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.
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.