Bait is thick right now in the ICW, especially south of the rte. 100 bridge in Flagler Beach. There are large schools of Menhaden, Mullet, Shrimp and Glass Minnows moving with the tides. With all the bait that is available to predator fish it can make catching them difficult at times. They become more selective about the choices anglers present to them.
Try matching the bait that is in the area you are fishing. For example: when there is menhaden around try throwing something like a 17 MR Mirrolure. When retrieving this lure, as with other artificial lures, try to make it look like a wounded baitfish. Twitch it and then pause it then twitch and pause again. It is usually on the pause when a fish will strike it. When it comes to mullet try a Mirrolure catch “2000”. This is a sub surface lure that looks like a mullet and is very effective when fished the same way as the 17 MR or in a “walk the dog” motion.
There are numerous shrimp imitations on the market and the D.O.A. shrimp is one that comes to mind. Fish this the same way you would free line a live shrimp, very slowly.
The only thing I haven’t found a good imitation of is the glass minnow. The closest I can come to one is a fly fishing pattern.
The reason I am mentioning these artificial baits is that it can become hard this time of year to get live shrimp at your tackle shop. If you don’t know how to throw a cast net or just don’t feel like it, artificial baits can save the day for a fishing trip.
Fortunately last week I was able to get shrimp for 2 trips that I had. Both trips had mangrove snapper, jacks, ladyfish, flounder, redfish and trout, lots of trout.
Jeffery Lademann and I went looking for snook and tarpon in the Tamoka River this past Friday. On our way up the river we saw a couple of huge explosions under a dock light. We went and worked the area but came up empty handed. Further up the river Jeffery landed a small snook with Catch 2000 and I landed one on a fly. There was tarpon all over the place but we couldn’t get any to eat our artificial baits. Sunday afternoon Capt Ralph Olivett and I headed out Matanzas Inlet in search of tarpon but came up empty handed. There were lots of schools of menhaden but no tarpon feeding on them. Next time we will try early in the morning when the tarpon seem to feed the best.

You better start checking the weather report before heading out to fish now that the afternoon storms have arrived. Nothing is worse than getting caught in a lightning storm. I don’t think I have to explain the ramifications of you or your boat being struck by lighting. Second worse is being caught in a downpour while running the boat back to the ramp. Those raindrops can feel like needles hitting you. It’s wise to carry raingear on your boat at all times during the rainy season.
If you have a smart phone go to the web and type in “weatherunderground.com.” You can go to local weather and get the up to the minute weather conditions. You can also get animated radar of the area. On the same site you can also get tides for Smith Creek, Bings Landing and the Matanzas area. You can find NOAA offshore conditions on the same site too. Believe me, I’m no computer genius, if I can find these things and figure them out so can you.
Now let’s move on to fishing. The ICW is loaded with bait at the present time. Menhaden, mullet, glass minnows and shrimp make up the majority of the schools of bait to be found. It’s one school after another swimming with the tide. The bite is good when bait is moving with the tide. Once the tide slows down so does the bait and once that happens the bite also slows down. Then when the tide completely stops moving and goes slack the fish stop feeding. The bite won’t pick up again until the tide switches and starts moving again.
The trout bite remains strong. There are a lot of undersize fish around but there’s a lot of keeper size also. They will eat just about anything you put in front of them. Just try to use whatever they are feeding on. In other words “match the hatch” and that includes when fishing with artificial baits.
I don’t mean to bore anyone with my tales of flyfishing but it’s what I love to do. In 3 days of flyfishing I caught 13 trout. Of those 13 fish only one measured less than fifteen inches. The other 12 were all between 16” to 23”. The fly is purple/black and has a rattle tied in. I’ve even caught a mangrove snapper on it. I also had some people get a few snapper on live shrimp. It’s good to see they’re coming back from the freeze of 2 years ago. The only fish that has avoided me this year is the snook. I know they’re there so it’s just a matter of time until I hook up.