I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and may you all have great fishing in “2008”. One thing I do not wish to see in 08 is a repeat of any red tide. The red tide had a direct effect on the fall flounder run and other fishing in the northern waters of Flagler and southern St. Johns counties. I would also like to see some cold snaps during January and February along with some spring rain, these two conditions should improve the trout fishing in the year to come. Cold snaps will also drop the water temperatures causing redfish to school on the flats. For me, the only downside to a cold snap is that it will shut down the snook bite and cold snap that lasts too long, dropping the water temps into the 50’s, can kill off a large number of snook. I’ve seen this happen in the past. Let’s hope for the best conditions possible in the coming year.
As usual I found the fishing to be difficult around Christmas due to the full moon. I had fished the day before the full moon and could only manage a couple of small trout. Steve Gombar and a friend of his fished all day with me on Christmas Eve, full moon, and we only had three fish, a ladyfish, trout and a 25” red. A week later, with the moon on the downside, Steve came back with two of his buddies, Mike Marrale and Tony Napoleon. The trio had a much better day landing a couple of 23” reds, some rat reds, an 18” flounder, 10 snook to 18”, a couple of trout, mangrove snappers, ladyfish and an 18” barracuda, that’s right a barracuda in December. That was the 2nd barracuda I had in my boat during the month of December while fishing the Flagler Beach area.
On the 29th Dr. Claude Hearn and his wife Missy fished aboard my boat and they also had a pretty good day. The duo had a 25” red, a 16” and 18” flounder, a couple trout, 5 snook to 16”, ladyfish and mangrove snapper.
The cold front this past week will more than likely shut down the bite for a few days. Look for the fishing to pick up after it starts to warm up this weekend.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports whiting, black drum in the 3 to 5 lb range, sheepshead 4 to 5 lb, scattered bluefish and a few reds being caught at the pier.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports that redfish are being caught in the backwaters in that area. He also reports that some big snook are still being caught in the area but look for the cold front to slow the snook bite down. Trout season is back open south of the Flagler County line and Jake says small trout along with the occasional keeper size are coming from the ICW and backwaters.


Photo: Dr. Claude Hearn with a 25” redfish he caught and released using a live shrimp.