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.