion.
Fly fishing for trout has also been very productive. White or yellow streamer flies with some flash material tied in have been working well. You also have a good chance of catching a snook or two using these flies.
Last week I was involved in the Oldest City Red Trout tournament held in St Augustine. It was the same there, tons of trout and small reds. Boats were coming back with reports of 50 to 60 trout in a day, the majority on the small side with the larger ones going around 16”. All you had to do was go up a creek on a falling tide and you were into fish. Bill Brunson from New Jersey fished aboard my boat for 2 days. The first day we fished in St. Augustine and he landed about 25 trout and reds. The next day we fished south looking for bigger trout. Bill did land an 18 ½” trout but it wasn’t big enough to place. A 20 ½” trout took 1st place. We did however find some nice flounder in a creek at the end of the outgoing tide. The fish were caught on Berkley Gulp shrimp.
Last Friday I got a call from my buddy Lou DeFazio telling me that he got into a bunch of fish. He had 25 trout, ladyfish, mangrove shrimp and 5 snook. All the snook and 80% of the other fish were caught using a fly.
The surf and pier are producing whiting, blues, black drum, pompano and a few reds.
I would like to wish my friend and fellow fisherman Chuck Kaszupski a speedy recovery from bypass surgery he underwent a couple of weeks ago. Being an avid fisherman I know he’s chomping at the bit to get back out on the water.


Photo: Bill Brunson holds up one of four 18” flounder he caught fishing with a Berkley Gulp shrimp.

Cooler fall temperatures have finally arrived making for more pleasurable fishing conditions. The brisk morning air can make for a teary eyed run on the river but as the day progresses with a rising sun, clear blue skies, warming temperatures and little or no wind, you have no doubt as to why you got out of a warm bed to go fishing. Catch a few fish and you have the makings of a fishermen’s perfect day.
The colder air and shorter daylight hours will drop the water temperature making some fish species more active and others more lethargic. The fall run of flounder should begin and peak the week of Thanksgiving. Bluefish will invade the ICW causing for a lot of lost tackle due to their teeth. Sheepshead will gather around bridge and dock pilings feeding on the barnacles and also in the backcountry around oyster bars. Redfish will begin schooling in the shallows as the water temp drops. Trout will be abundant but will mostly be on the small side, look for bigger ones in deeper water and deep holes in the backwaters. The big tarpon will be gone but you may find some juvenile ones in the Palm Coast canals. Snook will move out of the ICW and into the back Palm Coast canals and into the deeper water of the Tamoka River. As winter moves in the fishing may become more difficult but if you put in the time on those mild clear blue days you will catch fish.
This past Monday I found one of those picture perfect days and traveled to St. Augustine to fish with Capt. Steve Holmes. Steve was gracious enough to show me places to fish for the Oldest City Red/Trout Tournament benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The day started out slow but as the tide began falling the fishing turned on. Steve took me up a creek where we found trout and reds. I had a couple of trout on the way in that I caught on a jig and had about another ten good hits. We then came upon an intersection where there was a lot of bait activity and fish were busting on them. We put the boat on the creek bed and began casting our jigs. On the first cast I landed a trout. On each of my next six casts I landed a fish. When it was all over I pulled fourteen fish from that hole. I totaled 21 fish from that one creek. I think I just might have to take my people back there during the tournament. By the way, the boat captains don’t fish during the tournament.
Roy Mattson of Roy’s Bait House reports that Nicole Marcelli had a 25” red and a 16” blackdrum using live shrimp. David James fished Tamoka Park for 2 blackdrum to 17 inches and 3 flounder to 17 inches. His fish were also caught on live shrimp.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports lots of whiting, some flounder, blues, blackdrum and sporadic schools of Spanish mackerel being caught at the pier.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports that he and Johnny Garrett were out Sunday and had 16 snook with the smallest measuring 26 inches. There are plenty of trout and reds also being caught in the area.
Trout season is closed for the months of November and December south of the Flagler County line. You can not catch trout anywhere south of the county line and bring them back into the county and likewise you can’t catch trout in Flagler County and bring them back south of the county line.



Photo: Ted Szeremeta, visting from New Jersey, holds a blackdrum he caught on a live shrimp. Ted and his son Greg also had trout, mangrove snapper, redfish and ladyfish.

When it rains it pours and I’m not talking about the weather we’ve been having lately. Things on my boat have been going awry the last few weeks, situations I have no control over.
The first incident happened two weeks ago as I was cruising down the ICW to my first fishing spot. I wasn’t far from that spot when all of a sudden the whole boat started to vibrate. I throttled back to neutral and raised the engine to see if I possibly picked up a stray rope or fishing line on the prop. I didn’t see anything so I put the boat in gear and took off. The boat instantly started vibrating again so I shut it down immediately. This time when I raised the engine I found the problem. One half of one of the blades of the stainless steel prop was missing. I hadn’t hit anything nor had I hit anything in the past that would have caused this problem. Not wanting to lose a day of fishing and risk any damage to the motor by running the engine, I put the trolling motor down and fished my way back to the boat ramp.
Once at the ramp and the boat was out of the water I inspected the prop and found a clean straight break with no damage to any of the other blades. Upon further inspection I found rust inside of the crack indicating to me that this was likely a flaw in the production process. I returned the prop to my boat dealership and they sent it off to the manufacturer (Power Tech) in Texas. My presumption of a defect must have been correct because Power Tech is replacing the prop at no cost to me. I bought an aluminum backup prop to use in the meantime. Not a bad idea to keep a spare prop onboard especially if you plan on fishing in remote areas.
My next situation happened last weekend. I left the ramp at 6AM and pulled up to my first spot, put the trolling motor down, and began fishing. I landed one trout and decided to move to another spot. I raised the trolling motor and took off. Upon approaching the next spot I put the boat into idle speed and instantly smelled smoke. As I looked around I saw that it was coming from my trolling motor and there was lots of it. I reached for the breaker on my console that shuts off power to the motor to disconnect it. Being a person who can’t fish without a trolling motor I called it a day and headed back to the ramp. Once at home I removed the motor and put on a spare that I keep for just such situations. I took the burned out motor to Bob’s Discount Marine Supply in Deland for repairs. The motor comes with a three year warranty so lucky for me all repairs are covered.
All in all I came out of these problems with no cost to me other than some driving time and fuel costs. I expect it would have cost over a $1000 had not the manufacturers stood behind their products.
Fishing wise not much to report on this week due to the weather. In the ICW snook, trout, flounder, blackdrum, jacks and ladyfish are being caught if you are brave enough to fish in the wind. It looks as if things should start calming down this weekend and getting back to normal, let’s hope so.

It seems we can finally bid adieu to that awful red tide that hung around for almost three weeks. Although there were fish kills I don’t expect it to take too long for the fishing to rebound. Inshore the hardest hit area seemed to be Matanzas Inlet down to the Pellicer flats. Lots of dead trout, flounder and redfish were reported. It never seemed to reach the southern end of Flagler county or Volusia county. I never saw any dead fish in that area. As a matter of fact the fishing was pretty good. The costal beaches of St. Johns, Flagler and northern Volusia counties took the hardest hit from the tide but reports already have the fishing making a strong comeback.
The trout fishing in the ICW had been hot until this past Sunday when it just seemed to shut down. Reports I’ve been getting this week is of a slow bite. This may be attributed to a couple of things, a slow moving tide, the full moon, winds and what seems to be a lack of bait. However, look for the fishing to pick up by this weekend. Roy Mattson, at Roy’s Bait house, said he has been receiving reports out of Georgia and northern Florida that of lots of bait and fish are moving south. It could be that the warm weather and water temperatures have kept the bait up that way a little longer than usual. We’ll just have to wait and see if this run materializes here.
Last Thursday Lou DeFazio and I fished the ICW for what turned out to be a good day of fishing. We hit a couple of spots and caught lots of trout. I fared better with my mirrolure than Lou did with his jig. After seeing all the trout I was catching Lou decided to switch to a small Rapala x-rap lure. On about his third cast he hooked into a big fish. At first we couldn’t tell what it was because the fish didn’t want to come to the surface. When it’s tail finally broke the surface you could see the black spot that indicated it was a redfish. When we got it in the boat it measured out at 30” and weighed 9 lbs. The fish was photographed and released. It was the biggest red Lou has caught yet. Mark Zander fished with me on Saturday and had a 25” snook also using a small Rapala x-rap plug.
Jake Jaquish At Jakes Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports that the snook fishing has slacked off some but most of the action is taking place after midnight from the bridge. Jake also reports black drum being caught on live or dead shrimp.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports lots of blues being caught on mullet, black drum and whiting using shrimp and pompano on shrimp or clams.
Hugh Anderson, fishing the “2007” Fall Surf Fishing Tournament held out of St Augustine, weighed in the largest fish a 12.6 lb bluefish.

Last week I reported that the red tide was about gone, was I ever wrong. The red tide is still here and it is strong. Anyone who has spent any time on or near the beach can tell you how annoying the situation is. Watery eyes, coughing and sneezing are the major symptoms caused by breathing in the toxin. I live about a mile due west of the beach and I’m getting the effects of it here. I feel sorry for those living beachside. It’s also nasty when trying to fish the ICW. Wearing a surgical mask may not look chic but it will cut down on the breathing symptoms.
When is it going to go away? No one knows. According to information I received from the state, red tide can last days, weeks or months and can also change daily due to wind conditions. With the east/northeast winds that have been blowing for the last couple of weeks I don’t see a change coming soon unless we get some strong west/northwest winds that last a few days.
I have also received reports of fish kills in the ICW around Matanzas inlet, Pellicier flats and as far south as the Hershel King boat ramp. None of theses are good reports for fishermen. I haven’t noticed any dead fish south of the rte 100 Bridge in Flagler Beach. I’m hoping it stays that way. The southern end of Flagler County and the Highbridge area tides are controlled by Ponce Inlet rather then Matanzas Inlet. Let’s hope it keeps this area free of the red tide. For more information on red tide you can go to http://www.redtideonline.com/ or view videos at www.start1.com
The winds are also creating havoc with baby sea turtles. The hatchlings, they usually spend the first year of their lives floating around on seaweed, are being washed ashore by the easterly winds. To date my wife Lori has collected over 500 hatchlings that have been turned over to the piers Flagler Bait and Tackle shop and to Roy’s Bait House. Both places will get in touch with Lori for their safe return. She gathers the turtles and takes them to the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet. The turtles are given a good rest and some antibiotics before being returned to the sea.
Now for some fishing news, the pier reports blues and redfish but you have to fish out past the breakers.
Roy’s Bait House reports Dave Bourde fished the pier for redfish of 41” and 39”. Brenden Smith fished the surf and landed a 26” red, 14 bluefish and 2 – 16” sheepshead. William Konetzky pulled a 36 ½” snook from the ICW.
Last Friday I landed 3 snook in the Highbridge area, the fish were 8”, 17” and 26”. All fish were caught on a mirrolure or a yo-zuri 3D minnow. I talked with a fellow who told me that last week he and his buddy caught over 37 snook fishing from the bridge and all fish were caught on artificial baits. Reds, trout and flounder are also being caught from Highbridge to the Granada Bridge.


Photo: Lori Ottlein holds one of over 500 baby sea turtles that have been washed ashore onto Flagler County beaches in the past week. All turtles have been taken to the Marine Science center in Ponce Inlet.

The next time you have to renew your fishing license it’s going to cost you an extra $4. The FWC has raised the price from $13 to $17 for the cost of an annual license. It is the first time since 1989 that the price has been increased. This increase still falls behind the rate of inflation. For more information about licenses go to www.myfwc .com.
According to the results of the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation Survey Florida has defended its title of “Fishing Capital of the World”. 2.8 million anglers fished here last year spending $4.4 billion and creating 75,000 jobs. Another interesting highlight of the study, reported by the American Sportfishing Association, is that one out of three anglers fish for largemouth bass, America’s most popular game fish. Also, one of every seven Americans fished in 2006, making the sport more popular than jogging or golf. Despite all these high numbers the amount of issued licenses had decreased in 2006.
Wednesday morning I spoke with Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle (pier) and he said it looks like the red tide is finally gone. Thank goodness! Johnny said it didn’t seem to affect the fishing too much. Lots of big reds are being caught at the pier, fish in the 20 lb bracket. Mullet or shrimp, live or frozen, are doing the trick. Black drum to 23” are also being caught along with lots of whiting. Look for flounder to start to show soon also.
Jake Jaquish at Jakes Highbridge Bait and Tackle had three words to report, snook,snook,snook. Jake says they can be found almost anywhere you fish. They are eagerly taking plugs or artificial bait. Fish creek mouths that feed into the ICW on an outgoing tide. Big schools of jacks are erupting in the ICW on bait as they move south. They will eat anything you throw into a marauding school. You’d best have on a leader when battling a jack. Jacks aren’t much in the way of food but they sure do put up one heck of a fight when hooked. Jake also reports lots of speckled trout. You’ll catch trout on the same baits you use for snook.
I found lots of trout last week but most of them were in the 14” range. You might have to land a dozen or so to be able to find any keepers. Although I didn’t find any snook it won’t keep me from trying this week. I think I’ll just have to try fishing a bit farther south.

Due to the strong northeast winds this past week the water levels in ICW are extremely high right now. Water levels are just inches below the seawalls along the ICW and the flats are flooded. All this high water just gives fish and baitfish too many places to retreat to. The only saving thing is that the bait may stay more to the ICW as it migrates south.
The question is, will the bait run still be going on after the winds subside? I guess the only way to find out is to get out and fish. Before the winds picked up on Saturday I was having a pretty good day with trout. On almost every cast I had either a hit or a fish. This lasted for about an hour, then the winds started to pickup and the bite seemed to turn off. The tide going almost slack probably played a role as well. I decided to call it a day. For the record, I was using a soft plastic paddle tail jig on a ¼ oz jig head. I was swimming it half way between the bottom and the surface. Sometimes you have to try retrieving at different speeds to find what depth the fish are at.
Chuck Medlin didn’t let the winds bother him on Sunday. He found a place that was semi protected from the wind. Fishing with a soft plastic bait he landed 3 snook to 7 lbs. Chuck said the snook were busting water while feeding on bait. This lasted about an hour before things finally died off.
There were a few people fishing the rough water from the pier on Tuesday and they were landing slot size reds, black drum and bluefish. Look for the surf and pier action to pick up once the surf dies down.
Here’s a bit of fishing news for all you readers who use to fish for fluke up north. (the equivalent to southern flounder) Monica Oswald caught a pending all tackle world record 24.3 lb fluke. Monica was disqualified for the record by the IGFA when she stated that she rested her rod on the gunwale of the boat while fighting the fish. Resting the rod on an object is not allowed by the IGFA.
Moving farther north to Canada a Canadian record was set for northern pike. An unidentified angler caught a pike that weighed in at 55 lbs and measured 55 inches long. According to the pictures I was sent the angler landed the big fish when it came up to eat a 20 lb pike the man had on his line. There was a picture of the fish trying to eat the other one. If anyone would like to see the pics you can email me at captrco@cfl.rr.com and I will send them to you.
One other note of interest pertaining to boating is that boat thefts in Florida are up 20% this year. Most of the problems seem to be in south Fl. and the Keys. Authorities believe this is due in large part by people stealing go-fast boats in the 30’ to 40’ range to smuggle refugees into the U.S.

Photo: Unidentified angler with a Canadian Record 55 lb 56 inch northern pike.

105 anglers in 54 boats participated in the Flagler County Sportfishing Clubs 19th Annual Inshore Fishing Tournament last Saturday. There was $4000 in prize money paid out to the winning anglers. Close to $3000 was raised for the Stewart-Marchman Foundation of Flagler County. Here are the top 3 winners for each category. Black Drum - 1st – Amy Cauley 3.6 lbs, 2nd – Amy Cauley 3.6 lbs, 3rd – Mike LaMonica 3.6 lbs. Redfish – 1st – Billy Page 6.1 lbs, 2nd – Winn Cummings 5.95 lbs, 3rd – Melissa Page5.5 lbs. Flounder – 1st – Dave Tucker 4.55 lbs, 2nd – Al Scott 3.75 lbs, 3rd – Chris Stewart 3 lbs. Trout – 1st – Chuck Kaszupski 2.45 lbs, 2nd – Chris Herrera 2.45 lbs. 3rd – David Wright 1.95 lbs. If there is a tie in the weight of a fish the tie is broken by the first one to weigh their fish in.
The ICW has been alive with mullet on there migration south. The mullet coupled with the rain that dropped the water temperature about 5 degrees has turned the fish on. Sunday there were fish erupting as school after school of bait headed south. Mullet were being chased out of the water into the air and the fish were ascending after them. It was quite a site to witness. Trout, snook, jacks, redfish and tarpon were all part of the feeding frenzy. There was even a porpoise that put on a show. Boats were stopping to watch as the dolphin was leaping and spinning to heights of 10 feet out of the water. The dolphin show lasted about 5 minutes.
Lou DeFazio and I were lucky enough to be there to see it all take place. It was one of those fishing days that you’ll remember for a long time. We caught so many fish that day that we lost count. Using artificial baits we landed trout to 19”, small reds, snook to 23”, jacks in the 4 lb range and even jumped a tarpon that hit a mirrolure right next to the boat. The 40 lb tarpon jumped twice, spit the plug, and was gone.
Fishing in the surf and from the pier has also picked up. Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle on the pier reports that reds from 26” to 35” are being caught on the incoming tide. Flounder to 23” are also being caught. Bluefish, pompano and Spanish mackerel have all began to make their presence.
Jake Jaquish at Highbridge Bait and tackle reports lots of snook, triut and tarpon in the area. Jake says the snook are hitting in the early morning on skitterwalks and twitchin raps.
Occasionally I like to report on the fishing in different areas of the state for anyone that may be doing some traveling. John Inman and Dave Goddas recently traveled to Chokoloskee in the Everglades for two days of fishing. The duo chartered a boat where the captain put them on lots of fish. In two days, using live bait, they had over 75 snook and redfish. Not a bad couple of days fishing.


Photo: John Inman with an Everglades snook. It was one of over 75 fish caught in 2 days of fishing out of Chokoloskee.

Last week my wife Lori and I spent four days at the Florida Outdoor Writers Association conference in Homosassa, Fl. Homosassa is located on the west coast an hour north of Tampa and just south of Crystal River. Rather than towing my boat over to fish unknown waters I booked a half day charter with Capt. Earle Waters of Back Country Concepts.
We met Earle at our hotel on Thursday morning and followed him to a boat ramp that would put us in the midst of prime backwater. The trip to the boat ramp took us for miles along a winding road through what is known as low country. We arrived at a paying boat ramp on private property and launched the 16 ft Hellsbay skiff.
Once on the water it took about 7 minutes to get to Earle’s first spot. When he shut down the engine a school of about 100 redfish spooked pushing a large wake through the water. Earle poled us through crystal clear water over grass flats where you could see everything below you. After a few casts I landed a 24” red on a 17MR mirrolure. We had a couple more strikes but no takers. The big school stayed just out of casting range as we pursued them so Earle decided to move on. We ran into a couple of smaller schools and caught a few reds on Berkley gulps.
As the water got shallower on the outgoing tide the fish seemed to break off into singles. We cast to a lot of fish but they weren’t in a feeding mode. My wife Lori took over the bow and made a cast with a Rapala skitterwalk and the water exploded with the crash of a redfish. The 6 lb red was boated, photographed and released. We then headed back to the boat ramp.
The next day I got to fish with Capt. Earle in the FOWA tournament. Again we saw fish but they just weren’t in a feeding mode. Earle suggested it might be due to a front that was passing through. Earle did manage a 30 ½” red on a skitterwalk and a 27 ¾” red on a berkley gulp.
One of the beautiful things about the fishing other than the beautiful clear water and grass flats was I only saw two other boats in the 2 days I fished. It’s only a 2 ½ hour drive to fish these waters. Capt. Earle is one of the only true shallow water guides in Homosassa. He can be reached at 352-302-0359 or visit his web site at http://www.backcountryconcepts.com/.
Locally, redfish and flounder are being caught at the pier. Look for the bite to get better as the surf calms down. Sunday Lou DeFazio and I did some fly fishing and faired rather well. I was throwing a top water fly and only had one hit. Lou was throwing a streamer fly and landed 3 snook, 2 trout and had numerous strikes, he also lost a big snook when the hook pulled. Watching this I changed flies and landed a snook and also lost a large one when the hooked pulled.
All the rain giving us fresh water the fishing won’t improve until it begins to flush out. Try fishing deeper water where the salinity levels will be higher.

Twice this past week I picked up the Daytona News Journal and read articles about snakes and that being bitten by a snake is unusual. Last week I became one of the unusual victims. After picking up my charter at the boat ramp we stopped at a canal to throw some plugs. My client, while throwing his plug up towards the bank, let his cast get away from him and it landed up on land and became stuck. I then pulled the boat up to the shoreline and got out to retrieve the plug.
I was walking toward the plug (dressed in flip flops) when I felt something sharp on the side of the heel on my left foot. I thought to myself that I brushed up against a sharp piece of wood as I took a couple of more steps I turned around to see what it was when I noticed a small snake following me. He stopped and coiled up and I could see the small rattles on his tail. I knew right away that it was a pygmy rattlesnake. Now I’m not one to harm animals, not even a snake, but when it bites you it’s a different story. I picked a large piece of coquina rock and threw it on him. I retrieved the plug and got back in the boat. My client suggested I go to the ER but we continued to fish for about 15 more minutes. I decided to call my wife who is an ER nurse and she told me to get myself to the hospital.
Once at the ER they took me in right away, gave me a tetnus shot and put an I.V. drip in me with antibiotics. They kept measuring my foot to see if there was any swelling but none occurred. The doctor asked me what kind of snake it was and I told him it was an adult pygmy rattler. He said I was lucky because many times the first strike of an adult pygmy is a dry strike. The snake had only bitten me once, probably because I was walking when it happened. (Pygmy rattlesnakes strike their prey repeatedly) They kept me there for two hours then released me.
The lesson to be learned here is that a $5 plug is not worth the risk of serious injury. Cut your line or break it off. Also, all you people who get out of the boat to cast net mullet need to take a good look around before proceeding to walk a bank.
According to Capt. Ralph Olivett the redfishing is still good at the inlet on the change of tides. Mullet is the bait of choice.
Tarpon continue to be seen rolling in the canals. I heard of one kayaker who was almost pulled under by a 70 lb tarpon he hooked on a live shrimp. He got scared and cut his line to free himself of the big fish.
Who says fishing isn’t a dangerous sport?

Good news for surf and pier anglers, the mullet run has started along the beach. The mullet will bring in spanish mackerel, king mackerel, redfish, flounder and tarpon. When the Spanish mackerel show up a large silver spoon tossed from the beach will work, just make sure you use a metal leader or you’ll lose your spoon. Spoons will also catch king mackerel that might come in close to the beach and don’t rule out connecting with a tarpon. When fishing from the pier a “gotcha” plug will do the trick on the Spanish. A whole frozen mullet, live mullet or a fresh chunk of mullet is your best bet for reds and flounder.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle on the pier tells of king mackerel to 33 lbs being brought to the planks. There was also a 28 lb barracuda caught. Black drum and whiting are also being caught. Look for the fishing to get even better as the mullet run heats up.
Inshore there are lots of snook of all sizes to be found. They’re hitting flies, topwater plugs, diving plugs, jigs and live shrimp or mullet. Tarpon can also be found in the canals off the ICW. There have been tarpon up to 80 lbs rolling in the Sea Ray canal. The best bet for a possible hook up with a tarpon is to live line a mullet or a pogy.
Look for reds cruising the banks of the ICW at the end of the out going tide and the beginning of the incoming tide. Lots of times you’ll be able to sight fish them as their backs will be out of the water while they search for food.
Flounder fishing remains steady. I caught a 3 lb flounder this past week on a mirrolure plug. Flounder are very aggressive fish and will come off the bottom to chase bait. Jake Jaquishat Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle told me of a 33” flounder that was caught this past week. Jake also reports that snook to 37” have been taken from the bridge and reds along the banks of the ICW.
Lou DeFazio and I were talking at the rte. 100 boat ramp the other day and he told me that he landed and released 25 snook to 33” during the month of August. Lou fishes at night from the bank using only a jig. He looks for the remainder of the season to be a good one for snook.
Here are the results from Roy’s redfish tournament, most spots, 1st – Terry Schweers – 10, 2nd – Ted Wilk – 7, 3rd – Rosa Pana – 6
Heaviest fish, 1st – Robert Mock II – 5.85 lbs, 2nd – Paul Wann – 5.1 lbs, 3rd – Dallas Moore –5.05 lbs.
Roy also reported that Linda Vickers caught a 1 ½ lb permit in the ICW.
The Flagler County Sportfishing Club is holding their Annual Inshore Tournament September 22 at Bings Landing. The captains meeting will be at JT’s Seafood Shack on A1A in the Hammock. Entry fee is $45 per angler. Payouts will be for blackdrum, redfish, trout and flounder. For more information you can goto www.fcsportfishing.com or contact John Raybon at 386-447-3828 or 386-503-3545.

I would like to take a moment here to express my condolences to the entire Meekins family on the tragic loss of Skyler Meekins. Skyler loved to fish and was very well known to all the piers regular anglers. Over the years she honed her skills out there and had many tarpon and king mackerel to her credit. Skyler was also an accomplished inshore angler who spent many a day fishing with her dad, Hap Meekins. Her and her dad came in 2nd place in this years bucket “O” fun tournament and walked away with $1,400 in prize money. She also spent many a day fishing offshore with her dad. Skyler’s smiling face will be missed in the fishing community.
Every August big redfish appear at Matanzas inlet and this year is no exception. Reds to 40 inches are being caught. The bait of choice is live mullet rigged on a 3/0 circle hook. You’ll also need enough weight to hold the mullet along the bottom. Usually a small egg sinker or a couple large split shots. The optimum time to fish is at the change of the tide. This is when the fish seem to be most active. Once the current starts to rip through the inlet you’ll need to go to heavier weights to keep the bait down near the bottom. Reds to 30” can be caught on an outgoing tide at the mouths of creeks that feed into the ICW. If you can, get into the creeks on the out going tide and find a hole where the reds will congregate.
Elsewhere in the ICW, daytime trout fishing remains on the slow side. The water temperature is high which makes the trout lethargic. I believe if we get some rain it will cool the water down enough to turn these fish on. Nighttime trout fishing has remained consistent.
Flounder continue to be caught using live mullet, mud minnows and live shrimp. Keeper size mangrove snapper are abundant and are readily caught using live shrimp or pieces of shrimp.
Snook fishing remains good and will only get better when the mullet run begins. Lou DeFazio and I headed out the other morning to fly fish for snook and Lou landed his first snook on a fly. I had a couple of strikes on a topwater fly but no takers. Lou has been getting snook to 32” at night using a jig/shad tail combination.
Tarpon can be found rolling in most of the canals. Most of the fish I’ve seen are anywhere from 20 to 60 lbs. These fish can be very difficult to catch. Live lining a mullet is probably the best bet to connect with a silver king.
Pier fishing has been slow. Small reds, pompano and blues are the report. Look for the fishing to pick up in a couple of weeks when the mullet and pogy runs begin

The inshore fishing action was doing well until we got some west, northwest and north winds on Sunday and it continued into Monday. Once the wind kicked up it pushed a lot of water out of the backwaters and the ICW. The combination of low water and northerly winds slows down the current in the ICW. (Our outgoing tide flows north). When this happens the fishing also slows. One thing I have learned over years of fishing the ICW is that the fish like a fast moving current. The faster moving water creates more bait movement which makes the fish feed more actively.
Let me give you an example of my theory of current flow. Last Friday Louis Ziegenfus and Wayne Geisler fished with me and they caught 25 fish between them. They had snook, redfish, trout, flounder, jacks and mangrove snapper. The current flow was good that day. The following day Bill Smith and Jack Philbrick fished with me and the winds started to pick up a bit. They still managed to get some snook, trout, flounder and jacks but not as many fish as the day before. On Sunday the wind was stronger and the current slowed down. I couldn’t raise a single fish on my top water fly, something that doesn’t happen often this time of year. I then changed locations and switched to a mirrOlure and only managed a small snook and a small trout. Then on Monday Bill Mayne and his buddy Les fished with me and the current slowed even more due to the wind. The fishing was slow but they did manage to boat a sheepshead, a trout and a flounder. This kind of proves my point that the slower the current moves the slower the fishing.
The action in the surf is mostly small pompano and whiting. An unusual catch made in the surf this week was a 16” permit caught by Steve Watson. This is the first permit I have heard of being caught in the Flagler surf. Permit are usually caught on offshore wrecks and much farther south of here. This doesn’t surprise me though as small bonefish are being caught around Ponce Inlet. King mackerel are being caught from the pier.
Inshore there are lots of snook around. It seems the larger ones are being caught at night. Last week there was a good run of snook at night with fish in the 28” to 30” range being caught. I look forward to a good snook season when it opens September 1st. Look for the action to really pick up when the mullet run starts. Trout fishing has been best at night under dock lights and there is still plenty of good size flounder being caught.
Roy’s Bait House is holding it their 4th annual redfish tournament on Saturday, September 1st. at Mad Dogs under the rte 100 bridge. For more information you can contact the shop at 439-1027.


Photo: Louis Ziegenfus holds a 3.4 lb flounder that he caught on a live shrimp.

Snook season reopens next Saturday, Sept. 1st. Let me remind you that snook regulations were changed this past year. The slot limit for snook on the east coast of Florida is now 28” to 32”. The bag limit, state wide, is one per day per person. If you plan to fish the Everglades or the west coast of Florida the slot size is 28” to 33”. You must squeeze the tail when measuring snook. You can find out all the regulations on saltwater fish by going to http://www.myfwc.com/, or by picking up a saltwater fishing regulations pamphlet at your local tackle store.
Snook can be caught in all of Flagler’s salt and brackish waters and occasionally as far north as Matanzas Inlet. Some of the best fishing can be found in the Palm Coast canals under docks, along sea walls and by spillways that empty into the canals. They can also be found almost anywhere along the ICW. If fishing at night try under the Palm Coast bridge, the rte. 100 bridge in Flagler Beach and Highbridge in Volusia County or any of the lighted docks along the ICW. Docks where the lights are closest to the water will produce the best.
I like to start my day fishing for snook at daybreak when they are still actively feeding near the surface or in shallow water. If you’re using spinning rod or a baitcasting rod start with a topwater plug such as a topdog jr., skitterwalk or a highroller rip roller. All these plugs make noise to attract fish. If you fly fish use a topwater popping fly. My favorite is the 2/0 Rainy bubblehead fly. Once you properly learn to work this fly snook find it irresistible.
As the day wears on, usually when it hits around 9 am you’ll want to change to deeper diving plugs such as bombers or rapala x-raps. Soft plastics such as bass assassins jerk baits fished on a jig head or an exude shrimp or D.O.A. can also do the trick. Burkley gulps can also be very affective.
Overall, live bait is the best way to go during the daylight hours. Live mullet can be used and is a good choice once the mullet run starts. Live pinfish and pigfish are also very good baits. I’ve even caught mangrove snapper and had snook come up and eat them as I was retrieving them to the boat. You still can’t beat a large live shrimp to connect with a snook during the daylight hours. They just can’t pass it up.
Snook have sandpaper like mouths and very sharp gills so one piece of tackle that is a must when snook fishing is a leader no matter what type of bait you are using. Preferably fluorocarbon. 30 lb is a good choice during the day but in the night, fishing around docks and bridge fenders, I would go to a 40 or 50 lb leader.


Photo: Here is a typical size snook for our area. This one weighed 7 lbs and was caught on a mirrOlure during the middle of the day.

Let me set the scene for my past Sundays’ fishing excursion. I shut down my engine as I pulled into a Flagler Beach canal, lowered my trolling motor and readied my fly rod to begin fishing. As I worked my way into the canal I noticed that things were awfully quiet, very few mullet jumping, a lack of bait and nearly a dead low tide. I thought to myself, am I wasting my time or should I move to find some moving water. I decided to stay and give it a shot since I had limited myself to 3 hours of fishing. Working my way down the first half of the canal I didn’t have a single hit or blowup on my topwater fly. As I continued into the second half of the canal I had my first unsuccessful strike. I continued on and had a couple of more strikes but still no takers. I finally connected with a snook that was about 10 inches.
When I reached the end of the canal I worked it for a few minutes and had a good strike, but once again a missed fish. I worked my way up the other side of the canal and landed another small snook. I then decided to go back and work the end of the canal one more time. On my third cast something inhaled my fly and began to run with it. The fish then jumped about 3’ in the air and I knew right away what it was, a small tarpon. He proceeded to jump three more times before I got him to the side of the boat. Once I had him there he took one took last jump and landed right in the boat.
This was by no means a big tarpon as standards go, it only measured 25”, but it was still big fun on a fly rod. It was also my first tarpon on a fly rod. There’s only one goal I have in mind now when it comes to tarpon and that is to land a larger one on fly tackle. Oh well, I guess this means I’ll have to spend more money on a heavier weight fly rod and reel. Something else I can add to my already vast arsenal of fishing tackle.
The big talk this past week was of the 8 king mackerel that were caught off the pier on Sunday. That was a record according to some of the regulars that have fished the pier for years. Neil Foglia has caught 4 kings so far this year weighing 10.12, 15.3, 23,and 28 lbs. One more and Neil will have a record for the most kings in a season. Neil has caught his kings using live spots, bluefish and pogys for bait. Other than kings the pier is also yielding whiting, pompano and black drum.
Roy’s Bait House reports that Bob Quartero was offshore for 2 red snapper, 1 dolphin and 5 king mackerel. Inshore Chuck Kaszupski and Chuck Jr. fished Stomach Lake for 3 trout, 18, 19 and 20 inches. Greg Wilke – 24” black drum. Wes Cooper – 27”-6.8lb trout, 22”-5.5 lb black drum. Robert Cassesse – 26 ¼”-6.3 lb trout. Alan Norman – 23”-3,9 lb red. Bob Rees – 24”-4 lb trout.


Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein caught this 25” tarpon while fly fishing using a topwater bubble head fly.

The inshore fishing action was doing well until we got some west, northwest and north winds on Sunday and it continued into Monday. Once the wind kicked up it pushed a lot of water out of the backwaters and the ICW. The combination of low water and northerly winds slows down the current in the ICW. (Our outgoing tide flows north). When this happens the fishing also slows. One thing I have learned over years of fishing the ICW is that the fish like a fast moving current. The faster moving water creates more bait movement which makes the fish feed more actively.
Let me give you an example of my theory of current flow. Last Friday Louis Ziegenfus and Wayne Geisler fished with me and they caught 25 fish between them. They had snook, redfish, trout, flounder, jacks and mangrove snapper. The current flow was good that day. The following day Bill Smith and Jack Philbrick fished with me and the winds started to pick up a bit. They still managed to get some snook, trout, flounder and jacks but not as many fish as the day before. On Sunday the wind was stronger and the current slowed down. I couldn’t raise a single fish on my top water fly, something that doesn’t happen often this time of year. I then changed locations and switched to a mirrOlure and only managed a small snook and a small trout. Then on Monday Bill Mayne and his buddy Les fished with me and the current slowed even more due to the wind. The fishing was slow but they did manage to boat a sheepshead, a trout and a flounder. This kind of proves my point that the slower the current moves the slower the fishing.
The action in the surf is mostly small pompano and whiting. An unusual catch made in the surf this week was a 16” permit caught by Steve Watson. This is the first permit I have heard of being caught in the Flagler surf. Permit are usually caught on offshore wrecks and much farther south of here. This doesn’t surprise me though as small bonefish are being caught around Ponce Inlet. King mackerel are being caught from the pier.
Inshore there are lots of snook around. It seems the larger ones are being caught at night. Last week there was a good run of snook at night with fish in the 28” to 30” range being caught. I look forward to a good snook season when it opens September 1st. Look for the action to really pick up when the mullet run starts. Trout fishing has been best at night under dock lights and there is still plenty of good size flounder being caught.
Roy’s Bait House is holding it their 4th annual redfish tournament on Saturday, September 1st. at Mad Dogs under the rte 100 bridge. For more information you can contact the shop at 439-1027.


Photo: Louis Ziegenfus holds a 3.4 lb flounder that he caught on a live shrimp.

This past Monday I walked out to the end of the Flagler Beach pier to see how the fishing was going for tarpon and king mackerel. Not much going on that afternoon. I did talk to pier regular, Bob Burns, who told me the tarpon and pogys had disappeared but the king mackerel fishing was still productive. Since there have been no pogys to use for bait for the kings anglers have been using small live bluefish.
This is how the angling technique works to catch the kings and tarpon from the pier. Most of the people are using conventional rod and reel outfits. First you need a good stout conventional rod about 9 to 10 ft long along with a conventional reel that will hold 30 to 40 lb test line. At the end of the line is tied a large bobber with a claw style sinker attached to the bottom of it. This rig is then cast out from the end of the pier as far as they can cast it. They then have a 5 to six ft leader with a snap swivel on one end and a stinger rig hooked to the other end of the leader. A stinger rig is a couple of treble hooks connected to a wire leader. The live bait is then attached to the stinger rig. The snap swivel is then placed on the line that has been cast out and the bait slides down the line into the water. Once the bait is in the water it swims around near the surface like a wounded fish and hopefully attracts a predator. The best way to learn about this type of fishing is to go to the pier and observe how the angling is done.
According to Bob, 22 kings had been brought to the planks so far this year and 4 tarpon have been beached and released. Bob also runs a web site, www.flaglerbeachpier.net, where you can get reports and see photos of the fish that have been caught.
On the ICW side the fishing was a little slow this past weekend due to the full moon.
During the full moon I was only able to raise one small snook on a topwater fly and another small snook and a small trout on a mirrolure About five days before the full moon I was out throwing a 7m mirrolure and caught eight trout and had about another ten that came up and hit the plug but didn’t take it. I expect the fishing to be better this weekend now that the moon is on the down side.
National Marina Day will be held at the Palm Coast Marina, 200 Clubhouse Drive, on Saturday August 11th. Some of the events will include the 2nd annual cardboard boat race, free electric boat rides, kayak lessons and tours and many other vendor displays. For more information call the Marina at (386) 446-6370.
Roy Mattson at Roy’s Bait House reports that Steve Martin and crew did an overnight trip offshore for a 28.14 lb king mackerel, 14.14 lb cobia, red snapper, black sea bass, mangrove snapper and triggerfish. Inshore Mike Martin – 25” redfish. Jennell Flesher – 2 trot and 2 flounder. Tom Panetti – 21” redfish. Gina Rodgerson – 4 lb trout.
Jake Jaquish of Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports king mackerel being caught on the pier along with pompano, bluefish and whiting. Jake also reports trout and snook around the Highbridge area.

My wife Lori tells me that every year you’ll see the first tarpon along our beaches when the first sea turtle nest hatches. The first nest hatched on July 17th and true to her words the first tarpon were spotted feeding on pods of pogys. Word got out quickly and for the next few days there were boats all over the nearshore waters fishing for tarpon, a.k.a. the Silver King. Then we had some heavy rain and some wind which dirtied the water and the fish seemed to be gone. I do however expect the fish to be back as soon as things calm down and the water clears up.
Because the tarpon you’re fishing for will range anywhere from 40 to well over a 100 lbs you’re going to need some heavier tackle. Preferably an 8 ft rod, either spinning or conventional, that is in the 30 lb class. Your reels should also be able to hold 30 lb line. Thirty lb test line is a good size choice. Onto that line you’ll want to attach about a 3 ft leader using of 60 lb test. A double or triple surgeons knot can be used to attach line to leader. A 6/0 wide gap circle hook, you can go larger if you like, is tied to the leader. The hook can be placed through the back, nose or under side of the bait.
The next thing is to find a small school of pogys to throw your cast net at. One throw should be enough to fill your live well. Once it is full go look for the larger schools of bait, they usually have tarpon on them. The tarpon will make themselves visible by rolling at the surface or coming out of the water while feeding on the school.
Keep your boat on the outer edges of the bait pod and cast into or around the edges of the pod. Next it’s just a waiting game. If you find the fish are down a little deeper you can try adding a split shot to your line. Bring plenty of leader and hooks because you’ll lose them to sharks and other toothy critters. It’s a good thing to have a boat with a trolling motor because these bait pods are constantly moving. The noise of a boat engine can shut the bite down.
On the inshore waters the flounder bite continues to be good. The best trout fishing seems to be at night under dock lights. Snook fishing remains good and should stay that way until the water gets cold in the late fall. John Inman and I explored new waters last week and in 2 ½ hours had 6 snook to 7 lbs while throwing artificial baits.
Roy Mattson at Roy’s Bait House reports Joe Walkup with 2 flounder that each weighed 4.03 lbs. Cindy Stark - 18” red, 2-14” flounder, 20” black drum. Dutch Dewick has been limiting out nightly on trout. Roy Earl - 7 flounder between 15” and 20”. Chris Nielsen - 26” trout and a 20” flounder.
Jake Jaquish at Flagler Bait and Tackle reports king mackerel, pompano, and black drum are being caught off the pier. Jake also reports that red fish, trout and snook are being caught in the high bridge area.

There’s an old saying that states – practice what you preach. I should have listened to my own words this past weekend. I’m always telling people how it’s necessary to fish with a fluorocarbon leader this time of year due to toothy fish and the ones with very abrasive mouths. It’s also imperative to check your leader after landing one of these fish. Something I neglected to do on Sunday.
I set out at daybreak to fly fish hoping to catch the morning bite of trout and snook. As I pulled into my targeted area I shut the engine down, lowered the trolling motor, readied my fly line and began blind casting the up to the bank. Things were pretty quiet except for a couple of dear and a black boar roaming the woods just off the bank. I then spotted my buddy, an 8ft alligator that I have watched grow increasingly larger over the past few years. He seems to be a good omen for me because I usually catch good size fish when he’s around.
The omen proved to hold true again that morning. As I retrieved my top water fly there was a large swirl behind it. I let the fly sit for a second than began to move it again. Another swirl but again he did not take the fly. I raised the fly and cast out a second time. Twice he tried to eat but missed and on his third attempt he nailed it. As soon as it jumped I could see it was a good size snook. When I got it into the boat it measured out at 24”. He inhaled the fly so deeply that I had to use my long hook extractor to get it out and the fish was released unharmed. Like a dummy I didn’t follow my own preaching and neglected to check my leader.
It wasn’t five minutes later that another snook crashed skyward as he inhaled the fly. As I got him to the side of the boat I could see he was slightly larger than the first one and he too devoured the fly. As I went to lip the fish and get him into the boat he shook his and the leader broke. Along with the fish went my favorite top water fly, a result of not checking my leader after the first fish. Too add insult to injury I had forgotten my fly tackle bag at home so my fishing was done for the day. When I got home I went online to order more of that color fly and as luck would have it, they’re backordered.
There are two lessons to be learned from this story – 1, check your leader for fraying after every fish or every time you get hung up. 2, make sure you have all your equipment onboard before you leave home.
Jake Jaquish at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports black drum, flounder, whiting and ribbon fish are being caught. He also says there has been an early morning bite of Spanish mackerel in the 15” to 20” range.
Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports that trout to 24” are being caught in the area along with flounder and reds in the backwater. Snook have also been providing good action for anglers. There’s lots of small tarpon around but they’re difficult to get to bite. Live mullet or a small live crab is probably the best way to entice them to eat. Shrimping has also been good in that area.


Photo: Greg Taphouse was visiting our area and landed this 7 lb trout on a live shrimp.

Where are the tarpon? Migrating tarpon were all over our area beaches at this time last year along with large schools of pogys. I guess I’ve just answered my own question, no pogys. Pogys are one of the tarpons main food source. No pogys, no tarpon. I’ve been scouting the beaches almost every day as I drive along A1A and I have yet to see even the smallest school of pogys. It’s still early in the season for tarpon so maybe they’ll show up in a few weeks. We’ll just have to wait and see.
On the ICW side I have seen a few tarpon rolling but those seem to be in the 30 to 40 lb range. I was talking to a fisherman at the boat ramp and he told me he was going out to chase tarpon. He said he had located a small school somewhere off the ICW. Like a true fisherman he wouldn’t give me an exact location. If I had to guess I would probably say it was in the Sea Ray cut or one of the Palm Coast canals.
Trout fishing in the ICW seems to be picking up as is fishing in general. I think some of the rains we’ve been experiencing lately have improved things. It’s brought a lot of bait out of the backwaters and into the ICW, which in turn gets the fish feeding. I’ve noticed more and larger trout than earlier in the year when we had a lack of rain. Flounder fishing has been good also with fish up to 6 lbs being caught. Mango snapper fishing has also been good with a lot of fish in the 14” range. Snook too are being caught anywhere from 10” to 15 lbs. I’ve received reports of good catches coming from around Highbridge at night with the best action taking place after midnight.
Last Friday Eric and Karin Hammons, in town for the races, fished with me and they had the best day fishing that has taken place on my boat this year. The day started out good when on Eric’s fourth cast he had a 4 lb flounder. Shortly after that he landed reds of 16”, 20” and 22”. We then moved to the next spot and had 2 black drum between 16” and 18” and a 16” trout for Karin. The next spot yielded a 16” snook and a larger one was lost when the hook pulled. There were also jacks and mango snapper. The last spot we hit provided a 2½ lb flounder for Karin and Eric had 3 trout, 2 – 18” and a 22”. All fish were released except for the flounder.
July is recreation and park month in Florida and Washington Oaks State Park on A1A in the Hammock is holding a Kids Saltwater Fishing Workshop July 19th & 20th and on the 26th & 27th from 10am to 2pm. For more info go to http://www.floridastateparks.org/.
Roy Mattson reports Vic Leininger had a 12’ & 14” mango snapper and 2 black drum – 2 & 3 lbs. Harold Kelly – 7.3 lb black drum. John Craig – 5 trout to 23” and released 3 others.
Ken Stone limited out on big black drum.


Photo: Eric Hammons shows off a 4.2 lb flounder he caught while live lining a shrimp.

Some fishing trips have tales of good catches and others have tales about the one that got away. This tale, unfortunately, is about the latter. Last Friday, Denny Voith and Gerry Gersbach fished aboard my boat. The day started out great when Denny landed and released a 27” snook on his third cast. The rest of the day, however, did not fair as well. After trying numerous spots only a couple of small mangos and jacks were caught. It was getting close to the end of the trip when I stopped at the last spot of the day. Again the action was extremely slow with Gerry landing a cat fish while drifting a live pigfish.
I was standing at the gunnel in the middle of the boat watching the live shrimp Denny was retrieving. The shrimp got about three feet from the boat when this huge snook appeared out of know where. The fish just lazily approached the shrimp as if we weren’t even there, open his mouth, and sucked in the shrimp. Denny and I looked at one another in amassment. The fish slowly turned away as if to say I’m big, I’m bad, lets get it on.
When Denny set the hook it began to peel off drag jumping several times revealing itself as to just how big a fish it was. I estimated it to be around 15 lbs. The fish then turned and swam back to and under the boat. Denny got it out of a critical spot and the battle continued. After a few more minutes the wise old fish brought itself to the rear of the boat with Denny in pursuit. The fish dove under the boat dragging the 30 lb braided line across a trim tab slicing it like a razor. Needless to say we were both very disappointed at losing the big fish, results - Snook 1, Denny 0. I’m sure it’s a story Denny will tell for a long time – “The One That Got Away”.
There are some good size mango snappers in the river now. Mangos to 14 inches are being caught on live shrimp. There’s also a lot of flounder around that are also being caught on live shrimp. Evan Cape who fished with me this past week had a 3 lb flounder and Wes Smith had a 2.08 lb flounder.
Evan’s buddy, Greg Taphouse, had a trout that weighed in at 7 lbs even. The big trout was released. Evan’s other buddy, Brad Melvin, had a 17” grouper in the ICW around Beverly Beach area. There were also other snook caught that were anywhere from 10” to 18”.
Roy Mattson at Roy’s Bait House reports that Oscar Sarmiento landed a 4.05 lb flounder at Matanzas inlet. Roy Smith had 2 flounder that were both 2 lbs. 11 year old Kenny McIntyrel caught a 17” trout. Roy Earl – 27”, 4.08 lb trout and 4 more over the slot size of 20”, all were on live pigfish. Emily Rodgerson had 11 trout and 1 flounder fishing dock lights at night, all fish were released. John Craig and Jason Longfellow had 5 trout, 2 flounder and 2 snook.

Fishing in the ICW is still on the slow side during the day but I have gotten some good reports of trout being taken around dock lights at night. One fisherman I spoke with told me his most productive hours have been from midnight to around 3AM, not the hours most of us tend to keep. Fish such as trout have eyes that are sensitive to sunlight so it would stand to reason that they do a great deal of feeding at night. If you head out at night look for docks where their lights are close to the water. These docks will attract the most bait and in turn will bring in the fish that prey upon them. Live shrimp and artificial baits that resemble shrimp or mullet all work.
To increase your chances of catching fish under the lights try a couple of different techniques with your baits. Don’t always throw directly at the light. Most of the fish will be holding in the shadows at the edge of the light. When you do throw into the light reposition your boat after several casts. This will allow you to cover different spots on the perimeter of the light. Try throwing your bait across the light into the shadows, swimming it through the lights and back into the shadows. Another technique is to throw the bait up current into the shadows and let it roll along on the bottom through the light and back into the shadows. If you know how to flip or skip cast a bait, place into the darkness under the dock.
Casting at night throws off your depth perception. You’ll find yourself putting your baits on the docks and sometimes hitting boats that are in their slings. Try to avoid these situations. People can get awfully angry if they see you climbing around their dock trying to remove your bait that is stuck on it. Also try to keep the noise down and your lighting low or off. I’ve had dock lights shut off on me by dock owners on more than one occasion.
Roy’s Bait House reports that Jeff Mullaney fished the surf for 12 whiting and 4 pompano. Matt Snyder had 2 black drum, 4 pompano and 1 keeper redfish. Ray Johnson fished the ICW for 2 mango snapper, 2 lane snapper,5 trout to 19” and a 25” snook (released). Bill Woodfin – 5keeper trout to 18”. Mike Pusateri had a 26 ½”- 6.03 lb trout that he caught on a live pigfish. Troy Berthon- 21”trout, 18” redfish. Offshore Ronald Gorney had dolphin a couple of dolphin – 11.08 Lbs and 10.05 lbs.


Photo: Bryce Simons proudly shows off his first redfish. The fish was caught on a live shrimp.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has approved changes to snook bag and size limits and harvest seasons.
New rules reduce the snook daily recreational bag limit from 2 fish per person to a one-fish daily limit on Florida’s Atlantic Coast. This makes it a one fish limit statewide.
Rules also change the 27-34 inch slot limit to 28-32 inches in Atlantic waters and 28-33 inches in Florida’s Gulf, Everglades National Park and Monroe County waters.
In addition, the rules add the first half of December and the month of February to the Dec. 15 – Jan. 31 and May – August closed harvest seasons for snook in the Gulf, Everglades and Monroe County. The Dec- Jan. 13 and June – August closed harvest seasons on the Atlantic waters will remain unchanged.
The rules also allow anglers to carry more than one cast net aboard a vessel while fishing for snook.
The new snook rules take effect in July and will be implemented when the snook harvest season reopens on Sept. 1st.
Fishing the ICW has been inconsistent so far this year. One day you go out and you’ll find fish than the next day nothing. This seems to be especially true when it comes to trout. It’s not like it has been in past years when you could depend on finding trout almost everywhere. I’ve also heard the same thing is true up in St. Augustine. I don’t know what has changed but I do have a couple of theories.
One is a possible natural cycle that the fish go through and maybe this is their year. Another idea I have is the warm winters we’ve had the last couple of years. Maybe the warmer winter water has put them out of balance from their normal habits. The last idea is the lack of rain over the last couple of years causing much higher salinity levels in water that is normally brackish. This could affect their breeding habits and where the young fry grow up. Who really knows, but I think they sound good.
There has been though, some good catches of flounder coming from the ICW. A party I had out this past week had 3 nice flatties in the 15” range. Other people have been getting them in the same range. Capt. Mike Vickers had one last week that tipped the scales at almost 6 lbs. There is also some flounder being caught in the surf and on the pier. Shrimp, mullet or mud minnows are all good baits for flounder.
Roy Mattson at Roy’s bait House reports that Joe Rickey went offshore for a 28” grouper, 3 – 21” red snapper and a 22” yellowtail snapper. Blake Allman fished the rocks around Matanzas inlet and had 4 pompano between 3 – 4 lbs, 11 good size whiting and 2 slot size reds.



Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein caught and released this 24” snook. The fish was caught fly fishing with a topwater bubblehead fly.

The winds finally laid down this past weekend and made for some calm seas allowing the offshore crowd to get out and wet their lines. The fish gods rewarded them after weeks of being kept landlocked. Good catches of dolphin, king mackerel, cobia and red snapper were reported. Dennis Bayer and his buddies went out of Ponce Inlet and headed to the Steeples to troll up dolphin. They boated 30 of them that weighed between 8 and 17 lbs. Steve Mills weighed in a red snapper that tipped the scales at 21 lbs 14 ounces and Rob Thomas who fished with Steve had a 10 lb red snapper. Tom Moleski weighed in the largest red snapper – 25 lbs.
If you saw an unusual amount of boats along the Flagler beaches this past Friday and Saturday it was due the King Buster 400 Tournament held out of St Augustine. James Rachael of Clearwater took top honors with a 46.85 lb king mackerel. Charles Meekins of Flagler beach took the top spot in the 23 ft and under boat division. For the overall weigh in go to http://www.kingbuster400.comand/ scroll to real time standings.
Jake Jaquish at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports that lots of king mackerel are being caught from the pier. The largest weighed in this past week was 49 lbs. Jake also reports tarpon rolling in Sanchez Creek along with snook and redfish in the Tamoka Basin. For those of you who don’t know Sanchez Creek runs off the Tamoka River.
I set out one day last week to do some fly fishing in the ICW and was rewarded with a 25” snook that hit a topwater bubblehead fly. This fly has quickly become my favorite. I also jumped a small tarpon while using it last week. The only place I’ve been able to locate this fly is on Bass Pro Shops website.
Roy at Roy’s Bait House also reports lots of king mackerel being caught offshore. Ray Gillet and crew had 2 dolphin and 2 king mackerel. Jim Ingham had a 14.04 lb dolphin. Joe walkup weighed in a 13.12 lb red snapper, 2 lb triggerfish and a 35.10 lb king mackerel. From the surf Roy reports Tom Dawson with 3 pompano, 1 bluefish and 1 flounder. Paul Norton had 6 pompano and 4 flounder while fishing with clam strips.

Earlier this week the winds switched to the west and laid down the rough surf. This allowed anglers on the pier to get back to the business of catching fish, and that’s just what they did. Some big king mackerel were caught Tuesday and Wednesday. Kyle Maners brought one to the planks that measured 55” and weighed 39.06 lbs. James Hampton had a 34.11 lb king and Bob Burns caught one that weighed in at 17 lbs. The action off the pier should remain good as long as the winds hold off. Also look for a lot of boat activity around the pier Friday and Saturday due to the King Buster 400 Tournament being held out of St. Augustine. Anyone wishing to attend the weigh ins can go to the St. Augustine Municipal Marina located at 100 Avenida Menedez. As the month wears on look for tarpon to show up as they feed on the schools of pogys that begin to appear along the beaches.
The inshore fishing remains sporadic. One day you go out and you can find some good size fish and next you have to search hard to get a couple of decent fish. Last week I had Bill Ser, John Hamburger and E.Y. Walter out fishing. The trio had ladyfish, jacks, flounder, bluefish, redfish and trout with the two biggest weighing 3.08 lbs and 4.08 lbs. The following day Sumner Bryant and Dennis Voith worked hard to catch fish but Dennis had his first redfish in the flats, 22”. They also had some small black drum, jacks and mangrove snapper. Hopefully conditions will change now that the full moon is past and the winds have slowed some.
Here’s some news for anglers who like to fish the Everglades like I do. There is a proposal by Everglades National Park Management Plan that would limit combustion engines to water over 3 ft in the park. Water that is less than 3 ft will be able to be accessed by trolling motor, push pole, kayak or canoe. Because the majority of water in the everglades is less than 3 ft it would cut off a lot of fishing areas to boaters. There will be public workshops in south Florida discussing this proposal. For more information you can contact Fred Herling (Everglades National Park Planner) at 305-242-7704 or fred_herling@nps.gov.
Doug Towell at Jakes Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports reds being caught in the backwaters around Highbridge. Flounder some trout and a few snook are being caught in the ICW. Snook up to 37” are being caught at night around the bridges on the Tamoka River.
Roy Mattson at Roy’s Bait House reports that Donna Smith had a 26 ½” red from the surf and Steve Graulirts had 3 nice pompano on clams. On the ICW side Mike and Buddy Hanson had a 23” and 25 ½” redfish. On the freshwater side, 10 yr old Logan Johnson caught a 6 lb bass in the Royal Palm Canal in Palm Coast. Kenny Smith of Bunnell had 46 specks on live minnows at Dead Lake.


Photo: Bill Ser holds a 4½ lb trout he caught live lining a shrimp. The fish was released.

A low weather pressure system that has been sitting off the coast has wreaked havoc with fishing this past week. The strong gusty northeast winds kicked up the ocean to the point it almost looked like a hurricane with waves crashing and hitting the bottom of the pier and tearing up the dunes along the beach. I live on the mainland side of Flagler Beach and the surf was so rough I could hear the loud roar of the surf when I stood in my yard. I hope this is no indication of what is to come now that we are in hurricane season, lets hope not.
Tuesday morning I stopped at Roy’s Bait House at 8am to see if there was a fishing report and he told me that Hap Meekins was able to make it offshore before the blow for a 9.01 lb grouper, 2 cobia to 28.01 lbs and 12 mutton snapper. Rick Stevens had 3 flounder to 3 lbs. Other than those two things there’s not much else to report.
The northeast winds have also made for extremely high tides in the ICW and the backwaters. All you had to do was drive over the rte. 100 bridge and look at the marshland off the ICW to see how high the tides were. These high tides will make for difficult fishing until they recede. The high water just gives the fish access to places that they normally can’t get to and neither can we.
I don’t normally talk about freshwater fishing in this column but I came across an interesting web site the other day. If you’re into the BASS tournament trail you can find out how life really is on the tour by going to http://www.toyotafishing.com/. If you thought the tour was all glamour this site might change your mind about your dreams of becoming a pro angler.
On the saltwater side the Florida Guides Association has a new web site forum out, http://www.flatsfishing.com/. Here you can ask advice from professional guides from around the state. It covers everything from freshwater to saltwater and everything in between.
By the two web sites I have given you I guess you know what I do when I can’t get out and fish. Maybe, just maybe we will start to see some consistency to our weather pattern for this time of year and I will have more to report next week. Until then say a prayer to the fish gods.


Photo: Jason Murphy and Dennis McDaniel show off some nice trout and a flounder they caught recently while visiting our area.

The Flagler County Sportfishing Clubs Annual Bucket Full “O” Fun tournament to benefit Hospice of Volusia/Flagler County was a huge success last weekend. The event, along with gorgeous weather, brought out 158 anglers fishing out of 72 boats vying for a spot in the top five winning places. The weigh in was held at Mad Dogs on the river in Flagler Beach. As anglers weighed in their catches they kept an eye on the leader board that was constantly changing. When it was all said and done the first place winner was Joe Ricke who weighed in a limit of flounder that totaled 17.5 lbs and earned him a cash payout of $1,680. 2nd was Hap Meekins, 14.25 lbs - $1,400.00. 3rd was Tim Anderson, 13.9 lbs - $1,120.00. 4th was Charles Dodgen, 13.0 lbs - $840.00. 5th was John Baggott, 11.75 lbs - $560.00.
On the junior angler side, anglers 12 and under, 1st place went to Adam Adrian with 2.2 lbs and 2nd place was Joey Cortese with 1.55 lbs.
I participated in the tournament along with my partner Sal Pasalaqua whose company, Craig-Flagler Palms Funeral Home, was one of the sponsors of the tournament. We found the morning bite to be a little on the slow side but did manage a couple of nice trout. Sal fished with live shrimp and landed a trout weighing 4.8 lbs., the largest of the tournament, and another that measured 22” but we released that one as you could only weigh in the legal size and bag limit of fish. I must say that Sal did a heck of a job for only his third time fishing inshore. We released a couple of other trout that were on the boarder line of 15”. We weighed in 3 trout that totaled 8.7 lbs and were in first place for a while with 20 minutes remaining to the weigh in. Overall we wound up in 9th place out of the 72 boats.
If I could make one suggestion to the Fishing Club it would be for everyone, including the weigh master, to have the exact same measuring device in it’s tournaments. It would eliminate illegal fish from being weighed in and also eliminate any doubt of fish that are boarder line legal size when measured using something other than that of the weigh master. It’s something to think about guys.
The surf and pier are producing whiting, pompano and a few flounder.
Action offshore is producing dolphin (fish), cobia and red snapper.


Photo: Sal Pasalaqua holds a trout he caught while aalive lining a shrimp.

Let me start by making a correction about something I put in last weeks column. I wrote that there were flounder caught up to 35 inches, it was suppose to be flounder to 3.5 lbs. Sorry for the error. I caught some flack over that one including a few phone calls. It’s good to see that the readers are there to keep me on my toes.
Jake at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle repots that trout are being caught at the pier in the early morning hours and that flounder up to 6 lbs are still being. Black drum, whiting and bluefish round out the rest of the fish being landed. Jake also reports his other shop, Highbridge Bait and Tackle, has reports of lots of snook coming from the Highbridge area along with good catches of gator size trout. Jake took some time to fish last week and had snook of 30 and 27 inches. He used a shad tail on a bucktail jig to land the fish.
When the possibility of running offshore presents itself there are reports of cobia and king mackerel being caught. Cobia, which can usually be found this time of year in the 30 ft. depth range, are being found further out in the 65 ft. depth range. It could be due to the rough water we’ve been having lately.
Last week Kevin and Julie Tobin fished the ICW with me. The fishing started out a little slow but came on strong near the end of the trip. They caught jacks, a bunch of trout in the 17’ range and a couple of undersized snook. The fish were caught on live shrimp and plugs. Kevin lost a couple of larger trout that he hooked up on a bomber plug.
Here’s a little story for those of you that don’t think there are alligators in the ICW. I know there are gators there because I have seen many of them, especially in the southern part of the county. In my 16 yrs. of fishing here I have never witnessed what I saw a couple of weeks ago. I had a charter out and we were at the end of a canal that is about a ¼ of a mile long and began working are way back to the mouth of the canal under the power of the trolling motor. At the mouth of the canal we could see some thrashing going on but just figured it was a manatee flopping around. As we got closer I stated it looked like a gator but than it disappeared. Moving closer to the mouth we saw this arched object sticking out of the water that looked like the loch ness monster. Upon closer inspection we found it to be the tail of a gator but it was not moving. I got right next to it with the boat but it never moved. It was standing almost straight up and down so I couldn’t see the body but by the size of its tail I’d say it was between 13 to 15’ long. I took my push pole and poked it to see if it was alive and the gator swooshed its tail and went under the water only to have the tail surface again a few seconds later. This went on for a half hour than the gator disappeared under the surface. We hung around for about a half hour longer but it never surfaced again. The only conclusion that we could come to was that when we saw the flopping around that the gator had captured some kind of prey on the canals bank and dragged it into the deeper water to drown it. You might want to think twice before jumping into the water to cool off or walk the banks to cast net mullet.

Photo: Alan Skyles with a 5 ½ lb trout he caught while live lining a shrimp.

I don’t know about you but I’ve about had it with this springs crazy weather. It’ll beautiful one day, a cold front and wind the next day. Let’s hope this all settles down so we can get to some serious fishing. Historically this is one of the best times of year to fish. Inshore, big snook start to show up along with gator trout and big jacks. Along the beaches flounder have one of their biggest runs of the year and the water temperature is just right for pompano with cobia not far behind. We’ll miss the cobia run if the wind keeps the surf riled up. With a little luck the fish gods will smile upon us and turn things around.
I’m getting reports from Roy’s Bait House that there are up to 50 flounder a day coming to the planks. Joe Locante has been limiting out daily with flounder up to 8 lbs. Al Spearman landed a five flounder and Alfredo Batone and his daughter 27 flounder up to 35 inches. Larry Finch has been fishing the clean water around Matanzas inlet for lots of pompano up to 5 lbs. and David Watson pulled 6 pompano, 3 blues and five flounder from the surf. Nathan Stark fished the ICW for 23” trout he caught on a topwater plug. Nathan was also kind enough to capture a brown pelican and remove some fishing tackle that it was wrapped up in. Steve Martin was able to slip offshore between fronts for a 24.09 lb red snapper.
Last Saturday Pete Arnold and Kevin Thompson fished aboard my boat for a ½ day charter. We started in the flats on the last of the incoming tide. I poled the guys around for about an hour and located 2 reds that were slamming mullet along the grass line. As fast as the fish appeared they fled even faster and all we could see were the fish pushing water as they fled the area. As the tide turned we left the flats and hit a feeder creek. It was there that they found trout, redfish, snook, flounder and jacks. After all was said and done Pete put 5 trout up to 19” in the box and landed his first ever snook that measured 25”.
There’s talk going on that the FWC wants to change the bag and size limits on snook. The bag limit on the east coast will be changed to match the bag limit on the west coast of 1 fish per day per angler and the slot limit to be changed from 27”-34” to 28”- 33”. They are also discussing putting a closed season on redfish. Once I hear something furthear I will let you know.
It’s still not to late to enter the Flagler County Sportfishing Clubs Bucket “o” Fun tournament next weekend. You can pick up an entry form at your local tackle store.


Photo: Pete Arnold displays the first snook he’s ever caught. The fish measured out at 25” and was caught live lining a shrimp.

It seems that pier and surf fishing has begun to pick up. Reports I’m getting are of good size catches of flounder and pompano. Flounder up to 8 lbs have been reported at the pier and pompano to 5 ½ lbs from the surf. Best baits for flounder would be live mullet, mud minnows or shrimp. For pompano try using fresh dead shrimp, sand fleas, fish bites or clams fished on a pompano rig, these rigs can be purchased at any tackle store. The weight you use on this rig should be determined by the surf conditions. The majority of pompano are caught between the edge of the surf and the sand bar that runs parallel to the beach. The sand bar will become more prevalent as the tide recedes.

It also looks as though the offshore fishing is beginning to pick up. Jim Ingham weighed in a 23.9 lb king mackerel at Roy’s Bait House. Look for cobia to start to appear along our beaches in the next couple of weeks. Find a manta ray and it will usually have cobia following it. Large bucktail jigs with a curly tail grub on it will do the trick here, just make sure you use some stout tackle as these fish can run up to 40 to 50 lbs and more.

Inshore there are snook at night under the bridges that are being caught on diving plugs and soft plastics. Plugs such as bomber long A’s, 52M mirrolures, yo-zuri crystal minnow and the rapala x-rap will all work on snook and trout. Soft plastic shad imitations like the tsunami swimming shad are working as are soft plastic shrimp imitations.

Trout continue to be a mystery to me this year, one day they’re here than the next day you can’t find but one or two small ones. How ever on Good Friday I finally found some gator trout. Sumner Bryant and Alan Skyles fished with me that day and their trout that weighed in at 6 ½ and 5 ½ lbs. Both fish were caught while live lining shrimp and both were photographed released unharmed. Three days later I had another party out and could only find a couple of small trout along with jacks, ladyfish, flounder and some small reds. Maybe if we can get a weather pattern that is normal for this time of year the trout bite will improve.

Washington Oaks State Park celebrates Earth Day the weekend of April 21^st and 22^nd. There will be live entertainment both days and live reptiles and an alligator from the Alligator Farm. A live butterfly enclosure will also be on hand along with special programs for children. For more information you can contact Cristy Leonard at (386) 446-6783.

Photo: Sumner Bryant shows off a 61/2 lb gator trout he caught while live lining a shrimp. The fish was released unharmed.