Thursday, June 14, 2007


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.