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.