Flagler Beach Fishing Report

2012-01-23T16:38:00.000-05:00

We’ve had some great weather this winter here in Flagler. The past week has been awesome. With bluebird skies and temperatures hovering in 70’s who could ask for anything more? Well, I can think of one thing and that would be great fishing. And that’s exactly what we have at the present time. Redfish, trout, bluefish and flounder are all ready to accept your offering. I’ve had days when I would lose count of the amount of trout or redfish that were brought to the boat.
Some of the best trout fishing has come in the evening from about 4 PM to dark. This is when they seem to go into a feeding frenzy. You can see them busting on glass minnows and small menhaden. If your going to throw artificial baits I would suggest such small lures like the YO-Zuri Pins Minnow. A Berkley Gulp jerk shad fished on a jig head or a weighted worm hook is also affective. I know most people don’t fly fish and you might get tired of me writing about it but my favorite way to catch trout, or any other fish for that matter, is with a fly.
Steve Carl had called me about a week ago to tell me that the evening trout bite was going off so we made plans to head out the next day. We met at the boat ramp and headed out armed with just fly rods for tackle. When we pulled up to our destination I told Steve to tie on one of my new white trout flies I’ve been tying. He took my advice and we started fishing. It started out a little slow but as the sun became lower in the sky the better the fishing became. At one point you were hooked up on almost every cast. The action was off the charts. We lost count of the trout we boated and released. It had gotten dark and difficult to see where we were casting so we finally had to call it quits. It also didn’t help that in the dark my fly line had got eaten by my trolling motor propeller (not a good thing to do to a $75 fly line). When we left they were still biting.
On another trip I did last week with a couple of fellows from Nebraska we had the same time of action but with redfish. It was the middle of the day and I had them fishing in the ICW using live shrimp. We came upon a 20’ wide section along the bank and didn’t leave it for two hours. It was nonstop action, one fish after another. If you left that swath of water there were no fish.
Get out and enjoy this weather while it lasts!!!

2012-01-08T21:28:00.001-05:00

Let me start by wishing everyone a safe and happy new year. Now that the holidays are past it’s time to get out and use all those new fishing toys you got for Christmas. And while you’re at it make a new years resolution to fish more. If you have young uns get them to put away the video games and get them involved with fishing. What a great way to spend quality time with them. Start them young and you may just end up with a life long fishing buddy.
The fishing the last two weeks has been the best I have seen it in quite some time. Trout, and good size ones at that, are everywhere. They are eating Berkley Gulps or DOA paddle tails fished on 1/8 ounce or ¼ ounce jig heads. Most of the fish are in deeper water and want the baits presented at a slow retrieve.
When fly fishing I use an intermediate fly line to get my fly down deep and also use a slow retrieve. I’ve had great luck with a new white fly pattern that I’ve been tying. The trout have been eating it like candy. I retired the first one I tied the other day after it had been beaten up by about fifty fish. I gave one of the white flies to my buddy Steve Carl when we were fly fishing the other and he had great success with it too. He also landed a 21” trout on it. We also caught bluefish and redfish with it that day. The fly was aptly named the “RCO Special” after the person who designed it (me).
The redfish bite has really taken off the in the last two weeks also. That little cold snap we had has pushed them up onto the flats where you can find some big schools. Once they are found you can feed them Gulps fished on a jig head or a weighted wide gap worm style hook. Gold spoons are also a great way of locating reds. When the reds are found don’t be surprised if you also connect with some flounder.
For those of you that don’t have boats, fishing along Highbridge Road in northern Volusia County can produce good redfish and flounder action this time of year. I would suggest using an eighth ounce jig head with a Gulp or the same size black bucktail jig. The lighter weight seems to hang up less and is easier to get out of the oysters.
Take advantage of bluebird days and get out and fish.

2011-12-12T12:08:00.000-05:00

Do you believe in good omens? Well I do. Let me explain about the latest one I had. Up until the last two weeks I had only caught one snook the entire year and that was up in the Tamoka River. In the past two weeks I have caught a total of three snook here in Flagler County. These were not big snook. As a matter of fact the largest was about six inches and the smallest about three inches and all of them were caught on a fly. Now I’d have to consider this a good omen for things to come for our snook fishery next year.
You might ask yourself how I can get excited about catching fish so small? Snook are ferocious feeders. When they are small it amazes me to see them try to eat something almost as big as they are. Also, any fish I catch while flyfishing is a good fish. Snook just happens to be one of my favorite fish to catch on a fly, or for that matter, any other type rod and reel.
Steve Carl and I had planned a trip to fish the Indian River on Saturday but due to the weather report (high winds) we decided to stay locally. Steve wanted to try out a fly rod he was thinking of purchasing from me so we went to one of my favorite canals to be out of the wind. Steve put the rod to the test by catching trout and bluefish. When the wind finally made us give up on flyfishing our total was 15 trout, 5 bluefish, a snook and a redfish.
We then headed to the area around Highbridge to fish another canal. With the wind I decided to operate the trolling motor and let Steve fish. Working the canal produced a 15” flounder caught on Berkley Gulp bait. With the wind howling we decided to venture into a flat and give it a try. On entering the flat we spooked a couple of reds and saw another bust up on bait. Not being dressed properly for the conditions we thought we’d give it ago anyway but the stronger the wind got the colder we got and the harder it became to fish. We were about to turn around when Steve cast his Gulp up to the point of a small island. As soon as the bait hit the water a redfish exploded on it and the battle was on. We landed the fish and it measured out at 23”. It was then time to head to the barn and it was a very cold ride up the river into the wind.

2011-11-28T10:20:00.001-05:00

There are some regulation changes coming to Speckled Sea Trout and Redfish starting on February 1st, 2012. Rather than lose something in the translation of the new laws I will post them as copied directly from the FWC website.
Seatrout:
· Removing regional season closures (removing the current February closure in northern Florida and the November-through-December closure southern Florida)
· Raising the recreational bag limit in northeast Florida from five to six
· Changing commercial seasons based on regions-lengthening them from three months to five months in the northwest, southwest (June 1 – Oct 31) and southeast (May 1- Sept. 30) regions and from three months to six months in the northeast region (June 1 – Nov 31)
· Allowing spotted seatrout to be sold 30 days after the close of the regional commercial season.
· When there are two commercially licensed fisherman aboard, changing the commercial vessel limit to 150
· Redefining the areas where spotted seatrout are managed by splitting the state into four management zones instead of three

Redfish:
· Create three management areas for red drum (the northwest, the northeast and the south) instead of one statewide management area
· Increase the number of red drum that a recreational fisherman can take per day in the northeast and northwest regions of the state from one to two red drum
· Establish a statewide vessel limit of eight red drum
· Limit the number of red drum that can be transported on land to six drum per person
Agree with it or not these will be the new regulations. Do I agree with them? No! I believe in the long run these regulations will do more damage than good. Six or seven years ago I could remember catching four or five trout a day that went between 4 to 6 lbs. These days, I’m lucky if I get that many size fish in a year, and I do a lot of trout fishing, shame on the FWC.
The wind has been playing havoc with the fishing as of late. It’s been difficult to chase redfish in the flats. The wind dirties the water and makes it difficult to locate fish, especially if you’re trying to sight fish. It also makes it difficult to fly fish or try to cast a lure on an exact spot. Hopefully later this week the winds will subside and flats fishing will improve.
The flounder run is about over for the year. Target trout in deeper water using small flies on an intermediate line or small plugs that dive to about six feet. One such plug that comes to mind is the Yozuri Pins Minnow.
Good fishing!!

2011-10-16T19:59:00.001-04:00

Have you ever tried to figure out why one type of bait catches more fish than another on any given day? Why one fisherman catches more fish than the other while using exactly the same bait when fishing on the same boat. Why are a bunch of fish found in one spot on one day then go back the next day and there are non to be found. These questions have perplexed fisherman for years. I bet you think I’m going to tell you the answers but I can’t. I can only ponder different theories and there are a lot of them. Some of them can sound like good logical excuses to fellow fishermen and even better to the person who doesn’t fish. But as fishermen we all know that sometimes no matter what you think you know and what you try you are just not going to catch fish on that given day.
Take, for example, this past weekend. I went out on Saturday morning at the break of dawn to fish the last couple of hours of the out going tide. Not getting anything on my fly rod I put it away and picked up my spinning rod and had no luck with it either, just a couple of very small trout. I then ran into some friends of mine who were using live shrimp and having no luck either. We parted ways and I was headed back to the boat ramp. On my way back I decided to stop in a canal to give it one last shot before I called it a day. By this time the tide had started coming in and the wind picked up. I was sort of out of the wind in the canal so I picked up the fly rod again. On my third cast I had a nice 16” trout. By the time I was done drifting down that canal I had five trout between 15 ½ and 19 inches. Then all of a sudden it was like someone threw a light switch and the fishing turned off.
On Sunday I headed back to that same canal and the fishing was hot, at least for me it was. Another fellow was fishing there and he had 3 trout using lures. I was using my fly rod and caught 15 trout a redfish and a couple of jacks, one of which bit off my fly. Who knows why my fly caught more fish than the other guys offering, I’m just glad it did. By the way, once the sun came out from behind the clouds the fishing turned off. And yet another good excuse of why the fish stopped biting.

2011-10-03T09:57:00.000-04:00

Like most fishermen I have a lot of stories to tell about my experiences on the water or on the road traveling to or from a fishing destination; some good, some funny and some are not so good or funny. I have two stories to relate to about this weekends fishing tournament I was involved with in St Augustine. I have been involved with this tournament for the past nine years and it is all done to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
The first story is a little “batty”. On Saturday morning I was driving up A1A at 4:30 AM to launch at the boat ramp at the St. Augustine lighthouse. I was somewhere just north of Matansas Inlet when something flew from out of nowhere into the path of my vehicle. I forgot about it by the time I got to the boat ramp. The next morning when I went out to clean the boat I noticed something in the front grill of my truck. When I went to inspect what it was I found a dead Bat that was in perfect condition, except for the dead part. I told my wife to come check out what I had caught yesterday. We removed it from the grill and snapped a few pics and sent them out on the Internet to some of my fishing buddies. I got some interesting responses back. As for the wife, she thought it was one of my most interesting catches ever.
The next story involves 2 anglers, one from Oklahoma the other from Massachusetts. Not being avid fishermen I spent the better part of the first morning trying to teach them to cast a spinning rod. One took to it pretty good the other not so good. As luck would have it (call it beginners luck) the not too good caster caught most of the fish over the two days. Fishing was difficult because of the extremely high water we were having. They caught a couple of small trout in the ICW but they were undersized. We then moved to the back of the flats to work the grass line for some reds. Not so good caster wound up landing a 22” red on a Berkley Gulp jerk shad rigged on a 1/8 oz 5/0 worm hook. Later that day we were in the 206 flats and the not so good caster hooked into a big redfish using the same rig he landed the other red on. He couldn’t budge the fish but once it started to move it took off like a “bat” out of @#$%. The fish stopped and ran straight back to the boat dragging his line across the trolling motor and breaking him off. He now has a fish story of his own to tell about “the big one that got away”.

2011-09-19T10:06:00.002-04:00

I-4 is a road I despise driving on and I’m sure many of you feel the same way. Friday evening added to my contempt of that Highway as I returned from Pinellas Park. I had gone over to the west coast to tape a television show for Average Angler Adventures that airs on the Brighthouse Sports Network. Glen Pla, the host of the show, was wrapping up a series of shows he did about fishing the marshes of Florida. Having done one of the shows in that series he asked me to join him and two other fishing guides into the studio to conclude the series.
The taping of the show ended around 4:30 PM. Not wanting to hit rush hour traffic in Tampa and Orlando I hung around the studio until 6:15 PM thinking that I would have a clear shot on my return trip. I sailed through the Tampa area thinking I had a clear path the rest of the way. This was too good to be true I thought to myself and as fate would have it, it was. As I approached the Auburndale area all cars came to a dead stop. Oh no, not again, another accident on I-4. We just sat there moving at a snails pace. I proceeded to talk to someone in the car next to me and he informed me that there was an accident involving a fatality. I turned up the radio and settled in for a long slow drive. Although it was 12:30 AM by the time I arrived home feeling tired and hungry, I felt grateful that I made it home safely. You can bet the next GPS I get for my car will be equipped with a traffic alert feature.
I had a buddy of mine (Doug) come visit last week for a few days and we did two days of fishing. The first day was slow and uneventful except for the 20” flounder Doug caught on a Berkley Gulp. On the second day we headed up toward Matanzas area to see if we could get some flounder but they weren’t cooperating. We then headed to the 206 flats and landed one small red and a small jack on gold spoons. With the water being higher than normal we could hear redfish busting on mullet way back in the grass but we couldn’t get to them.
We then headed south and weren’t able to get to some flounder spots due to the dredging that is going on. We stopped at a flat north of Bings Landing and landed 3 slot size reds and a croaker on gold spoons.

2011-09-05T20:35:00.001-04:00

As Labor Day came and went I did some chores then proceeded to a sale at a local store to purchase a new chair for my computer desk. The new chair has a high back and a cushiony seat. The old chair had a low back and a hard seat. As a matter of fact the back was broken off that old chair and every time I sat in it I had to place the backrest just so as not to fall off the chair. I did however write many a fishing article from that broken chair. I placed that retired chair in the corner of my computer room along side a lot of my old fishing rods. I figure if I ever get writers block I’ll pull the old chair back in front of the computer for inspiration to come up with something to write about. The old chair was good to me and hope the new one treats me just as well.
I would just like to take a minute hear and say goodbye to someone, who like my old chair, inspired me my entire life – my mom. She passed away last week at the age of 86. She always taught me to do the best I could at whatever I did. She got a big kick out seeing me write fishing articles; the kid that barely passed high school English. So with her gone now I guess I’ll have to sit in that old chair every now and then, think about mom, and inspire myself to write when the writing gets tough. I would also like to thank all the wonderful people at the Stuart Meyer Hospice House who treated my mom so great in her final days. You are a special people!
I didn’t get to do any fishing last week due to the circumstances but I did get a good report from Capt. Ralph Olivett. He and Joe Ricke were out and landed 6 flounder. The largest was a 5 pounder that Joe caught using a live mullet fishing at Matanzas Inlet. The other five flounder were all caught on Berkley Gulp bait. They also had 5 reds all on Berkley Gulp. Only one of the reds was under the slot size. They also landed a 19” trout on live mullet.
Now that September is upon us look for the fall bait migration to start in the coming weeks. The bait will be moving south along the beaches and the ICW. The fishing usually gets “reel” good when it happens.

2011-08-22T08:24:00.003-04:00

Every so often I feel the need to go fish a new area of Florida, so when I got a call from my buddy Steve Carl we did just that. Steve suggested we go to Scootsmoor and fish the northern most area of the Indian River Lagoon. A few days later we embarked on our trip.
Steve picked me up at 5:30 AM on Friday morning and we loaded up my tackle and set out on the drive to the boat ramp. The drive from my house to the boat ramp took about 45minutes. The boat ramp is small but there is plenty of parking. The only draw back is that there are no bathroom facilities. Once you launch your boat it takes less than a minute to where it opens up into a large body of open water and within minutes you can be fishing the grass flats.
Our target species that day was to be redfish. Steve, having fished the area several times before, knew some of the better spots to search for the fish. We drove to the shoreline on the north end, cut the motor and Steve got up on the poling platform. We worked a couple of creek mouths and the shoreline with no luck so we fired up the motor and moved to a different area.
We worked the shoreline of the new area and again no luck. It wasn’t until we moved about 50 yards off the shoreline that we started to see redfish. The water in this area is usually clear but with the rains they’ve had lately made the water murky and difficult to sightfish. It wasn’t until we were right on top of them that you could see them. By that time you have already spooked them and you could watch them swim off. We had a couple of shots at some cruising fish where steve put a Berkley Gulp right in front of their noses and they wouldn’t eat it. I had a shot at a cruiser that stopped and I lost where he went. I knew he was somewhere where I last spotted him and when I threw the fly I must have hit him right in the head because the water erupted and he was gone.
We didn’t catch any fish that day but I did see enough of them to bring me back to Scottsmoor again.
Locally the flounder bite has been hot. Use a Berkley Gulp on a jig head and work the shorelines of the ICW. For big trout, locate schools of glass minnows around docks and throw a Mirrolure 17MR for big results.

2011-08-08T07:16:00.000-04:00

Tarpon fishing along the areas beaches has been spotty as of late due to cooler water temperatures. Lately the water temps have been bouncing back and forth between the seventies and eighties. The lower temps will either shut the tarpon down or they will leave to find warmer water. Higher temps will bring the tarpon in and turn the bite on.
Tarpon are often called “silver kings” or “poons” so you will see me use these terms in this article.
Last week Dan and Ramona Rutkowski went out Matanzas Inlet in search of tarpon and were rewarded with two silver kings that they brought to the boat and released. Both fish were in the 80 lb. range. Dan said they didn’t find any tarpon on any of the bait pods they came across but instead they found them by accident as they were cruising around searching for signs of poons. They noticed a silver flash in the water and stopped the boat to investigate. What they found were a couple of schools of tarpon that were lazily hanging out just a few feet below the surface. Dan said most of the fish they saw seemed to be kind of sluggish which he said was probably caused by the cooler water temperatures. They placed their baits right in front of the fish’s noses but they refused to eat the baits. They finally found a couple of fish that cooperated with them and the fight was on. Dan emailed me some of the pictures he took while Ramona battled her fish. He had some great shots of the tarpon leaping out of the water.
If you want to try your hand at catching a tarpon, start by trying to choose a day when there is no wind. Morning is usually the best time because the ocean is flat and it is easy to spot the pods of bait on top of the water. As the day wears we usually get the afternoon breezes and this puts a chop on the water making it difficult to see the bait. Once you locate bait you’ll have to throw the cast net and fill your live well with it.
Your tackle should consist of a rod in the 30 to 50 lb class with a reel to match. Line should also be in the same size class to match the rod and reel. You’ll need a 50 to 80 lb leader attached to the line with a triple surgeons knot. On the end of the leader you want a 5/0 to 9/0 circle hook depending on the size of the fish. Hook your bait in the back and cast it to the edge of the bait pod and our good to go.

2011-07-25T11:08:00.001-04:00

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.

2011-07-11T10:42:00.002-04:00

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.

2011-06-27T09:33:00.000-04:00

This past Friday I returned to my flounder hole to see if they were still holding in that area. Yes they were. This time I had a disadvantage. I forgot to put my bucket of Berkley gulp shrimp on the boat that morning so instead I tried a black bucktail jig. The jig has worked for me in the past but on this day it yielded no results. I had some other made imitation scented shrimp on board so I put one on the jig. On my first cast I landed a nice fat 15” flounder. That was the only fish I landed on that bait. I lost a couple of big fish that I attributed to losing because the bait was about an inch longer in length than the 3” Berkley Gulps I’m use to using. It seemed they would just take the tail and hold on to it then release it when you got the fish near the surface. This theory was evident by the bite marks that were left just behind the hook on the much softer, longer bait. You can bet that I won’t leave home again without my Berkley Gulps.
For those of you that would rather fish live bait for flounder you have several options. Free lining a live shrimp with a piece of split shot to get it near the bottom will work as will shrimp fished on a jig head. Live mullet or mud minnows are also great baits and don’t rule out a piece of fresh cut ladyfish.
Speaking of fresh cut ladyfish, it also works great for redfish and trout. Don’t be surprised if a big tarpon eats it and takes off with it too. A friend of mine, I’ll call him Bill, has been tearing up the redfish on fresh cut ladyfish. He’s also landed a few trout over 25 “ on the cut bait. Whenever Bill sees my truck at the boat ramp I can always expect a call asking me to keep any ladyfish I catch to give to him.
For those of you that like to chase tarpon I’ve been getting reports that they are up in Matanzas Inlet and they are big. You can probably expect to find them in that area for the rest of the summer.
I’ve been getting reports of big flounder coming off the offshore wrecks and reefs. There is also some Mahi Mahi in the 20 lb range coming from these locations. Also large red snapper but they must be released.
No matter what your fishing preference is, now is the time to get out and wet a line. Be safe out there this July 4th weekend.

2011-06-17T09:05:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity to fish this past Monday with Glen Pla, host of The Average Angler TV show that airs on the Brighthouse Sports Network on channel 47, channel 1147 on HD. Glen had contacted me to do a show about fishing in the Tamoka Basin and we set a date. We met at the park at 6:30 AM, loaded the boat with camera equipment, and set off for a day of fishing.
We got out into the basin and began to work the shorelines with top water plugs. As luck would have it we could not find a single trout or redfish to cooperate with us. I started to think about where we could go to get some trout and reds so I decide to head north up the ICW to Bulow Creek.
We fished a stretch of the Creek and again no luck. I thought for a few minutes then said to Glen that we would fish an area and probably pick up some flounder. We tied off to the bank and began fishing the in coming tide with jig heads and Berkley Gulp shrimp. It wasn’t but a few minutes and Glen was hooked up with a small flounder. We continued to work the jigs and Glen hooked into another small flounder. We worked the area a while longer and had 2 more flounder and these were both keeper size fish. As the current slowed so did the bite. We then went for a short sight seeing cruise further up the creek.
Once we returned to our original spot the current had picked up on the out going tide and so did the flounder bite. This time the fish we were catching, I mean Glen was catching, were of better size. The flounder were now in the 17” to 18” range and fat. These fish were hungry because they were swallowing the entire rig. By the time we called it quits we boated 8 flounder with 6 of them being keeper size. We also had several that we lost. During the trip I found out that catching flounder was one of Glen’s favorite fish to catch. The flounder saved the day to make for a good fishing show. And believe me, after not landing a trout or a red, the fish gods smiled on us to make for a wonderful trip.
Glen was so pleased with the catch that he said: any time the flounder bite is on give me a call and I’ll be there.
The show will be on some time in the next week or two so stay tuned in to catch it.

2011-05-30T12:05:00.001-04:00

I hope everyone had a safe Memorial Day and you took time to thank our Soldiers and Veterans for the freedoms we have in our country.
The trout fishing in our area remains steady. Trout are hitting top water lures and flies at the crack of dawn. Surface lures such as the Rapala Skitterwalk or Mirrolure Top dog or Top Dog Jr. will get the job done for those of you casting bait casting reels or spinning reels. These lures are plastic and have loud rattles in them that are meant to attract fish, and believe me they work. They work best when retrieved with what is known as a “walk the dog” movement. The lure moves across the water in a zig – zag motion.
To create this movement you need to continually twitch the rod tip about six inches while winding in the line. You can also change up the cadence of the lure by letting it pause after a couple of twitches or the rod. You can also work it slow or fast. Different retrieves need to be tried to find out what works best to catch fish. Many times the fish will strike when the lure is stopped on the pause. Like all lures you buy read the directions on the back of the box to obtain the best results. Yes guys, that means read the directions!!
When it comes to flies I have three favorites; Todd’s Wiggle Minnow, Rainy’s Bubblehead and the Hell’s Bay Popper. All three of these top water flies will make a popping sound when worked correctly. The Wiggle Minnow also dives below the surface giving it double the effectiveness. Just as with lures the flies need to be used trying different retrieves. I find that with the flies the fish seem to want it when it stops between strips. Stripping in the line with your hand is how you retrieve a fly compared to turning the handle on a spinning reel or bait casting reel.
The hardest thing to get use to when fishing a top water lure or fly is setting the hook when a fish strikes. Your first reaction will be to set the hook as soon as the fish strikes the target. Wrong thing to do!!!! You need to feel pressure on the lure first before setting the hook. If he misses the lure, which happens quite often, let it sit for a second or two before you start to move it again. If it sits the fish will think he stunned his prey and often comes back and hits it again.
Give top waters a try, it will be some of the most exciting fishing you’ve ever done.

2011-05-16T11:01:00.001-04:00

What’s For Dinner?

What’s for dinner? Let me explain what I mean by describing the event that led to this question.
Early one morning last week I was fly fishing the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway in search of trout. I started with a top water fly but when that didn’t produce I went to deeper water (dropoffs), a weighted fly and an intermediate fly line. An intermediate fly line has a slow sink rate. The combination of the fly and line allows you to present your offering at deeper depths.
As I proceeded to fish I noticed an unusual amount of dolphins in the ICW that morning probably because of the abundance of bait. After watching some of them explode on the bait and eating they seemed to move on their way. A few minutes later I hooked into my first trout of the day.
It was a nice trout about 23 inches in length. She was a feisty gal that didn’t want to come to the boat. She was putting up a grand fight when I noticed over my shoulder on the opposite side of the boat about 10 feet away there was a dolphin hanging around. The trout had taken me under the boat a couple of times and then headed back out to open water. When I finally got the trout to the side of the boat I looked over and that dolphin was still there. It was acting anxiously.
When I reached down and grabbed hold of the leader to lift the fish in the boat the fish shook it’s head and flopped off the hook. (I crush the barbs on my fly’s to make for easy hook removals.) As soon as this happened I looked over my shoulder to see where the dolphin was and before I had a chance to turn my head back there was a huge explosion in the water where the trout had been. I was in awe at how fast that dolphin swam under my boat and how it seemed to know exactly when the trout came off the hook. Nature is an amazing creation.
Bon Appetit Mr. Dolphin!!
The FWC is still deliberating at weather or not to make the 3 miles south of the Rte 100 Bridge a no wake zone. This is all because of Manatee’s even though there is less than 1 Manatee death per year. I believe in conservation but this is wrong considering the small amount of navigable water we have here in Flagler County. It seems animals have more rights than humans nowadays. Boaters and fishermen get involved. Let the FWC know what you think about this matter before it’s too late.

2011-05-06T09:09:00.001-04:00

What a difference a year makes. In just one year the trout fishing has gone from next to nil to excellent. Last year it seemed that the only time you could find trout was at night under the dock lights. Not this year. For example: last year I couldn’t get a trout bite on a top water fly all year, I’ve had several already this year and that includes a 21 inch one Sunday morning.
During the daylight hours the bait of choice seems to be live shrimp. Live lining the shrimp is working best. All you need is 10 lb test braided line with a 15 inch piece of fluorocarbon leader tied to the end of it and then tie on a #1 short shank hook on the end of the leader. About six to eight inches up from the hook place a BB size split shot and your good to go. Oh yea, don’t forget to place a live shrimp on that hook.
I have found the two best ways to hook your shrimp is to either horn hook it or tail hook it. When you horn hook it the hook point will go under the horn on one side and out the other. Just make sure the hook is placed in front of that dark pulsating dark spot on the head. That is the shrimp’s brain and if you hit it, it will kill it instantly. When tail hooking shrimp I like to put the hook through the middle of the fan tail and thread the shrimp about a ¼ inch up the hook shank then bring the point out on the bottom of the shrimp.
After all this is complete you’ll want to cast your shrimp diagonally up current and let it drift down with the current as you slowly work it back to the boat trying to keep all the slack out of the line. Once it gets past you and parallel to the boat reel it in and cast out again. I also have lots of success by letting the person on the rear of the boat just letting the shrimp drift in the current every so letting out a little line to keep the bait down in the water.
I know that this might not interest some of you but for those of us who saltwater fly fish we lost a legend in the sport last month. On April 18th Billy Pate passed away at the age of 81. Billy was a pioneer in fly fishing the Florida Keys. The first fly reel I ever bought was a Billy Pate bonefish reel back in 1985 and I still have it. RIP Billy.

2011-05-03T07:08:00.001-04:00

2011-04-03T19:05:00.000-04:00

Gear up for Cobia It’s time to start gearing up for Cobia. Reports show that the sought after Cobia are in the Port Canaveral area. This means the fish should only be a few weeks away from our area. The thing that’s holding their migration back is the water temperature. It was reported to me the other day that the water temp in Matanzas inlet was only 61 degrees. The water temps at the reefs and wrecks off of Flagler Beach was only 63 degrees. Once the surf temperature starts to near 70 degrees we should start to see Cobia. Once the Cobia enter our area the main concentration of fish will be found in depths ranging between thirty five to forty five feet. It’s then that you have to start looking for the large Manta Rays. The cobia will be found swimming with the rays and can be underneath, on top of or following them. The width of the rays can be up to twenty feet and the large ones will often hold a good amount of fish. The best time to look for the rays is between 10AM and 3PM with noon being the optimal time because of the position of the sun, less glare on the water. Once you spot a ray you need to get within casting distance without spooking the fish. If you get too close he will sound quickly on you. Normally you will be able to see the cobia around him. Fire off a cast quickly and begin to reel. You will on occasion hook the ray and he will take you for a ride. You’ll want to use some fairly stout tackle when it comes to cobia because they can reach weights to eighty pounds and over. An eight foot spinning rod that can handle lures to three ounces will due along with a reel that can hold about 300 yards of 30 lb braided line. O the end of that line you’ll want to have a minimum of a fifty lb leader. When it comes to bait, a 1 to 2 ounce bright colored buck tail jig tipped with a curly tail grub will due. For even better results try a jig with a Berkley Gulp eel attached. Cobia can’t resist an eel. Use caution when bringing these fish aboard the boat. They’re tails are kind of spiked and can cause you major harm if you are not careful. A large landing net or gaff is preferred. Keep your ears open and listen to the grapevine for Manta Ray sightings and get out and enjoy these powerful fighting fish.

2011-03-21T10:17:00.000-04:00

Utilizing The Web

If you don’t think of the World Wide Web as a useful tool when it comes to fishing you might want to think again. I have found the web to be an invaluable tool for information on all aspects of fishing. You can find information on everything from offshore, inshore, fly fishing, fishing knots, tackle and places to go to. Just go to Google and type in what you are looking for and it’s there. The other day when I needed to find a variation of a fishing knot I tie I Googled it and there it was.
If you are like me and learn best from visual demonstrations then You Tube is the source to go to. You can learn to tie knots, fly fish, tie flies, throw a cast net or rig baits, it’s all there for your viewing pleasure. Having an iphone will allow you access to that information right in the palm of your hand. The iphone also allows you to get up to date weather reports, radar and barometric pressure all of which I find very useful. It even has an electronic compass.
I’ve watched all this technology evolve over the years and it never ceases to amaze me. I may show my age here but when I started working for the phone co. back in 1970 I remember having to repair phones that were on a 4 party line. To you younger folks that meant that 4 houses were working on the same line. Then came car phones where the workings were so big they had to be put in the trunk of the car. Look how far we’ve advanced over the past 41 years. Makes me wonder what the next 30 years will bring. In the meantime I guess I’ll just have to be stuck with my iphone and my fishing.
The fishing was excellent the beginning of last week but slowed during the latter part of week and the weekend. I believe the slow down was due mostly to the full moon. Early in the week I had a couple from Pennsylvania fishing and the duo caught over 30 fish; reds, trout, flounder and ladyfish. All were on live shrimp. On Friday my buddy Mark Zander and I went up the Tamoka River in search of snook and tarpon. We saw one tarpon roll but no takers. Mark had one 17” snook on a plug and also a red. I had one trout and one red both on fly. Look for it to pick up again as the moon wanes.

Capt Rob Ottlein
386-439-2636
www.flaglerfishingcharters.com

2011-03-06T15:17:00.001-05:00

Trout Fishing Is Open Again

The first part of the old saying “March rolls in like a lion and out like a lamb” has been holding true so far this month. The strong winds have made fishing the flats difficult but if you can find places to get out of the wind such as canals and behind tree lines you’ll find some pretty darn good fishing. Trout are plentiful as are reds, flounder and ladyfish.
Trout have been very cooperative since the season opened March 1st. What a difference since last March when trout were very difficult to find. I’ve had a couple of trips out this month where the people have caught 30 fish in four hours of fishing. Right now they’re eating just about anything you put in front of them; live shrimp, plugs, soft plastics and flies. They are averaging between 14” to 20” and they are very healthy.
By now, most of you who read this column know that I love to fly fish so I must tell you that I’ve been tearing up the trout on fly. I’ve been using a rendition of a Clouser fly that my buddy, Rich Santos, from Jacksonville showed me how to tie. There are 2 things that I believe are the key to my success with this fly pattern. One is the color – black and purple. The second is using an Intermediate fly line – it is a slow sinking line. Rich Santos and I recently fly fished an area of the Pelicer flats on foot. I used the above combination and out fished him 15 to 2 on trout. The next day I fished in the ICW by myself with the same combination and lost count of the amount of trout I caught.
The flounder are eating live shrimp, Berkley Gulp fished on a jig head and black bucktail jigs. The best place I have found for the flounder are in the vicinity of Highbridge. If you don’t have a boat you can fish the canal along Highbridge Rd. from the bank. By putting in a few days of fishing this stretch of road you’ll quickly learn where the oyster bars are. This area has also been producing trout and redfish. Just be careful of the passing cars.
A lot of the redfish in the ICW have been under slot size (and there have been plenty of them) but if you keep at it you’ll eventually find a slot size fish. They too are eating live shrimp, Berkley Gulp and 1/8 oz black bucktail jigs.
Time will tell if March “goes out like a lamb”

Capt Rob Ottlein
386-439-2636
www.flaglerfishingcharters.com

2011-02-21T10:28:00.001-05:00

To Fish or not To Fish?

That is the question. Lately it seems I’m getting a lot of emails on how the Government wants to curtail our fishing. Let me explain; The NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Services) who has already put the clamps on red snapper, grouper, black sea bass and other species is now looking to put drastic changes on the bag limits for cobia in our state waters. Right now the bag limit stands at 1 per person or 6 per boat per day. The new legislation would cut the number to 1 cobia per boat per day. You wonder why they, the government, would want to do this when fishermen say the cobia stocks are the strongest they’ve seen in 25 years. You can read more about this in this months issue of the Florida Sportsman or www.floridasportsman.com.
You may ask yourself who is really pushing the Government to make all these changes to our fishing regulations? In this writers “opinion” it’s the environmental group known as PEW Charitable Trusts. For the sake of losing my cool here and going off on my soap box I urge you to go to their website www.pewcharitabletrusts.org and find Protecting Ocean Life and see what there up to. Again, “in my opinion,” they would like to see fishing shut down altogether.
Here’s another good email I received; Florida State Senator Joe Negron (R-Stuart) introduced a bill, S.B.744, which would eliminate resident and non-resident fishing licenses. If this bill passes, Florida’s fisheries management system and the recreational fishing economy would be devastated. You can learn more about this ridiculous bill, and I strongly urge you to do so because this will affect not only fisherman but business’s and jobs, by going to:
www.keepamericafishing.org
I read all this stuff and I ask myself why? Why would people or organizations want to affect the lives of millions of people? Before I get into politics, which I really don’t want to do in a fishing column, let me just say this; “can’t we all just get along”.
Enough depressing news, let’s talk about fishing. The inshore fishing this past week has been on the slow side overall. High tides and the full moon both had an affect on the bite. Look for this to change with the advent of the new moon and warming water temperatures. It’s been beautiful lately so do yourself a favor and get out and enjoy these days before the real heat sets in. Looking at the national weather I feel very lucky to be living in Florida.

2011-02-07T12:29:00.001-05:00

Trout Fishing Closed For February

Trout fishing is closed for the month of February in the northeast zone. The northeast zone starts at the Volusia/ Flagler county line and extends north to the Florida/ Georgia border. All trout that are caught inside the northeast zone must be released no matter of their condition. If you launch your boat in Flagler County, go into Volusia County and catch trout you can’t bring them back into Flagler County. If you launch in Volusia you can’t go into Flagler and bring trout back to that county. Your best bet if your looking to keep trout this month is to launch in Volusia and stay in Volusia. Trout fishing will reopen in the northeast zone March 1st.
In my last article I wrote about the benefits of the color gold in clear water. Now that we are getting rain and the water temperature rises you’ll notice the clarity of the water start to change, it will become darker. Once the hue changes it’s time to start looking at trying different colors when it comes to artifical baits and flies. Don’t get me wrong here, gold will still work especially when the sun is the brightest during the day, it’s just time to start thinking about the use of different colors in stained water.
A lot of fishermen have a saying when it comes to fishing dark water; If it ain’t chartreuse it ain’t no use. I have to admit that there’s a lot to be said about that statement. Chartreuse is one of my favorite colors in dark water especially if the color gold is incorporated somewhere in the mix. My favorite lure, the Mirrolure M17, is a combination of chartreuse and gold. This lure, because of the flash it puts off, seems to draw fish from out of the dark depths on bright sunny days. Even when it comes to my flies I’ll use a chartreuse/gold color combination during the daylight hours.
When fishing deeper water, where it’s always darker, I like lean towards dark colors such as black, green or purple. I’ll use these colors or a combination of them weather I’m using a deep running plug, jig or a fly. The darker colors put out more of a silhouette than lighter colors making it easier for the fish to see. They actually make a product that will select a color to use when it is placed in the water. Add to the color a lure that wabbles and puts out vibration or a jig or fly that pulsates when moved through the water and you have a deadly combination for catching fish.

2011-01-24T09:31:00.000-05:00

Go Gold

When it comes to fishing for reds in the flats during the winter I like to go gold, as in gold spoons. Or for that matter any lure or fly that contains some gold color. Gold puts out a reflection in the water that redfish just can’t resist. Add to that the vibration a gold spoon or spinner bait puts out and you have an unbeatable combination for finding redfish.
With the gold spoon I can cover a large area and quickly find out if there are any fish in the area. It casts a long distance when fished with a 10 lb braided line and a light rod and reel. Another advantage to a gold spoon comes on those windy days; if cast sidearm it will cut through the wind and go farther than anything else you can cast. There are times when the reds just won’t eat it but you’ll find maybe 10 of them will follow it back right up to the boat. That’s when it’s good to have another rod rigged and ready to go with maybe a Berkley Gulp that you can quickly pick up and throw to them.
Gold spoons are not just limited to redfish. I have caught plenty of flounder on them while searching for redfish. The gold spoon has also caught me trout and snook in the flats. The first snook I caught here in Florida was on a gold spoon. Wow, that was a long time ago and it did teach me early on that it’s a good tool to have in your arsenal.
A gold, single blade spinner bait rigged with a soft plastic mullet imitation also works well in the flats. The biggest problem I find with them is casting them into a wind. Because they are bulky they offer a lot of resistance traveling through the air.
If I use a soft plastic jerk shad on a worm hook I like it to have some gold specks in it. A rig like this allows you to work it very slowly and if it is rigged weedless you can throw it up into grass where you can often find redfish feeding.
I also like gold in my flies I throw. I’ve been using a form of a Clouser fly that I tie that is black and has gold holographic flash tied into it. It’s been catching reds in the flats. If I switch to a sinking line while fishing deeper water it’s been catching me reds, trout and flounder.
So do yourself a favor and go out and invest in some GOLD.

2011-01-14T09:49:00.001-05:00

Seeing Red

Sight fishing for redfish is what I’m referring to when “seeing red”. Now is the time of year when you have the best opportunity to actually see these fish in the water. When the algae that causes the water to become a dark color is killed of by cold water, it becomes clear. As long as there is no wind (a slight wind will cause a chop on the water making sight fishing difficult) or rain (rain can darken the water) your chances of seeing red are excellent. Low water level also improves conditions. The deeper the water gets the less clarity you have.
For example: I was out a couple of weeks ago and entered an area at low tide where I found crystal clear water conditions. I could see everything on the bottom; it was like looking into a glass of gin. Conditions like that can also give the fish an advantage as I soon found out. As easily as you can see them they can also see you just as easily. I was casting a shallow shoreline for fish when I began approaching a creek mouth lined with oyster bars when I noticed some mullet acting nervous. As I got a little closer a redfish exploded on the mullet and then another. At this point my adrenaline starting taking over and I let myself get a little too close to the action. Being in only about a foot and a half of water I looked down to make sure I wasn’t going to run up on an oyster bar when I noticed the school of fish started swimming by the boat. There must have been fifty of them and not a one smaller than 25 inches.
There was still one active fish left on that bar that ate the fly I cast to it. He took off with my fly and the battle was on. I landed that fish and it measured 28 ¼ inches.
I found that school a couple of more times but when they saw me they took off before I had a chance to cast to them. Had I been on the poling platform instead of the fore deck I probably would have had a better chance of spotting them before they spotted me.
Speckled sea trout season is once again open south of the Flagler County line. Trout up to 5 lbs have been landed in the Highbridge area along with some decent size flounder. Berkley Gulp on a jighead or a 1/8 ounce black bucktail jig is catching these fish.
Find a windless day and get out to “see red”.

Capt Rob Ottlein
386-439-2636
www.flaglerfishingcharters.com

2010-12-13T10:23:00.001-05:00

Déjà Vu all over again

In the words of the infamous NY Yankee, Yogi Berra
“It’s Déjà vu all over again”. It’s the weather were referring to. Just like last year we are having record low temperatures. The only difference is that it’s a lot earlier in the season than when last years freeze took place. We can only hope that after this week we don’t see another freeze for a while. Last year was devastating to our snook and baitfish stocks. We can only hope that after this week we don’t see another freeze for a while. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Saturday, my buddy Bruce and I headed out to look for redfish in Silver Lake. The air was brisk with a light breeze making for a slight chop on the water and the sky overcast. The latter two conditions made it difficult to sight cast in the clear shallow water so we had to resort to blind casting. As we worked the shoreline and oyster bars we spooked a couple of lone redfish but no hook ups. We then came to an area that was blocked by the wind and the water was calm. Perfect fly casting conditions.
I placed a cast up between two oyster bars and let the fly land. I made one small strip of my fly and I felt the line tighten. At first I thought I was stuck on an oyster but when my line started moving I knew I was hooked up to a red. It felt like an under sized red at first because of the way it picked up the fly and put up very little resistance until it was about half way to the boat. Once we had a visual on the fish we could see that it was about 25 inches and once the fish saw us the fight was on. Unfortunately the fight only lasted about a minute when the hooked pulled out of the fish, redfish 1 angler nothing. We worked that lake one more time to no avail so we decided to see if we could find some trout. When that didn’t pan out we called it a day.
Winter is a great time of year to fish the shallows for redfish. This is when they school heavily. Normally you’ll find reds basking and feeding in the shallows a day or two after a cold front. Gold spoons, Berkley Gulp on a jig head or live bait such as mud minnows, live or cut mullet and shrimp will all work on wintertime reds. Dress warm, pick a calm day and go wet a line.

Capt Rob Ottlein
386-439-2636
www.flaglerfishingcharters.com

2010-11-28T18:41:00.001-05:00

Sometimes when the fishing is slow we have to think of ways to amuse ourselves. Such was the case Black Friday when Capt. Ralph Olivett, his friend Kelly and I went to try our luck at flounder fishing. We had nice healthy bait in the livewell and beautiful weather, all the makings of a great day for fishing. Just one problem though, the flounder were not cooperating. We fished several locations and only had one flounder all morning long and it was released. It was just barely legal size.
As the afternoon rolled around it was apparent that the flounder were taking the day off but we continued to fish. I came up with the idea to make things interesting. I suggested that the first one to land a crab would be rewarded a dollar from each of the other two. The contest was agreed upon and the fishing began, or should I say the crabbing began. The competition was fierce between the three of us and after a lot of laughs Capt Ralph had come out the winner.
Moving on to the next spot we changed the species of the competition from crab to Twigger fish, also known as a stick or small branch. Lots of times you never know what you might reel in while bottom fishing. The contest was on. Ralph had the first Twigger, a small one. I then hooked into something that felt like a fish as I reeled it in against the current. I told Ralph to get ready to net “it” as I believed it was a big one. As it came into view “it” turned out to be the largest Twigger of the day. Boy did I take a lot of abuse over that but I was proud to win that portion of the competition. The day did not wind up being a total bust when I landed a 26” redfish just before calling it a day. Even though the fishing was slow three friends shared a lot of laughs that day.
Here’s a quick story about how aggressive fish can be when they are feeding. I was fly fishing last week using a fly that was 2 1/2 inches long when I hooked a fish. I knew it wasn’t big and when I got it to the boat it turned out to be a snook. How big was it you may ask? It was about 6 inches long. It swallowed that fly all the way to the back of its throat. Luckily I crush the barbs on my hooks and was able to retrieve it and release the little guy unharmed.

My WunderPhotos : Weather Underground

2010-08-08T14:46:00.001-04:00

Start of the journey for a new born baby sea turtle

2008-09-10T07:58:00.001-04:00

I'm waiting for the mullet run to start which should be sometime soon. Also waitng for the water temperature to drop a couple of degrees.Once these two things coincide with one another the fish will turn from so-so to great. Right now the snook fishing is hit and miss. If your in the right spot at the right time you can catch a number of them in a short period of time then the bite will turn off as fast as it turned on. The best place to fish for them is on an out going tide at creek mouths that empty into the ICW.Try a Rapala Twitchin Rap or the 17MR Mirrolure.A live lined shrimp thrown up current and allowed to drift down is another good option. Trout fishing has been spotty at best. I find the best time to hook up is on the last part of the out going tide using a live lined shrimp.If you can find them and want to throw plugs the 17MR Mirrolure works great. The flounder fishing has dropped off with all the rain we've had recently. I expect it to pick up once we get some of this freshwater out of here. You can get redfish at Matanzas Inlet at the change of tide when it canges from out going to incomming. A live mullet fished on the bottom is your best bet. Alive mud minnow will also work.Look for the bull reds to move in once the mullet run begins. Tarpon are still in the ICW and the canals off the ICW. these fish will range from 14" to 40lbs. Look for the bigger ones to show once the mullet run gets into full swing. Live mullet or Pin fish is your best chance to hook up with a "poon".

2008-08-23T16:20:00.001-04:00

Tropical storm Fay is behind us now and hopefully with no more storms the fishing should really begin to pick up with the mullet run starting. Look for the trout and snook bite to really turn on and redfish get more active in the flats. A few guys who fished off of Highbridge (real name, Walter Knox Bridge) during Fay did really well on snook. There were reports of snook to 20 lbs being caught during the middle of the day. All they had to do was drop bait in the water and the snook were all over it. Artificial baits that resembled a mullet, hard or soft plastic, were doing the trick.
When fishing off the bridge you’ll want a plug that can dive to around 15 feet. Throw it up current and retrieve it back to you. One of the more popular soft plastics is the Storm Wild Eye in either the 6” or 9” size. These plastics come with the weight built in so there is no guessing as to what size jig head to use. They also have a very limp paddle tail that gives off a lot of action when retrieved.
In the past year I have turned into a fly fishing junkie. I love catching snook on fly. A couple of my favorite flies are the Mighty Minnow that can be purchased on line at www.littleriverflyshop.com I like this fly in the #6 or #4 size. Another of my favorites is todds wiggle minnow in the 2/0 size. This is one of the more successful flies I have fished. It is loaded with action and can be fished effectively on a floating or sinking line. It too can be found on line if you google todds wiggle minnow. And lastly I find the Puglisi rattling flies in the mullet or bunker patterns to be extremely effective with chartreuse being one of the better colors.
When it comes to live bait a snook can’t pass up a live shrimp. Small live pinfish is another excellent choice and don’t leave out a live mullet.
I talked about snook this time because the season is now open. Remember the laws and that is, 1 snook per person per day and they must measure between 28 and 32 inches with the tail pinched.

2008-07-22T18:07:00.002-04:00

The ocean water temperature is finally getting back to normal. At last report from Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle at the pier the water temp is back up into the low 80’s and the king mackerel are back and biting. No tarpon yet or any signs of menhaden. There is still a slight chance that the tarpon may appear before the fall run starts at the end of August.
However, tarpon are all over the areas inshore waters. Tarpon are rolling in the Tamoka basin and river, the Flagler Beach canals, Sea Ray canal, Palm Coast canals and the flats north of the 206 Bridge in St. Johns County. How long will they stay around? Who knows, but take advantage of this fishery while it’s here. Last year I caught tarpon up until Dec. 8th.
What are these tarpon hitting on, a number of things. Live bait is always a good bet. Live shrimp, mullet, pinfish or small menhaden. Artificials such as topwaters, soft plastic jerk baits and diving plugs will work. If your tossing flies, try a tarpon bunny or something in a purple/black that imitates a mullet. You also might want to try using an intermediate fly line.
I haven’t been able to do much in the way of trout but the snook are all over the area. I’ve been getting reports of snook stacked under the docks in the Palm Coast canals and the lighted docks at night along the Intracoastal Waterway. I can tell you this much, a snook can’t pass up a freelined live shrimp. On a recent trip I had clients that hooked up with 5 snook and landed two. One was so big it broke 10 lb test braided line. They wound up landing 2, a 6 ½ lb and a 20” and the other 2 they lost were larger than 6 ½ lbs.
What type of bait to use for snook? Like I said a live shrimp is probably the best bet. Topwater plugs are good early in the morning and again in the evening. As the day wears on try using plugs that swim lower in the water column like a catch 2000 or a mirrolure 17 MR.

2008-07-09T11:22:00.002-04:00

The waters ocean water temperatures in the Volusia/Flagler area plummeted form 85 degrees to 70 degrees in the past few weeks. This is caused by a phenomenon known as an upwelling. The upwelling is caused by steady and lengthly west winds. It draws up colder bottom water dropping the overall water temp. The colder water will just about shut down the offshore, surf and the inland waters around Matanzas inlet. It also has a big effect on ocean migrating fish such as tarpon, king mackerel, cobia and some of the reef dwellers. The inshore waters farther from the inlet are not really affected by the colder water. The west wind pushes the water out to the ocean significantly lowering the water levels. this makes it very difficult to access the backwaters and concentrates the fish to the deeper waters of the ICW.

Before the blow the fishing was good. The last charter I had out before the winds had trout up to 4 lbs and snook to 30". They also lost a 20 lb tarpon and a red that was over 30". Last week I fly fished for 2 days and could only muster a 10" snook. I ahd numerous other hits but the fish just wouldn't take the fly. I also had tarpon up to 40 lbs rolling around my boat but I find them very difficult to land on a fly when they are in deep water. The best bet would be to use live bait when these fish are encountered. I have also seen some big redfish tailing along the banks of the ICW but for one reason or another I just haven't been able to connect with these fish either. Hopefully the next report will be better now the the winds have begun to subside

2008-06-22T15:32:00.002-04:00

Well we finally got some much need rain here in Flagler County which seems to have improved the fishing conditions. The rain cools the down the water temperature and adds oxygen to the water in turn making the fish more active. The fishing had been slow up until the rain but on a recent trip after the rain the fish were turned on. On a recent trip this theory that I have about the rain seemed to be true. Latissa Richardson and her husband Woody had fished with me a couple of days after the rain and they lost and landed some big fish.
Fifteen minutes into the trip Woody hooked into a 20 lb tarpon but as luck would have it the hook pulled. Later Latisssa hooked and landed a 30” – 9 lb snook. She also landed a 4 lb trout. Later in the trip she also lost a big fish which looked to be a red over 30”. All fish were hooked live lining shrimp.
One thing I forgot to mention in last months report about live lining shrimp was the use of a split shot. I place a BB size split shot on the fluorocarbon just below the knot that connects it to the Braided line. The split shot keeps the bait down in the water column where the fish tend to hang out. If I’m fishing in an area where the current is really ripping I’ll adjust the size of my split shot accordingly to keep the bait down.

If you like to pier fish this is a good time to get out there and do some King mackerel fishing. They’ve already started catching kings and they will be around all summer. The largest so far this year is a 35.9 lb King. If you wish to learn how to fish off the pier go into the tackle shop and ask Johnny what you need to do. Another way to learn how to fish for them is to go out and observe the guys fishing at the end of the pier.
Inshore, look for trout at night around the dock lights. You’ll also find some snook mixed in with them. Use live shrimp or soft plastic imitations.
Tarpon up to about 40 lbs are also hitting live shrimp. A live pinfish or a mullet under a cork will also do the trick.

2008-01-19T10:49:00.001-05:00

There will be no more fishing column in the Flagler/Palm Coast News Tribune. It was not my decision to end the column but that of the Daytona News Journal. They say it was due to budget cuts. They not only fired me but 18 other correspondents. I don’t know what’s going to be left to read in the News Tribune.
I know the column was read by many fishermen and also by people who didn’t fish. If you will miss reading the column I can suggest you do two things: 1-call the news paper and voice your opinion, 2-cancel your subscription to the News Tribune, I know I’m going to. They wouldn’t even let us put in some sort of thank you to the readers in our last column. I guess they were afraid of us voicing our opinions. I will try and keep a weekly report on this web site.
If you have any opinions on what they did I would like to hear them or if you have any fishing questions, you can e-mail me at captrco@cfl.rr.com. I look forward to hearing from all concerned.
I will be a monthly contributor to Florida Outdoors Magazine that can be found in most of the local convenience stores. If I get with any other publication I will post it on this site.
Thanks to everyone who read the column.

2008-01-16T10:29:00.000-05:00

Slow moving tides coupled with westerly winds have made for some difficult fishing this past week. As I’ve stated before, fish prefer faster moving water. It makes the bait more active and thus the fish feed more. The westerly winds have pushed a lot of water out of the flats and the ICW making for low high tides and low low tides. When this happens the fish seem to migrate to the deeper water of the ICW and any deeper holes in the backwater. Try fishing the deeper waters to find fish.
The cold front that past through this week didn’t help things either. An approaching cold front will usually trigger the fish to feed heavily, but that didn’t seem to happen this time. Lou De Fazio and I headed out on Sunday to fiash the front but had difficulty finding a steady bite. We started by fly fishing for some trout. Lou used a heavier weighted fly and was able to get his fly down deeper to where the fish seemed to be holding Lou had a couple of trout, a jack and a snook. I on the other hand used a lighter fly that stayed nearer to the surface and had no luck but I did have a few fish come up and look at the fly.
We then worked our way into the backwater through some deeper cuts to try and find some reds. The water was real low and we tried throwing some jigs around oyster bars but couldn’t raise a fish. Having no luck in the backwaters we moved out and headed to Silver Lake thinking there might be some reds there. We cruised the whole lake and couldn’t connect with a redfish. We did however spook some reds holding up in the middle of the lake. To the north the skies looked nasty and we could hear thunder so we decided to call it a day.
I don’t see the fishing starting to improve until we have a change of wind direction to the east or northeast to push some water back inshore. As the moon approaches full it should also help to raise the water levels due to its gravitational pull.
One thing the colder weather will do is cool the water temperature down a few degrees. Hopefully this will bring the redfish up to school on the flats. As the day progresses and the shallow water warms they’ll come into the fats to warm themselves and look for food. This is when redfishing can get really good.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle says the action from the pier has been slow but whiting are providing the bulk of the action. They are being caught on sand fleas and shrimp.
After this week anyone looking for a local fishing report can go to my website, www.flaglerfishingcharters.com, and click on articles for up to date information on the areas fishing.

2008-01-09T10:18:00.001-05:00

Extra, Extra read all about it: Fisherman Looking For lost Teeth. Here’s one of the best fishing stories I’ve ever heard. To protect the identity of the fisherman this happened to we’ll just call him Walt Matuszak. As the story goes Walt was fly fishing at Matanzas inlet and was hooking up with bluefish. All but one of Walts flies had succumbed to the toothy bluefish. Down to his last fly he hooked and landed a small blue. Walt went to remove the hook from the fish’s mouth with his right hand while holding it under its belly with his left hand. As he reached for the hook the fish opened its mouth and clamped down on his finger. (If you know anything about bluefish you know they have a mouth full of sharp teeth.) That had to hurt!
Not being able to reach for his pliers for the fear that the blue would have torn his finger apart if he let go of it, Walt decided to bite the fish in its back. He bit down hard enough that the fish opened its mouth and released its grip on the finger. When this happened Walt released his bite on the fish and the fish flopped out of his left hand and into the water. The fish sat there for a second, stunned, then began to swim off. As it swam off Walt noticed something sticking out of its back, it was four of his teeth that became dislodged from a plate in his mouth. This turned out to be one expensive fishing trip for Walt. P.S. If anyone catches a fish with teeth in its back you should return them to Walt. I’m sure he’d find a place for them on his trophy shelf.
I didn’t even bother fishing during the cold front we had last week. Instead I opted to wait until a few days after the front passed. When it did I went out to see if I could find some trout, and I did. All I brought with me that day was my fly rod. When I got to my spot it was dead low tide. It wasn’t until the tide started coming in that I began to catch fish. I caught and released 5 trout to 16”. I caught them on an EP chartreuse and white rattle fly. I also had 6 other trout come up and smack the fly but couldn’t connect. About an hour and a half into the rising tide the bite turned off.
I got a call the other day from Capt. Chris Herrera Telling me he was in Stomach Lake looking for redfish and saw a couple of small singles but no schools of reds. He did however pole up on a couple of 30” trout but they wouldn’t eat what he threw at them.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports lots of whiting being caught. Black drum, sheepshead in the 5 to 7 lb range, bluefish and an occasional red and pompano are all being caught.
Jake Jaquish at Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports lots of redfish coming from the area backwaters. Also, lots of reds are along the banks of the ICW at low tide.

Photo: Steve Gombar, Tony Napoleon and Mike Marrale fished Dec. 30th for these 22” reds and 18” flounder. The fish were caught on live shrimp.

2008-01-02T11:02:00.001-05:00

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.

2007-12-05T08:58:00.001-05:00

Anglers fishing the ICW are being kept busy by trout and undersize snook. The trout are averaging between 14” and 18” with the occasional fish over 20”. These are nice healthy fish that have been feeding on mullet and glass minnows. Most of the snook that are being caught are under size fish and are feeding on the same baits as the trout. If your using artificial baits downsize to smaller ones to imitate glass minnows. I have received reports of people seeing huge snook sunning themselves in the Palm Coast canals but they will not eat when they are in this mode.
There are reports of tarpon in the 5 to 20 lb range in the Tamoka Basin/River and also in Sanchez Creek that runs off the Tamoka River. These fish are hitting on small Yo-Zuri 3D minnows and flies. If you’re a catch and release fisherman and want some great action from small tarpon give it a try.
Jim Melley and his buddy Tom fished with me last Friday. I put Jim on a 17MR Mirrorlure and he nailed a couple of nice snook in the 20” range and a couple of trout. Tom used live shrimp and had small snook, reds, trout and mangrove snapper.
Sunday Richard and Carol McCleery fished aboard my boat. Although the fishing was a little on the slow side Carol did manage to catch her first snook, she had two, and her first trout of which she had a couple.
After I dropped off Richard and Carol off at the dock I headed back out to do some fly fishing. I fished for about an hour and had no luck with the white feather fly I was using. I went through my bag of flies and found my last Enrico Puglisi fly, a white mullet. After my 3rd cast I landed a 10” snook that swallowed the fly. I got the fly out and didn’t check the 30 lb leader that I use. (Snook have very abrasive lips.) I then hooked an 18” snook that swallowed the fly. Again, I didn’t check the leader. Then I hooked a 25” snook that jumped out of the water with his head thrashing. He jumped a couple of more times and when I finally got him next to the boat Those abrasive lips finally broke my leader and the snook swam off with my fly. Next time I’ll practice what I preach and check my leader after each snook I catch.
Snook season closes Dec 15th and reopens Feb 1st on the Atlantic coast of Fl. It closed Dec. 1st and will reopen March 1st in the Gulf of Mexico, the everglades and the Keys.
A few more cold mornings like we had this past week and it should drop the water temperature enough to shut down the snook bite. But don’t fret because this should trigger another bite, redfish. It’s this time of year, when the water temps drop, that the reds start schooling on the flats. Usually it’s right after Christmas that the water in the 206 flats and Pellicer flats becomes crystal clear and you can sight fish for reds. You can expect to find schools of 50 to 100 or more fish.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports lots of whiting being caught on the pier. Johnny also reports lots of bluefish, flounder to 21”, black drum and a few pompano.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports lots of trout although they’re out of season in Volusia County. He also reports that small snook are being caught and black drum are in the deeper holes in the backwater.

Photo: Jim Melley with a 21” snook he caught on a MirrOlure

2007-11-28T08:49:00.001-05:00

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.

2007-11-19T08:19:00.000-05:00

Last week the snook bite was incredible. On three of those days I took advantage of the nice weather to wet a line. On the 14th I set out about 9:300am to do some fly fishing, it turned out to be a very productive day. On about my fifth cast I hooked into my first fish of the day. When I saw what it was, a bluefish, I hoped it wouldn’t bite through my leader and I’d lose my fly. Luckily that didn’t happen because he was lipped hooked. The fly was an Enrico Puglisi mullet imitation that has a rattle tied in it and the color was chartreuse and white. A very productive fly for the color water we have here. I retied the fly to the leader and continued to cast. My efforts were rewarded with 11 more fish, 1 trout and 10 snook.
There were so many snook around that at times I could see 4 to 5 snook come up and swipe at the fly on a single retrieve. I even had them follow it right back to the boat then swim underneath the boat. At one point all I had to do was hold the fly rod out over the water, jiggle the fly and they would come up and smack it. I figure that if I would have landed every snook that either smacked my fly or I hooked and lost, I would have had over 30 of them that day.
The following day, the 15th, I took a friend of mine out who loves to catch snook. Maybe it was because of the cold front that was coming through that afternoon that the snook were everywhere busting on bait. All you had to do was throw to where you saw the fish feeding and you were almost guaranteed a fish. Between the two of us we landed 23 snook, a redfish and jumped 2 small tarpon. Artificial baits or fly were used to catch the fish. The artificial baits were Storm wild eyes, MirrOlures or flies. However, on this day, my EP fly did succumb to the abrasive lips of the snook.
The cold front came so I stayed home on the 16th. That evening I got a call from a buddy who wanted to fish the next day. I said ok but let’s wait till about 9:30, let it warm up a bit. On the way to the launch I told him that the bite might be off because of the cold but we should get some fish as it warms up. We used Storm baits to land 10 snook that day despite the low overnight temperatures. Hint, we had to fish the baits slower and deeper to get hookups.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports that big black drum, whiting, blues, pompano, sheepshead and some flounder are all being caught from the pier. Johnny also told me he got his first tarpon, 10 lbs on a fly, fishing in the Tomoka River.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle says ther are big reds coming from the banks of the ICW south of the bridge. Shrimp or mullet is the bait of choice.
Roy’s Bait House is holding a Fall Surf Fishing Tournament on Dec. 1st. Entry fee is $20. for more information call Roy at 439-1027.

2007-11-14T07:17:00.000-05:00

If it’s action you’re looking for on the end of your line get out and do some trout fishing in the ICW. They might not be big but there are a lot of them around. You might have to catch 10 before you get a keeper but the action can be steady. The best time to find them seems to be around the change of the tide. Don’t rule out the rest of the tide though. As long as you have moving water you will find fish.
These fish will eat almost anything you throw at them. Live shrimp, soft plastic jigs, plugs or Berkley Gulp baits are all working. If you’re not an experienced artificial bait angler would like to learn, now is the time to do it. Put a Berkley Gulp shrimp on a ¼ ounce jig head and bounce it along the bottom and you’ll catch something weather it’s a trout, flounder or black drum. The 3” Storm wild eye is also producing a lot of fish. It comes with the jig head built in so there’s no guess work involved as to how heavy a jig head to use. This jig can be bounced along the bottom or throw it out and use a steady retrieve with a slight twitching motion.
Fly fishing for trout has also been very productive. White or yellow streamer flies with some flash material tied in have been working well. You also have a good chance of catching a snook or two using these flies.
Last week I was involved in the Oldest City Red Trout tournament held in St Augustine. It was the same there, tons of trout and small reds. Boats were coming back with reports of 50 to 60 trout in a day, the majority on the small side with the larger ones going around 16”. All you had to do was go up a creek on a falling tide and you were into fish. Bill Brunson from New Jersey fished aboard my boat for 2 days. The first day we fished in St. Augustine and he landed about 25 trout and reds. The next day we fished south looking for bigger trout. Bill did land an 18 ½” trout but it wasn’t big enough to place. A 20 ½” trout took 1st place. We did however find some nice flounder in a creek at the end of the outgoing tide. The fish were caught on Berkley Gulp shrimp.
Last Friday I got a call from my buddy Lou DeFazio telling me that he got into a bunch of fish. He had 25 trout, ladyfish, mangrove shrimp and 5 snook. All the snook and 80% of the other fish were caught using a fly.
The surf and pier are producing whiting, blues, black drum, pompano and a few reds.
I would like to wish my friend and fellow fisherman Chuck Kaszupski a speedy recovery from bypass surgery he underwent a couple of weeks ago. Being an avid fisherman I know he’s chomping at the bit to get back out on the water.

Photo: Bill Brunson holds up one of four 18” flounder he caught fishing with a Berkley Gulp shrimp.

2007-11-07T09:52:00.000-05:00

Cooler fall temperatures have finally arrived making for more pleasurable fishing conditions. The brisk morning air can make for a teary eyed run on the river but as the day progresses with a rising sun, clear blue skies, warming temperatures and little or no wind, you have no doubt as to why you got out of a warm bed to go fishing. Catch a few fish and you have the makings of a fishermen’s perfect day.
The colder air and shorter daylight hours will drop the water temperature making some fish species more active and others more lethargic. The fall run of flounder should begin and peak the week of Thanksgiving. Bluefish will invade the ICW causing for a lot of lost tackle due to their teeth. Sheepshead will gather around bridge and dock pilings feeding on the barnacles and also in the backcountry around oyster bars. Redfish will begin schooling in the shallows as the water temp drops. Trout will be abundant but will mostly be on the small side, look for bigger ones in deeper water and deep holes in the backwaters. The big tarpon will be gone but you may find some juvenile ones in the Palm Coast canals. Snook will move out of the ICW and into the back Palm Coast canals and into the deeper water of the Tamoka River. As winter moves in the fishing may become more difficult but if you put in the time on those mild clear blue days you will catch fish.
This past Monday I found one of those picture perfect days and traveled to St. Augustine to fish with Capt. Steve Holmes. Steve was gracious enough to show me places to fish for the Oldest City Red/Trout Tournament benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The day started out slow but as the tide began falling the fishing turned on. Steve took me up a creek where we found trout and reds. I had a couple of trout on the way in that I caught on a jig and had about another ten good hits. We then came upon an intersection where there was a lot of bait activity and fish were busting on them. We put the boat on the creek bed and began casting our jigs. On the first cast I landed a trout. On each of my next six casts I landed a fish. When it was all over I pulled fourteen fish from that hole. I totaled 21 fish from that one creek. I think I just might have to take my people back there during the tournament. By the way, the boat captains don’t fish during the tournament.
Roy Mattson of Roy’s Bait House reports that Nicole Marcelli had a 25” red and a 16” blackdrum using live shrimp. David James fished Tamoka Park for 2 blackdrum to 17 inches and 3 flounder to 17 inches. His fish were also caught on live shrimp.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports lots of whiting, some flounder, blues, blackdrum and sporadic schools of Spanish mackerel being caught at the pier.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports that he and Johnny Garrett were out Sunday and had 16 snook with the smallest measuring 26 inches. There are plenty of trout and reds also being caught in the area.
Trout season is closed for the months of November and December south of the Flagler County line. You can not catch trout anywhere south of the county line and bring them back into the county and likewise you can’t catch trout in Flagler County and bring them back south of the county line.

Photo: Ted Szeremeta, visting from New Jersey, holds a blackdrum he caught on a live shrimp. Ted and his son Greg also had trout, mangrove snapper, redfish and ladyfish.

2007-11-01T10:49:00.001-04:00

When it rains it pours and I’m not talking about the weather we’ve been having lately. Things on my boat have been going awry the last few weeks, situations I have no control over.
The first incident happened two weeks ago as I was cruising down the ICW to my first fishing spot. I wasn’t far from that spot when all of a sudden the whole boat started to vibrate. I throttled back to neutral and raised the engine to see if I possibly picked up a stray rope or fishing line on the prop. I didn’t see anything so I put the boat in gear and took off. The boat instantly started vibrating again so I shut it down immediately. This time when I raised the engine I found the problem. One half of one of the blades of the stainless steel prop was missing. I hadn’t hit anything nor had I hit anything in the past that would have caused this problem. Not wanting to lose a day of fishing and risk any damage to the motor by running the engine, I put the trolling motor down and fished my way back to the boat ramp.
Once at the ramp and the boat was out of the water I inspected the prop and found a clean straight break with no damage to any of the other blades. Upon further inspection I found rust inside of the crack indicating to me that this was likely a flaw in the production process. I returned the prop to my boat dealership and they sent it off to the manufacturer (Power Tech) in Texas. My presumption of a defect must have been correct because Power Tech is replacing the prop at no cost to me. I bought an aluminum backup prop to use in the meantime. Not a bad idea to keep a spare prop onboard especially if you plan on fishing in remote areas.
My next situation happened last weekend. I left the ramp at 6AM and pulled up to my first spot, put the trolling motor down, and began fishing. I landed one trout and decided to move to another spot. I raised the trolling motor and took off. Upon approaching the next spot I put the boat into idle speed and instantly smelled smoke. As I looked around I saw that it was coming from my trolling motor and there was lots of it. I reached for the breaker on my console that shuts off power to the motor to disconnect it. Being a person who can’t fish without a trolling motor I called it a day and headed back to the ramp. Once at home I removed the motor and put on a spare that I keep for just such situations. I took the burned out motor to Bob’s Discount Marine Supply in Deland for repairs. The motor comes with a three year warranty so lucky for me all repairs are covered.
All in all I came out of these problems with no cost to me other than some driving time and fuel costs. I expect it would have cost over a $1000 had not the manufacturers stood behind their products.
Fishing wise not much to report on this week due to the weather. In the ICW snook, trout, flounder, blackdrum, jacks and ladyfish are being caught if you are brave enough to fish in the wind. It looks as if things should start calming down this weekend and getting back to normal, let’s hope so.

2007-10-24T13:08:00.001-04:00

It seems we can finally bid adieu to that awful red tide that hung around for almost three weeks. Although there were fish kills I don’t expect it to take too long for the fishing to rebound. Inshore the hardest hit area seemed to be Matanzas Inlet down to the Pellicer flats. Lots of dead trout, flounder and redfish were reported. It never seemed to reach the southern end of Flagler county or Volusia county. I never saw any dead fish in that area. As a matter of fact the fishing was pretty good. The costal beaches of St. Johns, Flagler and northern Volusia counties took the hardest hit from the tide but reports already have the fishing making a strong comeback.
The trout fishing in the ICW had been hot until this past Sunday when it just seemed to shut down. Reports I’ve been getting this week is of a slow bite. This may be attributed to a couple of things, a slow moving tide, the full moon, winds and what seems to be a lack of bait. However, look for the fishing to pick up by this weekend. Roy Mattson, at Roy’s Bait house, said he has been receiving reports out of Georgia and northern Florida that of lots of bait and fish are moving south. It could be that the warm weather and water temperatures have kept the bait up that way a little longer than usual. We’ll just have to wait and see if this run materializes here.
Last Thursday Lou DeFazio and I fished the ICW for what turned out to be a good day of fishing. We hit a couple of spots and caught lots of trout. I fared better with my mirrolure than Lou did with his jig. After seeing all the trout I was catching Lou decided to switch to a small Rapala x-rap lure. On about his third cast he hooked into a big fish. At first we couldn’t tell what it was because the fish didn’t want to come to the surface. When it’s tail finally broke the surface you could see the black spot that indicated it was a redfish. When we got it in the boat it measured out at 30” and weighed 9 lbs. The fish was photographed and released. It was the biggest red Lou has caught yet. Mark Zander fished with me on Saturday and had a 25” snook also using a small Rapala x-rap plug.
Jake Jaquish At Jakes Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports that the snook fishing has slacked off some but most of the action is taking place after midnight from the bridge. Jake also reports black drum being caught on live or dead shrimp.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports lots of blues being caught on mullet, black drum and whiting using shrimp and pompano on shrimp or clams.
Hugh Anderson, fishing the “2007” Fall Surf Fishing Tournament held out of St Augustine, weighed in the largest fish a 12.6 lb bluefish.

2007-10-17T11:22:00.000-04:00

Last week I reported that the red tide was about gone, was I ever wrong. The red tide is still here and it is strong. Anyone who has spent any time on or near the beach can tell you how annoying the situation is. Watery eyes, coughing and sneezing are the major symptoms caused by breathing in the toxin. I live about a mile due west of the beach and I’m getting the effects of it here. I feel sorry for those living beachside. It’s also nasty when trying to fish the ICW. Wearing a surgical mask may not look chic but it will cut down on the breathing symptoms.
When is it going to go away? No one knows. According to information I received from the state, red tide can last days, weeks or months and can also change daily due to wind conditions. With the east/northeast winds that have been blowing for the last couple of weeks I don’t see a change coming soon unless we get some strong west/northwest winds that last a few days.
I have also received reports of fish kills in the ICW around Matanzas inlet, Pellicier flats and as far south as the Hershel King boat ramp. None of theses are good reports for fishermen. I haven’t noticed any dead fish south of the rte 100 Bridge in Flagler Beach. I’m hoping it stays that way. The southern end of Flagler County and the Highbridge area tides are controlled by Ponce Inlet rather then Matanzas Inlet. Let’s hope it keeps this area free of the red tide. For more information on red tide you can go to http://www.redtideonline.com/ or view videos at www.start1.com
The winds are also creating havoc with baby sea turtles. The hatchlings, they usually spend the first year of their lives floating around on seaweed, are being washed ashore by the easterly winds. To date my wife Lori has collected over 500 hatchlings that have been turned over to the piers Flagler Bait and Tackle shop and to Roy’s Bait House. Both places will get in touch with Lori for their safe return. She gathers the turtles and takes them to the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet. The turtles are given a good rest and some antibiotics before being returned to the sea.
Now for some fishing news, the pier reports blues and redfish but you have to fish out past the breakers.
Roy’s Bait House reports Dave Bourde fished the pier for redfish of 41” and 39”. Brenden Smith fished the surf and landed a 26” red, 14 bluefish and 2 – 16” sheepshead. William Konetzky pulled a 36 ½” snook from the ICW.
Last Friday I landed 3 snook in the Highbridge area, the fish were 8”, 17” and 26”. All fish were caught on a mirrolure or a yo-zuri 3D minnow. I talked with a fellow who told me that last week he and his buddy caught over 37 snook fishing from the bridge and all fish were caught on artificial baits. Reds, trout and flounder are also being caught from Highbridge to the Granada Bridge.

Photo: Lori Ottlein holds one of over 500 baby sea turtles that have been washed ashore onto Flagler County beaches in the past week. All turtles have been taken to the Marine Science center in Ponce Inlet.

2007-10-10T10:13:00.000-04:00

The next time you have to renew your fishing license it’s going to cost you an extra $4. The FWC has raised the price from $13 to $17 for the cost of an annual license. It is the first time since 1989 that the price has been increased. This increase still falls behind the rate of inflation. For more information about licenses go to www.myfwc .com.
According to the results of the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation Survey Florida has defended its title of “Fishing Capital of the World”. 2.8 million anglers fished here last year spending $4.4 billion and creating 75,000 jobs. Another interesting highlight of the study, reported by the American Sportfishing Association, is that one out of three anglers fish for largemouth bass, America’s most popular game fish. Also, one of every seven Americans fished in 2006, making the sport more popular than jogging or golf. Despite all these high numbers the amount of issued licenses had decreased in 2006.
Wednesday morning I spoke with Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle (pier) and he said it looks like the red tide is finally gone. Thank goodness! Johnny said it didn’t seem to affect the fishing too much. Lots of big reds are being caught at the pier, fish in the 20 lb bracket. Mullet or shrimp, live or frozen, are doing the trick. Black drum to 23” are also being caught along with lots of whiting. Look for flounder to start to show soon also.
Jake Jaquish at Jakes Highbridge Bait and Tackle had three words to report, snook,snook,snook. Jake says they can be found almost anywhere you fish. They are eagerly taking plugs or artificial bait. Fish creek mouths that feed into the ICW on an outgoing tide. Big schools of jacks are erupting in the ICW on bait as they move south. They will eat anything you throw into a marauding school. You’d best have on a leader when battling a jack. Jacks aren’t much in the way of food but they sure do put up one heck of a fight when hooked. Jake also reports lots of speckled trout. You’ll catch trout on the same baits you use for snook.
I found lots of trout last week but most of them were in the 14” range. You might have to land a dozen or so to be able to find any keepers. Although I didn’t find any snook it won’t keep me from trying this week. I think I’ll just have to try fishing a bit farther south.

2007-10-02T19:01:00.001-04:00

Due to the strong northeast winds this past week the water levels in ICW are extremely high right now. Water levels are just inches below the seawalls along the ICW and the flats are flooded. All this high water just gives fish and baitfish too many places to retreat to. The only saving thing is that the bait may stay more to the ICW as it migrates south.
The question is, will the bait run still be going on after the winds subside? I guess the only way to find out is to get out and fish. Before the winds picked up on Saturday I was having a pretty good day with trout. On almost every cast I had either a hit or a fish. This lasted for about an hour, then the winds started to pickup and the bite seemed to turn off. The tide going almost slack probably played a role as well. I decided to call it a day. For the record, I was using a soft plastic paddle tail jig on a ¼ oz jig head. I was swimming it half way between the bottom and the surface. Sometimes you have to try retrieving at different speeds to find what depth the fish are at.
Chuck Medlin didn’t let the winds bother him on Sunday. He found a place that was semi protected from the wind. Fishing with a soft plastic bait he landed 3 snook to 7 lbs. Chuck said the snook were busting water while feeding on bait. This lasted about an hour before things finally died off.
There were a few people fishing the rough water from the pier on Tuesday and they were landing slot size reds, black drum and bluefish. Look for the surf and pier action to pick up once the surf dies down.
Here’s a bit of fishing news for all you readers who use to fish for fluke up north. (the equivalent to southern flounder) Monica Oswald caught a pending all tackle world record 24.3 lb fluke. Monica was disqualified for the record by the IGFA when she stated that she rested her rod on the gunwale of the boat while fighting the fish. Resting the rod on an object is not allowed by the IGFA.
Moving farther north to Canada a Canadian record was set for northern pike. An unidentified angler caught a pike that weighed in at 55 lbs and measured 55 inches long. According to the pictures I was sent the angler landed the big fish when it came up to eat a 20 lb pike the man had on his line. There was a picture of the fish trying to eat the other one. If anyone would like to see the pics you can email me at captrco@cfl.rr.com and I will send them to you.
One other note of interest pertaining to boating is that boat thefts in Florida are up 20% this year. Most of the problems seem to be in south Fl. and the Keys. Authorities believe this is due in large part by people stealing go-fast boats in the 30’ to 40’ range to smuggle refugees into the U.S.

Photo: Unidentified angler with a Canadian Record 55 lb 56 inch northern pike.

2007-09-26T10:15:00.000-04:00

105 anglers in 54 boats participated in the Flagler County Sportfishing Clubs 19th Annual Inshore Fishing Tournament last Saturday. There was $4000 in prize money paid out to the winning anglers. Close to $3000 was raised for the Stewart-Marchman Foundation of Flagler County. Here are the top 3 winners for each category. Black Drum - 1st – Amy Cauley 3.6 lbs, 2nd – Amy Cauley 3.6 lbs, 3rd – Mike LaMonica 3.6 lbs. Redfish – 1st – Billy Page 6.1 lbs, 2nd – Winn Cummings 5.95 lbs, 3rd – Melissa Page5.5 lbs. Flounder – 1st – Dave Tucker 4.55 lbs, 2nd – Al Scott 3.75 lbs, 3rd – Chris Stewart 3 lbs. Trout – 1st – Chuck Kaszupski 2.45 lbs, 2nd – Chris Herrera 2.45 lbs. 3rd – David Wright 1.95 lbs. If there is a tie in the weight of a fish the tie is broken by the first one to weigh their fish in.
The ICW has been alive with mullet on there migration south. The mullet coupled with the rain that dropped the water temperature about 5 degrees has turned the fish on. Sunday there were fish erupting as school after school of bait headed south. Mullet were being chased out of the water into the air and the fish were ascending after them. It was quite a site to witness. Trout, snook, jacks, redfish and tarpon were all part of the feeding frenzy. There was even a porpoise that put on a show. Boats were stopping to watch as the dolphin was leaping and spinning to heights of 10 feet out of the water. The dolphin show lasted about 5 minutes.
Lou DeFazio and I were lucky enough to be there to see it all take place. It was one of those fishing days that you’ll remember for a long time. We caught so many fish that day that we lost count. Using artificial baits we landed trout to 19”, small reds, snook to 23”, jacks in the 4 lb range and even jumped a tarpon that hit a mirrolure right next to the boat. The 40 lb tarpon jumped twice, spit the plug, and was gone.
Fishing in the surf and from the pier has also picked up. Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle on the pier reports that reds from 26” to 35” are being caught on the incoming tide. Flounder to 23” are also being caught. Bluefish, pompano and Spanish mackerel have all began to make their presence.
Jake Jaquish at Highbridge Bait and tackle reports lots of snook, triut and tarpon in the area. Jake says the snook are hitting in the early morning on skitterwalks and twitchin raps.
Occasionally I like to report on the fishing in different areas of the state for anyone that may be doing some traveling. John Inman and Dave Goddas recently traveled to Chokoloskee in the Everglades for two days of fishing. The duo chartered a boat where the captain put them on lots of fish. In two days, using live bait, they had over 75 snook and redfish. Not a bad couple of days fishing.

Photo: John Inman with an Everglades snook. It was one of over 75 fish caught in 2 days of fishing out of Chokoloskee.

2007-09-19T10:58:00.000-04:00

Last week my wife Lori and I spent four days at the Florida Outdoor Writers Association conference in Homosassa, Fl. Homosassa is located on the west coast an hour north of Tampa and just south of Crystal River. Rather than towing my boat over to fish unknown waters I booked a half day charter with Capt. Earle Waters of Back Country Concepts.
We met Earle at our hotel on Thursday morning and followed him to a boat ramp that would put us in the midst of prime backwater. The trip to the boat ramp took us for miles along a winding road through what is known as low country. We arrived at a paying boat ramp on private property and launched the 16 ft Hellsbay skiff.
Once on the water it took about 7 minutes to get to Earle’s first spot. When he shut down the engine a school of about 100 redfish spooked pushing a large wake through the water. Earle poled us through crystal clear water over grass flats where you could see everything below you. After a few casts I landed a 24” red on a 17MR mirrolure. We had a couple more strikes but no takers. The big school stayed just out of casting range as we pursued them so Earle decided to move on. We ran into a couple of smaller schools and caught a few reds on Berkley gulps.
As the water got shallower on the outgoing tide the fish seemed to break off into singles. We cast to a lot of fish but they weren’t in a feeding mode. My wife Lori took over the bow and made a cast with a Rapala skitterwalk and the water exploded with the crash of a redfish. The 6 lb red was boated, photographed and released. We then headed back to the boat ramp.
The next day I got to fish with Capt. Earle in the FOWA tournament. Again we saw fish but they just weren’t in a feeding mode. Earle suggested it might be due to a front that was passing through. Earle did manage a 30 ½” red on a skitterwalk and a 27 ¾” red on a berkley gulp.
One of the beautiful things about the fishing other than the beautiful clear water and grass flats was I only saw two other boats in the 2 days I fished. It’s only a 2 ½ hour drive to fish these waters. Capt. Earle is one of the only true shallow water guides in Homosassa. He can be reached at 352-302-0359 or visit his web site at http://www.backcountryconcepts.com/.
Locally, redfish and flounder are being caught at the pier. Look for the bite to get better as the surf calms down. Sunday Lou DeFazio and I did some fly fishing and faired rather well. I was throwing a top water fly and only had one hit. Lou was throwing a streamer fly and landed 3 snook, 2 trout and had numerous strikes, he also lost a big snook when the hook pulled. Watching this I changed flies and landed a snook and also lost a large one when the hooked pulled.
All the rain giving us fresh water the fishing won’t improve until it begins to flush out. Try fishing deeper water where the salinity levels will be higher.

2007-09-12T07:46:00.001-04:00

Twice this past week I picked up the Daytona News Journal and read articles about snakes and that being bitten by a snake is unusual. Last week I became one of the unusual victims. After picking up my charter at the boat ramp we stopped at a canal to throw some plugs. My client, while throwing his plug up towards the bank, let his cast get away from him and it landed up on land and became stuck. I then pulled the boat up to the shoreline and got out to retrieve the plug.
I was walking toward the plug (dressed in flip flops) when I felt something sharp on the side of the heel on my left foot. I thought to myself that I brushed up against a sharp piece of wood as I took a couple of more steps I turned around to see what it was when I noticed a small snake following me. He stopped and coiled up and I could see the small rattles on his tail. I knew right away that it was a pygmy rattlesnake. Now I’m not one to harm animals, not even a snake, but when it bites you it’s a different story. I picked a large piece of coquina rock and threw it on him. I retrieved the plug and got back in the boat. My client suggested I go to the ER but we continued to fish for about 15 more minutes. I decided to call my wife who is an ER nurse and she told me to get myself to the hospital.
Once at the ER they took me in right away, gave me a tetnus shot and put an I.V. drip in me with antibiotics. They kept measuring my foot to see if there was any swelling but none occurred. The doctor asked me what kind of snake it was and I told him it was an adult pygmy rattler. He said I was lucky because many times the first strike of an adult pygmy is a dry strike. The snake had only bitten me once, probably because I was walking when it happened. (Pygmy rattlesnakes strike their prey repeatedly) They kept me there for two hours then released me.
The lesson to be learned here is that a $5 plug is not worth the risk of serious injury. Cut your line or break it off. Also, all you people who get out of the boat to cast net mullet need to take a good look around before proceeding to walk a bank.
According to Capt. Ralph Olivett the redfishing is still good at the inlet on the change of tides. Mullet is the bait of choice.
Tarpon continue to be seen rolling in the canals. I heard of one kayaker who was almost pulled under by a 70 lb tarpon he hooked on a live shrimp. He got scared and cut his line to free himself of the big fish.
Who says fishing isn’t a dangerous sport?

2007-09-05T08:59:00.001-04:00

Good news for surf and pier anglers, the mullet run has started along the beach. The mullet will bring in spanish mackerel, king mackerel, redfish, flounder and tarpon. When the Spanish mackerel show up a large silver spoon tossed from the beach will work, just make sure you use a metal leader or you’ll lose your spoon. Spoons will also catch king mackerel that might come in close to the beach and don’t rule out connecting with a tarpon. When fishing from the pier a “gotcha” plug will do the trick on the Spanish. A whole frozen mullet, live mullet or a fresh chunk of mullet is your best bet for reds and flounder.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle on the pier tells of king mackerel to 33 lbs being brought to the planks. There was also a 28 lb barracuda caught. Black drum and whiting are also being caught. Look for the fishing to get even better as the mullet run heats up.
Inshore there are lots of snook of all sizes to be found. They’re hitting flies, topwater plugs, diving plugs, jigs and live shrimp or mullet. Tarpon can also be found in the canals off the ICW. There have been tarpon up to 80 lbs rolling in the Sea Ray canal. The best bet for a possible hook up with a tarpon is to live line a mullet or a pogy.
Look for reds cruising the banks of the ICW at the end of the out going tide and the beginning of the incoming tide. Lots of times you’ll be able to sight fish them as their backs will be out of the water while they search for food.
Flounder fishing remains steady. I caught a 3 lb flounder this past week on a mirrolure plug. Flounder are very aggressive fish and will come off the bottom to chase bait. Jake Jaquishat Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle told me of a 33” flounder that was caught this past week. Jake also reports that snook to 37” have been taken from the bridge and reds along the banks of the ICW.
Lou DeFazio and I were talking at the rte. 100 boat ramp the other day and he told me that he landed and released 25 snook to 33” during the month of August. Lou fishes at night from the bank using only a jig. He looks for the remainder of the season to be a good one for snook.
Here are the results from Roy’s redfish tournament, most spots, 1st – Terry Schweers – 10, 2nd – Ted Wilk – 7, 3rd – Rosa Pana – 6
Heaviest fish, 1st – Robert Mock II – 5.85 lbs, 2nd – Paul Wann – 5.1 lbs, 3rd – Dallas Moore –5.05 lbs.
Roy also reported that Linda Vickers caught a 1 ½ lb permit in the ICW.
The Flagler County Sportfishing Club is holding their Annual Inshore Tournament September 22 at Bings Landing. The captains meeting will be at JT’s Seafood Shack on A1A in the Hammock. Entry fee is $45 per angler. Payouts will be for blackdrum, redfish, trout and flounder. For more information you can goto www.fcsportfishing.com or contact John Raybon at 386-447-3828 or 386-503-3545.

2007-08-29T09:31:00.001-04:00

I would like to take a moment here to express my condolences to the entire Meekins family on the tragic loss of Skyler Meekins. Skyler loved to fish and was very well known to all the piers regular anglers. Over the years she honed her skills out there and had many tarpon and king mackerel to her credit. Skyler was also an accomplished inshore angler who spent many a day fishing with her dad, Hap Meekins. Her and her dad came in 2nd place in this years bucket “O” fun tournament and walked away with $1,400 in prize money. She also spent many a day fishing offshore with her dad. Skyler’s smiling face will be missed in the fishing community.
Every August big redfish appear at Matanzas inlet and this year is no exception. Reds to 40 inches are being caught. The bait of choice is live mullet rigged on a 3/0 circle hook. You’ll also need enough weight to hold the mullet along the bottom. Usually a small egg sinker or a couple large split shots. The optimum time to fish is at the change of the tide. This is when the fish seem to be most active. Once the current starts to rip through the inlet you’ll need to go to heavier weights to keep the bait down near the bottom. Reds to 30” can be caught on an outgoing tide at the mouths of creeks that feed into the ICW. If you can, get into the creeks on the out going tide and find a hole where the reds will congregate.
Elsewhere in the ICW, daytime trout fishing remains on the slow side. The water temperature is high which makes the trout lethargic. I believe if we get some rain it will cool the water down enough to turn these fish on. Nighttime trout fishing has remained consistent.
Flounder continue to be caught using live mullet, mud minnows and live shrimp. Keeper size mangrove snapper are abundant and are readily caught using live shrimp or pieces of shrimp.
Snook fishing remains good and will only get better when the mullet run begins. Lou DeFazio and I headed out the other morning to fly fish for snook and Lou landed his first snook on a fly. I had a couple of strikes on a topwater fly but no takers. Lou has been getting snook to 32” at night using a jig/shad tail combination.
Tarpon can be found rolling in most of the canals. Most of the fish I’ve seen are anywhere from 20 to 60 lbs. These fish can be very difficult to catch. Live lining a mullet is probably the best bet to connect with a silver king.
Pier fishing has been slow. Small reds, pompano and blues are the report. Look for the fishing to pick up in a couple of weeks when the mullet and pogy runs begin

2007-08-29T09:24:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-08-22T08:51:00.000-04:00

Snook season reopens next Saturday, Sept. 1st. Let me remind you that snook regulations were changed this past year. The slot limit for snook on the east coast of Florida is now 28” to 32”. The bag limit, state wide, is one per day per person. If you plan to fish the Everglades or the west coast of Florida the slot size is 28” to 33”. You must squeeze the tail when measuring snook. You can find out all the regulations on saltwater fish by going to http://www.myfwc.com/, or by picking up a saltwater fishing regulations pamphlet at your local tackle store.
Snook can be caught in all of Flagler’s salt and brackish waters and occasionally as far north as Matanzas Inlet. Some of the best fishing can be found in the Palm Coast canals under docks, along sea walls and by spillways that empty into the canals. They can also be found almost anywhere along the ICW. If fishing at night try under the Palm Coast bridge, the rte. 100 bridge in Flagler Beach and Highbridge in Volusia County or any of the lighted docks along the ICW. Docks where the lights are closest to the water will produce the best.
I like to start my day fishing for snook at daybreak when they are still actively feeding near the surface or in shallow water. If you’re using spinning rod or a baitcasting rod start with a topwater plug such as a topdog jr., skitterwalk or a highroller rip roller. All these plugs make noise to attract fish. If you fly fish use a topwater popping fly. My favorite is the 2/0 Rainy bubblehead fly. Once you properly learn to work this fly snook find it irresistible.
As the day wears on, usually when it hits around 9 am you’ll want to change to deeper diving plugs such as bombers or rapala x-raps. Soft plastics such as bass assassins jerk baits fished on a jig head or an exude shrimp or D.O.A. can also do the trick. Burkley gulps can also be very affective.
Overall, live bait is the best way to go during the daylight hours. Live mullet can be used and is a good choice once the mullet run starts. Live pinfish and pigfish are also very good baits. I’ve even caught mangrove snapper and had snook come up and eat them as I was retrieving them to the boat. You still can’t beat a large live shrimp to connect with a snook during the daylight hours. They just can’t pass it up.
Snook have sandpaper like mouths and very sharp gills so one piece of tackle that is a must when snook fishing is a leader no matter what type of bait you are using. Preferably fluorocarbon. 30 lb is a good choice during the day but in the night, fishing around docks and bridge fenders, I would go to a 40 or 50 lb leader.

Photo: Here is a typical size snook for our area. This one weighed 7 lbs and was caught on a mirrOlure during the middle of the day.

2007-08-15T08:46:00.001-04:00

Let me set the scene for my past Sundays’ fishing excursion. I shut down my engine as I pulled into a Flagler Beach canal, lowered my trolling motor and readied my fly rod to begin fishing. As I worked my way into the canal I noticed that things were awfully quiet, very few mullet jumping, a lack of bait and nearly a dead low tide. I thought to myself, am I wasting my time or should I move to find some moving water. I decided to stay and give it a shot since I had limited myself to 3 hours of fishing. Working my way down the first half of the canal I didn’t have a single hit or blowup on my topwater fly. As I continued into the second half of the canal I had my first unsuccessful strike. I continued on and had a couple of more strikes but still no takers. I finally connected with a snook that was about 10 inches.
When I reached the end of the canal I worked it for a few minutes and had a good strike, but once again a missed fish. I worked my way up the other side of the canal and landed another small snook. I then decided to go back and work the end of the canal one more time. On my third cast something inhaled my fly and began to run with it. The fish then jumped about 3’ in the air and I knew right away what it was, a small tarpon. He proceeded to jump three more times before I got him to the side of the boat. Once I had him there he took one took last jump and landed right in the boat.
This was by no means a big tarpon as standards go, it only measured 25”, but it was still big fun on a fly rod. It was also my first tarpon on a fly rod. There’s only one goal I have in mind now when it comes to tarpon and that is to land a larger one on fly tackle. Oh well, I guess this means I’ll have to spend more money on a heavier weight fly rod and reel. Something else I can add to my already vast arsenal of fishing tackle.
The big talk this past week was of the 8 king mackerel that were caught off the pier on Sunday. That was a record according to some of the regulars that have fished the pier for years. Neil Foglia has caught 4 kings so far this year weighing 10.12, 15.3, 23,and 28 lbs. One more and Neil will have a record for the most kings in a season. Neil has caught his kings using live spots, bluefish and pogys for bait. Other than kings the pier is also yielding whiting, pompano and black drum.
Roy’s Bait House reports that Bob Quartero was offshore for 2 red snapper, 1 dolphin and 5 king mackerel. Inshore Chuck Kaszupski and Chuck Jr. fished Stomach Lake for 3 trout, 18, 19 and 20 inches. Greg Wilke – 24” black drum. Wes Cooper – 27”-6.8lb trout, 22”-5.5 lb black drum. Robert Cassesse – 26 ¼”-6.3 lb trout. Alan Norman – 23”-3,9 lb red. Bob Rees – 24”-4 lb trout.

Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein caught this 25” tarpon while fly fishing using a topwater bubble head fly.

2007-08-08T07:44:00.001-04:00

2007-08-01T08:20:00.001-04:00

This past Monday I walked out to the end of the Flagler Beach pier to see how the fishing was going for tarpon and king mackerel. Not much going on that afternoon. I did talk to pier regular, Bob Burns, who told me the tarpon and pogys had disappeared but the king mackerel fishing was still productive. Since there have been no pogys to use for bait for the kings anglers have been using small live bluefish.
This is how the angling technique works to catch the kings and tarpon from the pier. Most of the people are using conventional rod and reel outfits. First you need a good stout conventional rod about 9 to 10 ft long along with a conventional reel that will hold 30 to 40 lb test line. At the end of the line is tied a large bobber with a claw style sinker attached to the bottom of it. This rig is then cast out from the end of the pier as far as they can cast it. They then have a 5 to six ft leader with a snap swivel on one end and a stinger rig hooked to the other end of the leader. A stinger rig is a couple of treble hooks connected to a wire leader. The live bait is then attached to the stinger rig. The snap swivel is then placed on the line that has been cast out and the bait slides down the line into the water. Once the bait is in the water it swims around near the surface like a wounded fish and hopefully attracts a predator. The best way to learn about this type of fishing is to go to the pier and observe how the angling is done.
According to Bob, 22 kings had been brought to the planks so far this year and 4 tarpon have been beached and released. Bob also runs a web site, www.flaglerbeachpier.net, where you can get reports and see photos of the fish that have been caught.
On the ICW side the fishing was a little slow this past weekend due to the full moon.
During the full moon I was only able to raise one small snook on a topwater fly and another small snook and a small trout on a mirrolure About five days before the full moon I was out throwing a 7m mirrolure and caught eight trout and had about another ten that came up and hit the plug but didn’t take it. I expect the fishing to be better this weekend now that the moon is on the down side.
National Marina Day will be held at the Palm Coast Marina, 200 Clubhouse Drive, on Saturday August 11th. Some of the events will include the 2nd annual cardboard boat race, free electric boat rides, kayak lessons and tours and many other vendor displays. For more information call the Marina at (386) 446-6370.
Roy Mattson at Roy’s Bait House reports that Steve Martin and crew did an overnight trip offshore for a 28.14 lb king mackerel, 14.14 lb cobia, red snapper, black sea bass, mangrove snapper and triggerfish. Inshore Mike Martin – 25” redfish. Jennell Flesher – 2 trot and 2 flounder. Tom Panetti – 21” redfish. Gina Rodgerson – 4 lb trout.
Jake Jaquish of Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports king mackerel being caught on the pier along with pompano, bluefish and whiting. Jake also reports trout and snook around the Highbridge area.

2007-07-25T10:17:00.001-04:00

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.

2007-07-18T09:46:00.001-04:00

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.

2007-07-11T10:53:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-07-04T10:34:00.001-04:00

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.

2007-06-28T06:24:00.000-04:00

Fishing in the ICW is still on the slow side during the day but I have gotten some good reports of trout being taken around dock lights at night. One fisherman I spoke with told me his most productive hours have been from midnight to around 3AM, not the hours most of us tend to keep. Fish such as trout have eyes that are sensitive to sunlight so it would stand to reason that they do a great deal of feeding at night. If you head out at night look for docks where their lights are close to the water. These docks will attract the most bait and in turn will bring in the fish that prey upon them. Live shrimp and artificial baits that resemble shrimp or mullet all work.
To increase your chances of catching fish under the lights try a couple of different techniques with your baits. Don’t always throw directly at the light. Most of the fish will be holding in the shadows at the edge of the light. When you do throw into the light reposition your boat after several casts. This will allow you to cover different spots on the perimeter of the light. Try throwing your bait across the light into the shadows, swimming it through the lights and back into the shadows. Another technique is to throw the bait up current into the shadows and let it roll along on the bottom through the light and back into the shadows. If you know how to flip or skip cast a bait, place into the darkness under the dock.
Casting at night throws off your depth perception. You’ll find yourself putting your baits on the docks and sometimes hitting boats that are in their slings. Try to avoid these situations. People can get awfully angry if they see you climbing around their dock trying to remove your bait that is stuck on it. Also try to keep the noise down and your lighting low or off. I’ve had dock lights shut off on me by dock owners on more than one occasion.
Roy’s Bait House reports that Jeff Mullaney fished the surf for 12 whiting and 4 pompano. Matt Snyder had 2 black drum, 4 pompano and 1 keeper redfish. Ray Johnson fished the ICW for 2 mango snapper, 2 lane snapper,5 trout to 19” and a 25” snook (released). Bill Woodfin – 5keeper trout to 18”. Mike Pusateri had a 26 ½”- 6.03 lb trout that he caught on a live pigfish. Troy Berthon- 21”trout, 18” redfish. Offshore Ronald Gorney had dolphin a couple of dolphin – 11.08 Lbs and 10.05 lbs.

Photo: Bryce Simons proudly shows off his first redfish. The fish was caught on a live shrimp.

2007-06-20T07:19:00.000-04:00

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has approved changes to snook bag and size limits and harvest seasons.
New rules reduce the snook daily recreational bag limit from 2 fish per person to a one-fish daily limit on Florida’s Atlantic Coast. This makes it a one fish limit statewide.
Rules also change the 27-34 inch slot limit to 28-32 inches in Atlantic waters and 28-33 inches in Florida’s Gulf, Everglades National Park and Monroe County waters.
In addition, the rules add the first half of December and the month of February to the Dec. 15 – Jan. 31 and May – August closed harvest seasons for snook in the Gulf, Everglades and Monroe County. The Dec- Jan. 13 and June – August closed harvest seasons on the Atlantic waters will remain unchanged.
The rules also allow anglers to carry more than one cast net aboard a vessel while fishing for snook.
The new snook rules take effect in July and will be implemented when the snook harvest season reopens on Sept. 1st.
Fishing the ICW has been inconsistent so far this year. One day you go out and you’ll find fish than the next day nothing. This seems to be especially true when it comes to trout. It’s not like it has been in past years when you could depend on finding trout almost everywhere. I’ve also heard the same thing is true up in St. Augustine. I don’t know what has changed but I do have a couple of theories.
One is a possible natural cycle that the fish go through and maybe this is their year. Another idea I have is the warm winters we’ve had the last couple of years. Maybe the warmer winter water has put them out of balance from their normal habits. The last idea is the lack of rain over the last couple of years causing much higher salinity levels in water that is normally brackish. This could affect their breeding habits and where the young fry grow up. Who really knows, but I think they sound good.
There has been though, some good catches of flounder coming from the ICW. A party I had out this past week had 3 nice flatties in the 15” range. Other people have been getting them in the same range. Capt. Mike Vickers had one last week that tipped the scales at almost 6 lbs. There is also some flounder being caught in the surf and on the pier. Shrimp, mullet or mud minnows are all good baits for flounder.
Roy Mattson at Roy’s bait House reports that Joe Rickey went offshore for a 28” grouper, 3 – 21” red snapper and a 22” yellowtail snapper. Blake Allman fished the rocks around Matanzas inlet and had 4 pompano between 3 – 4 lbs, 11 good size whiting and 2 slot size reds.

Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein caught and released this 24” snook. The fish was caught fly fishing with a topwater bubblehead fly.

2007-06-14T13:48:00.001-04:00

The winds finally laid down this past weekend and made for some calm seas allowing the offshore crowd to get out and wet their lines. The fish gods rewarded them after weeks of being kept landlocked. Good catches of dolphin, king mackerel, cobia and red snapper were reported. Dennis Bayer and his buddies went out of Ponce Inlet and headed to the Steeples to troll up dolphin. They boated 30 of them that weighed between 8 and 17 lbs. Steve Mills weighed in a red snapper that tipped the scales at 21 lbs 14 ounces and Rob Thomas who fished with Steve had a 10 lb red snapper. Tom Moleski weighed in the largest red snapper – 25 lbs.
If you saw an unusual amount of boats along the Flagler beaches this past Friday and Saturday it was due the King Buster 400 Tournament held out of St Augustine. James Rachael of Clearwater took top honors with a 46.85 lb king mackerel. Charles Meekins of Flagler beach took the top spot in the 23 ft and under boat division. For the overall weigh in go to http://www.kingbuster400.comand/ scroll to real time standings.
Jake Jaquish at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports that lots of king mackerel are being caught from the pier. The largest weighed in this past week was 49 lbs. Jake also reports tarpon rolling in Sanchez Creek along with snook and redfish in the Tamoka Basin. For those of you who don’t know Sanchez Creek runs off the Tamoka River.
I set out one day last week to do some fly fishing in the ICW and was rewarded with a 25” snook that hit a topwater bubblehead fly. This fly has quickly become my favorite. I also jumped a small tarpon while using it last week. The only place I’ve been able to locate this fly is on Bass Pro Shops website.
Roy at Roy’s Bait House also reports lots of king mackerel being caught offshore. Ray Gillet and crew had 2 dolphin and 2 king mackerel. Jim Ingham had a 14.04 lb dolphin. Joe walkup weighed in a 13.12 lb red snapper, 2 lb triggerfish and a 35.10 lb king mackerel. From the surf Roy reports Tom Dawson with 3 pompano, 1 bluefish and 1 flounder. Paul Norton had 6 pompano and 4 flounder while fishing with clam strips.

2007-06-06T11:51:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week the winds switched to the west and laid down the rough surf. This allowed anglers on the pier to get back to the business of catching fish, and that’s just what they did. Some big king mackerel were caught Tuesday and Wednesday. Kyle Maners brought one to the planks that measured 55” and weighed 39.06 lbs. James Hampton had a 34.11 lb king and Bob Burns caught one that weighed in at 17 lbs. The action off the pier should remain good as long as the winds hold off. Also look for a lot of boat activity around the pier Friday and Saturday due to the King Buster 400 Tournament being held out of St. Augustine. Anyone wishing to attend the weigh ins can go to the St. Augustine Municipal Marina located at 100 Avenida Menedez. As the month wears on look for tarpon to show up as they feed on the schools of pogys that begin to appear along the beaches.
The inshore fishing remains sporadic. One day you go out and you can find some good size fish and next you have to search hard to get a couple of decent fish. Last week I had Bill Ser, John Hamburger and E.Y. Walter out fishing. The trio had ladyfish, jacks, flounder, bluefish, redfish and trout with the two biggest weighing 3.08 lbs and 4.08 lbs. The following day Sumner Bryant and Dennis Voith worked hard to catch fish but Dennis had his first redfish in the flats, 22”. They also had some small black drum, jacks and mangrove snapper. Hopefully conditions will change now that the full moon is past and the winds have slowed some.
Here’s some news for anglers who like to fish the Everglades like I do. There is a proposal by Everglades National Park Management Plan that would limit combustion engines to water over 3 ft in the park. Water that is less than 3 ft will be able to be accessed by trolling motor, push pole, kayak or canoe. Because the majority of water in the everglades is less than 3 ft it would cut off a lot of fishing areas to boaters. There will be public workshops in south Florida discussing this proposal. For more information you can contact Fred Herling (Everglades National Park Planner) at 305-242-7704 or fred_herling@nps.gov.
Doug Towell at Jakes Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports reds being caught in the backwaters around Highbridge. Flounder some trout and a few snook are being caught in the ICW. Snook up to 37” are being caught at night around the bridges on the Tamoka River.
Roy Mattson at Roy’s Bait House reports that Donna Smith had a 26 ½” red from the surf and Steve Graulirts had 3 nice pompano on clams. On the ICW side Mike and Buddy Hanson had a 23” and 25 ½” redfish. On the freshwater side, 10 yr old Logan Johnson caught a 6 lb bass in the Royal Palm Canal in Palm Coast. Kenny Smith of Bunnell had 46 specks on live minnows at Dead Lake.

Photo: Bill Ser holds a 4½ lb trout he caught live lining a shrimp. The fish was released.

2007-05-09T06:12:00.000-04:00

A low weather pressure system that has been sitting off the coast has wreaked havoc with fishing this past week. The strong gusty northeast winds kicked up the ocean to the point it almost looked like a hurricane with waves crashing and hitting the bottom of the pier and tearing up the dunes along the beach. I live on the mainland side of Flagler Beach and the surf was so rough I could hear the loud roar of the surf when I stood in my yard. I hope this is no indication of what is to come now that we are in hurricane season, lets hope not.
Tuesday morning I stopped at Roy’s Bait House at 8am to see if there was a fishing report and he told me that Hap Meekins was able to make it offshore before the blow for a 9.01 lb grouper, 2 cobia to 28.01 lbs and 12 mutton snapper. Rick Stevens had 3 flounder to 3 lbs. Other than those two things there’s not much else to report.
The northeast winds have also made for extremely high tides in the ICW and the backwaters. All you had to do was drive over the rte. 100 bridge and look at the marshland off the ICW to see how high the tides were. These high tides will make for difficult fishing until they recede. The high water just gives the fish access to places that they normally can’t get to and neither can we.
I don’t normally talk about freshwater fishing in this column but I came across an interesting web site the other day. If you’re into the BASS tournament trail you can find out how life really is on the tour by going to http://www.toyotafishing.com/. If you thought the tour was all glamour this site might change your mind about your dreams of becoming a pro angler.
On the saltwater side the Florida Guides Association has a new web site forum out, http://www.flatsfishing.com/. Here you can ask advice from professional guides from around the state. It covers everything from freshwater to saltwater and everything in between.
By the two web sites I have given you I guess you know what I do when I can’t get out and fish. Maybe, just maybe we will start to see some consistency to our weather pattern for this time of year and I will have more to report next week. Until then say a prayer to the fish gods.

Photo: Jason Murphy and Dennis McDaniel show off some nice trout and a flounder they caught recently while visiting our area.

2007-05-02T10:51:00.000-04:00

The Flagler County Sportfishing Clubs Annual Bucket Full “O” Fun tournament to benefit Hospice of Volusia/Flagler County was a huge success last weekend. The event, along with gorgeous weather, brought out 158 anglers fishing out of 72 boats vying for a spot in the top five winning places. The weigh in was held at Mad Dogs on the river in Flagler Beach. As anglers weighed in their catches they kept an eye on the leader board that was constantly changing. When it was all said and done the first place winner was Joe Ricke who weighed in a limit of flounder that totaled 17.5 lbs and earned him a cash payout of $1,680. 2nd was Hap Meekins, 14.25 lbs - $1,400.00. 3rd was Tim Anderson, 13.9 lbs - $1,120.00. 4th was Charles Dodgen, 13.0 lbs - $840.00. 5th was John Baggott, 11.75 lbs - $560.00.
On the junior angler side, anglers 12 and under, 1st place went to Adam Adrian with 2.2 lbs and 2nd place was Joey Cortese with 1.55 lbs.
I participated in the tournament along with my partner Sal Pasalaqua whose company, Craig-Flagler Palms Funeral Home, was one of the sponsors of the tournament. We found the morning bite to be a little on the slow side but did manage a couple of nice trout. Sal fished with live shrimp and landed a trout weighing 4.8 lbs., the largest of the tournament, and another that measured 22” but we released that one as you could only weigh in the legal size and bag limit of fish. I must say that Sal did a heck of a job for only his third time fishing inshore. We released a couple of other trout that were on the boarder line of 15”. We weighed in 3 trout that totaled 8.7 lbs and were in first place for a while with 20 minutes remaining to the weigh in. Overall we wound up in 9th place out of the 72 boats.
If I could make one suggestion to the Fishing Club it would be for everyone, including the weigh master, to have the exact same measuring device in it’s tournaments. It would eliminate illegal fish from being weighed in and also eliminate any doubt of fish that are boarder line legal size when measured using something other than that of the weigh master. It’s something to think about guys.
The surf and pier are producing whiting, pompano and a few flounder.
Action offshore is producing dolphin (fish), cobia and red snapper.

Photo: Sal Pasalaqua holds a trout he caught while aalive lining a shrimp.

2007-04-25T09:44:00.000-04:00

Let me start by making a correction about something I put in last weeks column. I wrote that there were flounder caught up to 35 inches, it was suppose to be flounder to 3.5 lbs. Sorry for the error. I caught some flack over that one including a few phone calls. It’s good to see that the readers are there to keep me on my toes.
Jake at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle repots that trout are being caught at the pier in the early morning hours and that flounder up to 6 lbs are still being. Black drum, whiting and bluefish round out the rest of the fish being landed. Jake also reports his other shop, Highbridge Bait and Tackle, has reports of lots of snook coming from the Highbridge area along with good catches of gator size trout. Jake took some time to fish last week and had snook of 30 and 27 inches. He used a shad tail on a bucktail jig to land the fish.
When the possibility of running offshore presents itself there are reports of cobia and king mackerel being caught. Cobia, which can usually be found this time of year in the 30 ft. depth range, are being found further out in the 65 ft. depth range. It could be due to the rough water we’ve been having lately.
Last week Kevin and Julie Tobin fished the ICW with me. The fishing started out a little slow but came on strong near the end of the trip. They caught jacks, a bunch of trout in the 17’ range and a couple of undersized snook. The fish were caught on live shrimp and plugs. Kevin lost a couple of larger trout that he hooked up on a bomber plug.
Here’s a little story for those of you that don’t think there are alligators in the ICW. I know there are gators there because I have seen many of them, especially in the southern part of the county. In my 16 yrs. of fishing here I have never witnessed what I saw a couple of weeks ago. I had a charter out and we were at the end of a canal that is about a ¼ of a mile long and began working are way back to the mouth of the canal under the power of the trolling motor. At the mouth of the canal we could see some thrashing going on but just figured it was a manatee flopping around. As we got closer I stated it looked like a gator but than it disappeared. Moving closer to the mouth we saw this arched object sticking out of the water that looked like the loch ness monster. Upon closer inspection we found it to be the tail of a gator but it was not moving. I got right next to it with the boat but it never moved. It was standing almost straight up and down so I couldn’t see the body but by the size of its tail I’d say it was between 13 to 15’ long. I took my push pole and poked it to see if it was alive and the gator swooshed its tail and went under the water only to have the tail surface again a few seconds later. This went on for a half hour than the gator disappeared under the surface. We hung around for about a half hour longer but it never surfaced again. The only conclusion that we could come to was that when we saw the flopping around that the gator had captured some kind of prey on the canals bank and dragged it into the deeper water to drown it. You might want to think twice before jumping into the water to cool off or walk the banks to cast net mullet.

Photo: Alan Skyles with a 5 ½ lb trout he caught while live lining a shrimp.

2007-04-18T11:38:00.000-04:00

I don’t know about you but I’ve about had it with this springs crazy weather. It’ll beautiful one day, a cold front and wind the next day. Let’s hope this all settles down so we can get to some serious fishing. Historically this is one of the best times of year to fish. Inshore, big snook start to show up along with gator trout and big jacks. Along the beaches flounder have one of their biggest runs of the year and the water temperature is just right for pompano with cobia not far behind. We’ll miss the cobia run if the wind keeps the surf riled up. With a little luck the fish gods will smile upon us and turn things around.
I’m getting reports from Roy’s Bait House that there are up to 50 flounder a day coming to the planks. Joe Locante has been limiting out daily with flounder up to 8 lbs. Al Spearman landed a five flounder and Alfredo Batone and his daughter 27 flounder up to 35 inches. Larry Finch has been fishing the clean water around Matanzas inlet for lots of pompano up to 5 lbs. and David Watson pulled 6 pompano, 3 blues and five flounder from the surf. Nathan Stark fished the ICW for 23” trout he caught on a topwater plug. Nathan was also kind enough to capture a brown pelican and remove some fishing tackle that it was wrapped up in. Steve Martin was able to slip offshore between fronts for a 24.09 lb red snapper.
Last Saturday Pete Arnold and Kevin Thompson fished aboard my boat for a ½ day charter. We started in the flats on the last of the incoming tide. I poled the guys around for about an hour and located 2 reds that were slamming mullet along the grass line. As fast as the fish appeared they fled even faster and all we could see were the fish pushing water as they fled the area. As the tide turned we left the flats and hit a feeder creek. It was there that they found trout, redfish, snook, flounder and jacks. After all was said and done Pete put 5 trout up to 19” in the box and landed his first ever snook that measured 25”.
There’s talk going on that the FWC wants to change the bag and size limits on snook. The bag limit on the east coast will be changed to match the bag limit on the west coast of 1 fish per day per angler and the slot limit to be changed from 27”-34” to 28”- 33”. They are also discussing putting a closed season on redfish. Once I hear something furthear I will let you know.
It’s still not to late to enter the Flagler County Sportfishing Clubs Bucket “o” Fun tournament next weekend. You can pick up an entry form at your local tackle store.

Photo: Pete Arnold displays the first snook he’s ever caught. The fish measured out at 25” and was caught live lining a shrimp.

2007-04-11T09:57:00.000-04:00

It seems that pier and surf fishing has begun to pick up. Reports I’m getting are of good size catches of flounder and pompano. Flounder up to 8 lbs have been reported at the pier and pompano to 5 ½ lbs from the surf. Best baits for flounder would be live mullet, mud minnows or shrimp. For pompano try using fresh dead shrimp, sand fleas, fish bites or clams fished on a pompano rig, these rigs can be purchased at any tackle store. The weight you use on this rig should be determined by the surf conditions. The majority of pompano are caught between the edge of the surf and the sand bar that runs parallel to the beach. The sand bar will become more prevalent as the tide recedes.

It also looks as though the offshore fishing is beginning to pick up. Jim Ingham weighed in a 23.9 lb king mackerel at Roy’s Bait House. Look for cobia to start to appear along our beaches in the next couple of weeks. Find a manta ray and it will usually have cobia following it. Large bucktail jigs with a curly tail grub on it will do the trick here, just make sure you use some stout tackle as these fish can run up to 40 to 50 lbs and more.

Inshore there are snook at night under the bridges that are being caught on diving plugs and soft plastics. Plugs such as bomber long A’s, 52M mirrolures, yo-zuri crystal minnow and the rapala x-rap will all work on snook and trout. Soft plastic shad imitations like the tsunami swimming shad are working as are soft plastic shrimp imitations.

Trout continue to be a mystery to me this year, one day they’re here than the next day you can’t find but one or two small ones. How ever on Good Friday I finally found some gator trout. Sumner Bryant and Alan Skyles fished with me that day and their trout that weighed in at 6 ½ and 5 ½ lbs. Both fish were caught while live lining shrimp and both were photographed released unharmed. Three days later I had another party out and could only find a couple of small trout along with jacks, ladyfish, flounder and some small reds. Maybe if we can get a weather pattern that is normal for this time of year the trout bite will improve.

Washington Oaks State Park celebrates Earth Day the weekend of April 21^st and 22^nd. There will be live entertainment both days and live reptiles and an alligator from the Alligator Farm. A live butterfly enclosure will also be on hand along with special programs for children. For more information you can contact Cristy Leonard at (386) 446-6783.

Photo: Sumner Bryant shows off a 61/2 lb gator trout he caught while live lining a shrimp. The fish was released unharmed.

2007-03-28T07:47:00.000-04:00

There is loads of bait in the ICW right now. Large schools of mullet and glass minnows are apparent. This is a good thing because with the bait comes fish that feed on it. This is holding true when it comes to snook fishing. I received a first hand report the other day from an angler that had been out two nights in a row fishing the Highbridge area. He said there was bait and snook all over the area and he was catching a lot of them using a diving plug. I can attest to the snook biting because I landed my first of the season this past weekend. I had two that went 16 and 21 inches using a 7m mirrolure. The smaller fish swallowed almost the whole plug but with some careful hook removal the fish was released unharmed. Looks like it’s time to break out the fly rod to see if they will hit a topwater fly. I had good success last year with a Rainy’s bubblehead fly in the 2/0 size. These flies can be ordered online through Bass Pro Shops.
I’m a little stumped as to where the trout are. I’ve been getting some trout here and there but nothing close to the quantity of past years. Even last year I noticed that the trout bite was slow and this year seems to be starting off in much the same way. Maybe the lack of cold winter weather has had something to do with it or maybe it’s just a cycle they go through. I have no idea but I’m hoping things improve as the season progresses.
The flounder bite has been on the upswing in the ICW with some decent size fish in the 20” range showing up. Last week Capt. Ralph Olivett had three good size flounder he caught in the flats using Berkley gulp jerk baits. I’ve also had some nice flounder while live lining shrimp in the ICW. Flounder are very aggressive and have no problem coming off the bottom to eat bait. Live mullet and mud minnows are also excellent baits for flounder.
There are still some schooling reds in the flats but you have to search for them. Last week Capt. Chris Herrera and I had a group of fly fishermen out for reds and came across a school of about 100 reds but they would not take a fly. We lost the school so we headed off in different directions to search for more and neither of us had any luck. We had very windy conditions that day which can make it hard to locate fish.
The warmer water will also bring in the Manatees and they have arrived. They were all around my boat last week when I fishing a canal in Flagler Beach. I have also spotted them cruising the ICW so be careful out there when running your boat.

Photo: Sal Pasalaqua and his cousin Frank Pasalaqa show off a flounder and a couple of trout they got while live lining shrimp in the ICW.

2007-03-14T10:03:00.001-04:00

Before I left for the 10,000 islands last Friday I did some fishing here on Thursday with my friend Miguel Pichardo came in from Utah for bike week. We hit a couple of spots looking for some action and found some trout in the 16” to 17” range. Miguel caught his on live shrimp and I caught mine using a bomber plug, firetiger color. It’s good to see that the action is beginning to pick up. I suspect with the warm weather we’ve had this past week that fishing should vastly improve in the coming weeks.
Let me tell you a little about my snook fishing trip to the 10,000 islands. It’s about a 5-5 1/2 hour ride, I-95 south to I-4 to I-75 south to 27 to Everglades City. I arrived about 10:30 am and met my buddy Nick who lives in Miami and fishes the islands about once a month. We checked into our room and loaded my tackle on his boat and headed to the ramp. We ran about 30 miles to the first spot and had no luck. The tide was not in our favor that afternoon as it was slack low. We decided to head to some open water in the gulf and fish for some trout while waiting for the tide to change. We fished in 6 ft of water and began connecting with trout. The trout there average about 16” with a large one going about 22”. We headed back inshore after the tide switched but still had no luck with snook. We did get more trout, jacks and ladyfish. We called it a day as the sun started to set and the gnats started biting.
At dinner that night we got some info from fishing buddies of Nicks that the snook were deeper into the backwaters but were difficult to catch.
The next morning we ran about 60 miles to a spot on the outside that Nick had done well at in the past. We spooked about five good size snook but couldn’t hook up. We went into Lostmans river and had no luck there so we ran to Rogers river. We worked a shallow creek while waiting for the tide to change and I landed an 18” snook. We the rising tide we went deep into the backcountry and hit a few spots with no luck. The last place we stopped we finally began to spot some snook, you could see them in the clear tannic water. I landed one about 10”, threw at another and when he turned directions the line dragged across his back and he bolted out of there. I spooked another when I blind cast to the shoreline. I must have hit the fish with my jig because the water exploded and the fish bolted. Nick did manage a couple of 20” snook using a Berkley gulp shrimp. In all we covered about 120 miles that day and didn’t catch a legal snook but it didn’t matter much as it is such a beautiful area.
On the home front Roy’s Bait House reports bluefish up to 11 ½ lbs in the surf along with whiting, pompano, and sheepshead. Mike Salzer fished the backwaters for a 4.04 lb and a 7.05 lb redfish. Greg Zvierko had flounder, reds and trout in the ICW. Gary Crawford went offshore for porgys and triggerfish.

2007-01-24T10:53:00.000-05:00

The other day I received a copy of a new fishing magazine, Destination Fish. After reading through it I started thinking about all the places around the world I would love to fish. Many of these spots are in exotic locations with swaying palms, white sand beaches with gin clear flats that few people have ever fished. Go offshore fishing where you can catch twenty sailfish in a day or two and three marlin and only be twenty minutes from the dock. Sounds good doesn’t it? There’s only one thing stopping me, and a lot of other people for that matter, from living this dream - a lack of time and money.
Here are some of my dream destinations I’d like to fish before the man calls me to the big pond in the sky. As far as freshwater fishing goes I’d like to fly fish for large rainbow trout in New Zealand, salmon in Alaska, trout in the Patagonia region of Argentina, dorado in the Ibera wetlands of northern Argentina and plug fish for peacock bass anywhere in Central or South America.
When it comes to saltwater fishing the list is too long so here are a few from the top of my list: fly fishing for bone fish in Los Roques, an island off the coast of Venezuela. Bones, tarpon and permit in Belize. Ascension Bay, Mexico for bones and permit. Bone fishing in the Bahamas and bones in the Sychelles located in the Indian Ocean. Offshore would be the Pacific coasts of Mexico, Guatemala and Panama and the east coast of Venezuela.
I know I’ll never get to all these places but rest assured I will make a couple of these trips. Hitting the lottery would sure help to fulfill my dream but yet again another dream. Next month I’ll settle for fishing one of my favorite places in Florida, the Everglades for snook. If you have a dream destination I’d like to hear about it and maybe share it with the readers. Email me at captrco@cfl.rr.com.
Locating schools of reds in the flats is still hit and miss. I spoke with Capt. Chris Herrera the other while he was out fishing with a buddy and he did say things were slow. Two hours later I got a phone call from Chris saying they landed a couple of 27” reds right after he hung up with me. Both fish were caught on artificial baits.
Trout are still on the bite but remember trout season closes February 1st from Flagler north to the Georgia boarder. Matt Struhar and his buddy Mike Brady landed some good trout recently. Matt had one that measured 32” and weighed 9 ¾ lbs. Mike had a couple that went 3 and 5 lbs. All were caught on live mullet.

Photo: Capt. Chris Herrera holds up a couple of 27” reds that he and Tommy Hunt caught using Rip Tide 3” plastic mullet on a Rip Tide pro jig head.

2007-01-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

All the reports about reds on the flats have been the same, slow. If they do find them the fish seem to have lockjaw. However, on Tuesday Bob Broadwater and Peter Davis fished with me and the first spot we hit was the flats. We got there on an out going tide. I jumped up on the platform and began poling while looking for signs of redfish. After about a half hour of poling and Bob and Peter throwing gold spoons I noticed some slight activity on the surface of the water. I told Bob, standing on the bow, to cast fifty feet at twelve o’clock. As soon as he began his retrieve he was hooked up. I then told Peter to cast to the same spot and he immediately hooked up. Both men did a fine job of working under and around one another to land their fish. Both fish were boated and each measured 26 inches. I photographed them with the fish but unfortunately for some unknown reason the pics did not register on my digital chip. Sorry guys!
After the guys hooked up the rest of the school took off. I estimated that the school probably held about 30 fish. I continued to search for them but could only locate one other loan red that was 23 inches. A kayak was fishing in our vicinity that was operated by foot pedals. He was moving along at a pretty good pace trolling some kind of rig behind him. We saw him land 2 reds using this method, very interesting.
We had to leave the flats as the tide was falling. We then went to look for some trout. The duo caught lots of trout between 14 and 15 inches but only kept one 19” fish. They also had bluefish, flounder, mangrove snapper and ladyfish.
If you like to fish for sheepshead now is a good time to do so. I’ve been getting reports of fish up to 8 and 9 lbs being caught at bridge and dock pilings. Scrape the barnacles off the pilings for chum and use fiddler crabs for bait.
The pier and surf continue to produce whiting and redfish. Use shrimp and fish bites for whiting and shrimp or mullet for the reds.
Last week I had the opportunity to attend a free three day fly fishing class in Punta Gorda, Fl. It was offered to me through the Florida Guides Association of which I am a member. Our instructor was Jack Montague. Jack has been fly fishing for fifty years and is an incredible caster. To watch him is like watching poetry in motion. Seeing him cast out 125’ of fly line and put it on a dime is a thing of beauty. I learned a lot from him, mostly that I was doing everything wrong. All I need to do now is practice what I’ve been taught. It’s like any other sport, if you want to get good at it you have to PRACTICE. It’s like Jack says, do something wrong long enough and you’ll do it perfectly wrong.

2007-01-03T09:08:00.000-05:00

After a two month closure trout season is once again open south of the Flagler county line. Our trout season from the Volusia–Flagler county line north to the Georgia border remains open until February when it will close for the month. During the closure you can still catch trout but they must be released.
Presently the ICW is loaded with lots of small trout. You’ll have to go through the small ones until you get a few keepers. Live lining shrimp will work but since glass minnows seem to be the main forage for trout during the winter I find small diving plugs worked with an erratic retrieve work best. The majority of big winter trout are caught on plugs. Work the drop offs in the ICW, deeper canals and deep holes in the backwater. Trolling diving plugs along the drop offs of the ICW can also be an effective method of catching trout. Berkley gulp jerk baits on a 1/4oz jig head also work quite well along the drop offs and in deep holes.
The flats have yet to show any signs of large schools of reds. I did however hear from one person who ran across a school of about forty but the bite didn’t last long. It seems someone came by in a canoe and ran right through the middle of the school. The canoe proceeded to stake out and cast into the middle of the fish once again spooking them. All you need is for one fish from that school to spook and the whole school spooks. When casting to a school of reds work the outsides of the school, the fish will come out to grab the bait, rather than casting to the middle.
The surf and pier are producing whiting, blues and the occasional oversized redfish. The whiting are being caught on fish bites or shrimp that are fresh dead or frozen. The blues and reds are taking live, frozen or chunks of mullet.
Roy’s Bait House reports Brandon and Robbie Pressley had 32 whiting between the pair. Gene Davidson, 7 years old, had a big whiting and a weakfish. John Craig and Jason Longfellow had 7 weakfish. Derrick North landed a 5.03 lb sheepshead.
Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports reds coming from the backwaters around Highbridge and the Tamoka basin.

Photo: Kathy Routh Sanchez of Palm Coast and her brother Randy Routh from Washington state show off a couple of flounder and trout.

2006-12-27T12:43:00.000-05:00

Let’s take a look at the year in review for our inshore fishing. We’ll start with trout. For me the daytime trout bite was slow. Trout were caught but not in the quantity and quality that the last few years have produced. I’m thinking that maybe the lack of rain this year had something to do with it, just a wild guess. It wasn’t until late October through the middle of November that I began to get gator trout and most of those were caught on topwater plugs and flies.
Flounder. The flounder run that usually takes place during the month of November never materialized. However, flounder in the 14” to 16” range have produced most of the year. I even had a report that one angler had 65 flounder in one day during the month of October.
Redfish. Redfish have been their usual steady self but have not yet begun to school on the flats. Probably due to the warm weather we’ve been having. I do expect this to change as we head into January “07”.
Snook. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d rate this year as a 9 compared to previous years. I had some clients lose fish in the 15 to 20 lb range. Because of this I have switched to braided line. I also did good using topwater plugs and flies for snook. Daybreak was the time for flies. During the middle of the day live lining shrimp was the ticket.
Blackdrum. I have never caught as many blackdrum as I did this past year, why I don’t know. Live lining shrimp or shrimp on a jig head did the trick.
Tarpon. I’d rate this year’s tarpon run a 10. They showed up in the beginning of July and were around through the end of August. The run south in August was a sight to behold. Massive bait pods with large tarpon crashing on them and people pulled over on A1A witnessing the show.
So there you have it, my first hand year in review. My new years resolution: Do more fly fishing in “07”. And, oh yea, but what else – go on a diet.
Last week Randy Routh from Washington state and his sister Kathy Routh Sanchez of Palm Coast fished with me. and the pair had action most of the day. The majority of the trout were under sized but they did manage a couple of keepers. They also had a couple of keeper flounder and mangrove snapper, ladyfish and Small reds.
The word from the pier is whiting and blues.
Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports reds in the flats around Highbridge and snook up to 25” in the Tamoka basin and smaller ones in Sanchez creek.
Good fishing to all in “2007”

2006-12-19T22:39:00.000-05:00

The surf and pier are producing whiting, sheepshead, blues and the occasional oversized red. Any red measured with the tail pinched that is over 27” must be released back into the water. Whiting are eating shrimp or fish bites that are fished on a whiting rig. These rigs come pre rigged and can be purchased at any tackle shop. The blues are hitting dead mullet rigged on a fish finder rig. Sheepshead will eat fiddler crabs fished very close to the dock pilings of the pier. Reds will eat a rigged dead or live mullet. Big reds will eat a bluefish or whiting head rigged on a 4/0 or 5/0 hook.
When I was on the beach Sunday helping my wife with a turtle stranding, there were pelicans and seagulls dive on bait about 200 yards off the beach. What they were eating I couldn’t tell but I suspect it may have been schools of glass minnows. I can tell you that a turtle stranding is when a dead turtle washes up on the beach. They take measurements, pictures and other pertinent information and send it off to the state. So far this year over 50 turtles have washed up dead on Flagler and Volusia county beaches. They think it’s some kind of respiratory aliment that is linked to a red algae growing on the turtles shells.
I finally got out to fish for a few hours on Monday afternoon. I hit one of my trout spots and started tossing a 7m mirrolure and had no luck so I switched over to a 3 ½” bomber in the fire tiger color. On about my 5th cast I connected with a 14” trout. I had a couple of more hits and then landed a 16 incher. I then moved to another spot and had no luck so I moved on. At the 3rd spot I landed a 15 “ trout and lost another that was about 3 lbs. At the 4th and final spot I landed a couple more 15” trout, lost a couple and had a few other hits. I also landed an 18” snook at the last spot.
I like to use deeper diving plugs this time of year because the fish are deeper due to the colder water. Use small plugs in the winter because the trout’s main diet is glass minnows. Fish these plugs slow. Most fish are pretty lethargic this time of year and don’t like to expend a lot of energy chasing bait. If you have a depth finder try trolling the dropoffs in the ICW. You’ll need a plug that can dive in the 6 to 10 ft range.

Photo: Fred Smith with a 20”, 6 spot red that was caught in the flats on a gold spoon.

2006-12-13T08:34:00.000-05:00

The word from local captains and other sources tell me the fishing has been kind of slow lately. Capt Chris Herrera told me he found a school of reds in some very shallow water and was tossing flies at them and had nothing but refusals. Personally I have nothing to report since I haven’t been on the water in over a week. The last time I fished our local flats I could only find a couple of small reds but no schools.
Traditionally by the time the month of December winds down and January rolls in schools of reds start to appear in the flats. By this time the water should cool to the low 60’s to upper 50’s and bring in gin clear water to the northern flats of the county. This is a good time to sight fish for reds. They will come up into the flats as the day wears on to warm up and feed. At this time it’s not unusual to find schools of reds that number into the 100’s. I have witnessed such schools on more than one occasion. You can chase one school for as long as the tide will let you.
Once you locate a school you’ll want to use some stealth. If you need to drop anchor, lower it into the water softly so as not to spook the fish. Try to keep movement on the boat to a minimum. Any noise you make on the boat transfers into the water. Use your trolling motor or push pole, if you have one, to search for the fish. Don’t go roaring into the flats, throw your anchor into the water, and expect to catch fish. You’ve just scared off any fish that were there and it could take a good while before they return.
What type of baits to use? That depends on your style of fishing. For live bait fisherman, live or cut mullet is always a good choice. A live shrimp is also a good choice. You can live line it or rig it on a 1/16th once jig head. Live mud minnows work extremely well too. For those of you that use artificial baits your choices are numerous. Soft plastic shrimp, jerk baits, curly tailed grubs and imitation minnows all work. Berkley gulp imitations are a sure bet as are gold spoons. The fly fisherman can use clouser minnows, crab or shrimp patterns and spoon flies. All of the above mention baits will all work, some better than others at certain times.

Photo: Captain Rob Ottlein with a 6 ¾ lb trout that was caught on bubble-head fly back in early November.

2006-12-05T21:33:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday I left my house at 5am and headed forty minutes south to Edgewater to fish Mosquito Lagoon. I picked up my buddy John Sizemore at his house and headed to the local boat ramp. After launching the boat we headed south to fish the clinkers. We picked up a couple of trout on 7m mirrolures but it was redfish we were really after so we decided to head north to fish the flats that were not far from where we launched.
In this area it’s pretty easy to wind up in very shallow water real quick if you don’t know where you are going. That’s what happened to us so we had to backtrack and start over. We finally reached our destination and found the area loaded with bait and a lone kayaker that was fishing the shoreline. Although the water was crystal clear the sight fishing was limited because of clouds and a slight chop on the water. We headed to more open water and I got up on the platform to pole the grassflat while John began blind casting a Capt. Mikes gold spoon. Within five minutes we had a 6 lb red in the boat.
Poling further into the flat we spooked several other reds and John cast to a lone red that we spotted but it took off when the spoon was dragged across it’s back. It didn’t take long before John had another red on but this one was much smaller than the first. Heading out of the flats we came upon a point and spooked several more reds. We fished this spot for a few minutes and were rewarded with another red. We fished the rest of the way and wound up losing a couple more fish.
If you have never fished the Lagoon you should put it on your list of places to fish. There are extensive grass flats that hold lots of reds and big trout. When the conditions are right it is also a great place to sightfish.
There are a couple of reasons I like to use a gold spoon when fishing the flats. One reason is because you can cover a lot of water with it. You can also cast it fairly easy into a wind because of its weight. The trick here is to use more of a sidearm cast rather than an overhand one. It keeps the spoon at a lower trajectory that keeps it from getting caught up in the wind. The best reason of all to use the spoon is that it is not often that a redfish will pass one up. Give one a try the next time your on the flats.

Photo: John Sizemore sports a 6 lb red that was caught in Mosquito Lagoon using a gold spoon.

2006-11-15T13:00:00.000-05:00

The other day I was asked if trout fishing was closed for the month, the answer is no. It is however closed for the months of November and December South of the Volusia/Flagler county line. You cannot launch your boat in Volusia county, fish in Flagler county, and bring trout back to Volusia. FWC will not listen to your reasoning if you try to do this, so be aware.
Talking of trout I can tell you this, they are all over the place right now. Fish anywhere in the ICW from Matanzas to the south end of Flagler and you’re sure to find them. They range from 14” to 25”. They’ll hit anything you throw at them. Live shrimp, live or cut mullet and artificial baits. Artificials include hard plastics such as top water and diving plugs. Soft Plastics with a paddle tail will produce extremely well as will shrimp imitations. You’ll want to use either a 1/8 oz or ¼ oz jig head when fishing these soft plastics.
The flounder bite continues to improve with the falling water temperatures. They’re taking buck tail jigs as are trout. They’ll also eating live mullet, live shrimp, mud minnows and soft plastics that are bumped across the bottom.
Mark Wagenschuner fished the Matanzas area in his kayak on Tuesday and had trout to 4 lbs on top water flies and buck tail jigs and a pompano on a fly. Mark also said there were tarpon from 20 lbs to 150 lbs at the inlet. Don’t expect the tarpon to stay around long due to the falling water temps.
Calvin, Kevin and Dan Coates fished with me last Sunday and the trio had over 25 fish. They landed a wide variety that included trout, flounder, redfish, black drum, snook, lady fish and mangrove snapper. All were on live shrimp
Mike Salzer and DeAnne and Mike Salzer Jr. fished with me and this past Tuesday and this trio also did well. They landed a bunch of trout between 14” and 20” and had a couple of keeper flounder. The fish were caught on live shrimp.
After reading about the fishing that is taking place I hope you get out to get in on the action and enjoy the weather we’ve been having lately.

Photo: Dan Coates with a blackdrum that was caught live lining a shrimp

2006-11-08T10:30:00.000-05:00

For the past four years I have been involved in The Oldest City Red-Trout Celebrity Classic tournament in St. Augustine to help raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. It seems every year the tournament has been affected by the weather and this year was no exception. Last Friday was the start of the two day event and with winds at 25 knots and gusting the days fishing was canceled.
Launching that Friday at the Villano boat ramp wasn’t too bad until you reached the open water to go under the bridge to reach Camachee Cove Marina. Once you hit the open water you were greeted by 3ft waves. Let me tell you this is not the kind of water you want to be in with a 17’ flats skiff. Heading into the wind and waves I took two over the bow and was soaked by the time I reached the marina. One of the other Captains almost lost his skiff when he came down off a wave and buried his bow into the next wave. He said the water was up over the gunnels but his engine didn’t die and he was able to swing the boat around and rid a lot of the water he took on. Luck was with him this day.
At Camachee Cove they told us the day was canceled but if we wanted to take our people fishing someplace else it was up to us. My anglers, Wade Wilson and Sam Killin, followed me to Bings Landing and we fished for half a day. The fishing was tough due to the wind but they did manage a couple of 3 lb jacks, mangrove snapper,a small red and a 18” snook.
On Saturday the winds weren’t quite as bad. All teams met at the Villano ramp and we were able to take our anglers to any boat ramp we wanted to launch out of. We returned to Bings along with a few other teams. Again the fishing was slow. They had ladyfish, a couple of small trout, 4 reds to 20”, a 16” snook and 3 flounder. The snook was caught on a live shrimp. The reds were caught on live shrimp and Berkley Gulps, the flounder were on gulps, live shrimp and a gold spoon and the trout were on live shrimp and mullet. The guys fished hard for the day but none of the fish were able to put them on the board. Maybe next year will bring better weather for a change.
Locally, trout to 20” are being caught around the backwaters of Highbridge along with snook at night from the bridge. Reds are also showing in this area and other flats along the ICW. Flounder action has started to pick up around Matanzas and should improve greatly as the month progresses.
The surf and pier are providing blues, whiting and reds. Look for the flounder action to pick up in the surf and pier as well.

Photo: Wade Wilson with a snook that was caught during last Friday’s winds. It hit a 7m mirrolure.

2006-10-31T21:19:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday I woke up at 5am to the sound of heavy rain and thunder wondering if the Tamoka Marine tournament was going to take place. I went and got the newspaper had a bite to eat and turned on the weather channel. The radar looked as if it was going to clear soon so I hopped in my truck with boat in tow and headed to Hershal King Park to participate in the tournament. There I met my fishing partner for the day, Capt. Chris Herrera.
The tournament started cloudy without any rain or wind. We headed south in search of trout. We threw topwater plugs for the first hour without a single hit. We moved to another area and found trout almost immediately but nothing with any substantial size. We did manage to put a couple in the livewell to weigh in. The winds started to pick up so we moved on. At the next spot Chris picked up a flounder on his first cast. By now the winds had gotten so bad we had to look for a more sheltered area. We tried a couple of places but couldn’t raise a fish, mainly because the tide went slack. We needed to find moving water so we headed north.
By the time we reached our destination the flats were unfishable, whitecaps with all that wind. That’s how the rest of the day went for us and everyone else who fished it. Fish were caught but not in great numbers.
Here’s the results: Chris Atansoski took first place in the blackdrum division with the only one weighed in – 2.36 lbs. Trout – 1st Randy Homer – 2.20 lbs, 2nd – Jesse Schaster – 1.75 lbs, 3rd – Chris Herrera – 1.58 lbs.
Redfish – 1st – Brian Carr – 7.42 lbs, 2nd – Geoff White – 5.91 lbs, 3rd – Shawn Page – 5.75 lbs.
Flounder – 1st Melissa Page – 2.43 lbs, 2nd – Craig Williamson – 1.97 lbs, 3rd – Chris Herrera – 1.55 lbs.
Randy homer weighed in the heaviest fish of the tournament but the species wasn’t included. Randy landed a 7.74 lb snook that he caught at 3:330 in the afternoon using a black top dog topwater plug.
Beach fishing was hot last week with blues and spanish mackerel tearing up bait in the surf. People tossing plugs were scoring all day long. The blues and Spanish are still around and flounder have begun to move in, also look for the flounder to start to turn on around Matanzas inlet this month. Thanksgiving week is usually the most productive.
Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports Ralph Lowery with a 5.10 lb flounder. Joe LoConte had 9 flounder and James Hampton landed a 16 lb – 41” king mackerel. Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle repots blackdrum to 28” around the bridge and snook at night.

Photo: Randy Homer with a 7.74 lb snook caught on a topwater plug

2006-10-25T09:20:00.000-04:00

What a difference a day makes. In the 80’s one day and the next day record low temperatures. Such a change can have a definite effect on the fishing. Fish seem to get lockjaw when the barometric pressure changes. It usually takes a couple of days of warmer weather to get them back on a normal feeding pattern. The outlook for this weekend has temperatures back in the 70’s and 80’s for daytime highs so get out and wet a line.
With the cooler air temperatures, daylight savings time and falling water temps will put fish into their fall patterns. Trout will start retreating to deeper water, schools of redfish should begin to appear on the flats, flounder will become active around Matanzas inlet and the snook bite will begin to slow with the falling water temps.
The cooler water temps will also effect offshore fishing as well. Sailfish and marlin will be migrating south. Sails can sometimes be found as close in as 10 miles at local area wrecks and reefs. Grouper and red snapper will also start moving in to these areas. I had a report of sails and wahoo 70 miles out last weekend. Just be careful if you venture out this time of year, seas can get pretty rough.
Last week Russ Saboe and John Inman fished the ICW with me. The day started off slow without a touch on topwater plugs. Things didn’t improve any when I switched them over to mirrolures. Things began to improve once I changed them over to live shrimp and moved to where we had an out going tide. They landed a couple of blackdrum, a few trout and two snook. The snook were 22 and 24 inches. Russ caught the most beat up snook I’ve ever seen. This fish was obviously in the clutches of a dolphin at one time. To look at it you had to wonder how it ever survived but it did.
I caught my biggest fish on a fly last week, a 6 ¾ lb trout. The fish swirled on my bubblehead fly as I striped it in. I picked up my line and cast out the fly again and the fish swirled on it once. The third cast proved to be the one as the fish swiped at it two times and ate on the third attempt. After a short battle the fish was landed photographed and released. One advantage to flyfishing is being able to cast without retrieving your lure all the way back to the boat. If a fish strikes and misses you have the ability to put that fly back in the same spot in a matter of seconds, usually resulting in a hookup.

2006-10-17T21:57:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I reported that I was contemplating switching over to braided line because of losing some big fish on monofilament line. Well I did switch and I must say that so far I’ve been quite pleased with the braid. I spooled up my baitcasters and spinning reels with Sufix braid. It’s a new line of braid and I must say that everything they say about it appears to be true. Wind knots seem to be virtually nonexistent, even with novice anglers. There is no line memory so there are no tangled lines on spinning reels. Working plugs, especially topwaters, is a whole lot easier due to zero line stretch. Also, hook ups with fish are increased due to zero stretch. Because it has a thinner diameter than a same size mono line, 20 lb braid is the same diameter as 6 lb mono, and is slicker than mono you can add distance to your casts.
The only draw back I have found is when it comes to using a baitcaster. If you do not keep the line tight upon retrieving a lure you will get a birds nest on the next cast. This situation can be remedied with just a little practice. I have found that an overrun on a baitcaster with braid comes undone a lot easier than one with mono line. Give Sufix braid a try. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.
The inshore fishing was going off last week until the cold front came through on Sunday. Fishing out of his kayak along the ICW, Mark Wagenschuner landed 25 flounder to 6 lbs in one day. Mark used a ¼ oz bucktail jig tipped with a strip of flounder belly.
Last Friday night the river was loaded with mullet and at the change of the tide the snook bite turned on. They were hitting on soft plastic paddle tail mullet on a jig head. The fish were in the mid to low 30 inch range. Trout were also biting. During mid day Friday the bait was so thick that they were bouncing off the side of my boat while being pursued by predators.
I’ve been doing some early morning flyfishing for snook and doing well. I’ve been throwing a topwater Rainy’s bubble head fly. This fly emits loud gurgling sounds that attracts snook. I’ve had mornings where I landed up to three snook and had 5 other hits. Craig Wiggin fished with me the morning of the cold front and he laned his first Flagler snook on a bubblehead fly.
Tamoka Marine is holding an inshore tournament on October 28th at Herschel King Park. For more information you can call 386-439-7449 or 439-3838.

Photo: Craig Wiggin with his first Flagler County snook caught on a fly.

2006-10-10T22:34:00.000-04:00

The harvest moon usually appears in September but this year it fell on October 6th. That coupled with northeast winds has made for extremely high tides. These tides can make it difficult to find fish. If you have a boat that draws very shallow water you can access places where redfish are feeding. They are way back along the tree lines feasting away on fiddler crabs and mud minnows. Berkley Gulp crabs or shrimp, mud minnows on a jig head or a chunk of mullet should do the trick here.
If shallow water redfish aren’t your thing it’s a good time to try for snook in some deeper water. With a good influx of migrating mullet a live lined mullet or artificial bait resembling a mullet will work. Tossing a topwater plug at daybreak should draw the attention of a snook or trout. If you hit a cloudy day try throwing that topwater at any time, you’ll be surprised at the results. Fish dock pilings, dropoffs and creek mouths in the ICW during the day and the bridges and dock lights at night. The best hours at night are between midnight and dawn. The next month should prove very effective for snook so get out and give it a shot.
I fished the morning of the full moon and had one small jack on a fly. I never seem to have any luck at this time but I keep on trying. The next morning I went out and did better. Throwing a topwater High Roller Rip Roller I hooked into a snook that appeared to be about 22” when it jumped. The fish jumped twice, spit the plug and was gone. Five minutes later I hooked into another fish using the same plug. This one didn’t get away and turned out to be a 6 ½ lb trout.
I wanted a picture of the fish but I had left my camera in my truck at the boat ramp. I filled the live well with water, put the fish in it and headed back to the boat ramp. All the while I had to keep the fish moving so he wouldn’t go belly up. At the ramp I got a fellow who was fishing at the pier there to snap a picture of the fish. His mouth fell agape when I let the fish go back into the water. I told him it needed to go make babies and that a picture of a fish lasts a lot longer than one on a dinner plate.
Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports that the surf was a little rough this past week but it didn’t stop Bob Burns from landing an 18 lb king mackerel. Flounder Joe was at it again for flounder to 4 lbs. Bill Allgire says there’s plenty of Spanish mackerel around along with bluefish up to the 6 lbs.

Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein with a 6 ½ lb trout that was caught on a topwater plug. The fish was released alive.

10-4-06 report

2006-10-04T09:56:00.000-04:00

Northeast winds kicked up the surf this past week and made surf fishing just about impossible, however it didn’t stop pier fishermen. Bill Allgire at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle on the Flagler pier says a lot of slot size redfish are being caught despite the rough surf. Trout are also being caught but Bill said the bite only lasts about an hour. Some spanish mackerel are around and the whiting bite has begun to pick up along with pompano.
Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports good size snook coming from the bridge at night. Some snook are also being caught during the day along with trout. Night or day the fish are being caught on live mullet or live shrimp. There have also been a lot of black drum caught in the area.
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of flyfishing and last Wednesday my wife Lori and I headed out at daybreak to wet a line. She used live shrimp while I threw a topwater fly. All she could muster were some mango snappers and a flounder. I hooked up with three snook and landed one that went about 16 inches. We tried some other things with no success so we called it a day.
The next day Ron Coppenbarger and George Doyle, both from Jacksonville, fished with me and once again things were slow. They picked up some mangos, small trout and a couple of keeper flounder on live shrimp. It wasn’t until we moved to the south end of the county and they started throwing artificial baits that the action picked up. I hooked up both guys with the same color 7m mirrolure and the trout started to hit. One caught fish and the other didn’t. Ron who was fishig the plug slow couldn’t buy a hit but George who was working his fast was catching the fish. It just goes to show you that sometimes you have to try retrieving your lure at a different speed to get a reaction from the fish. George had about six trout with the largest going 3 Lbs. Ron landed a 19” trout after he threw a bomber lure into a school of bait fish that was being blasted by a tarpon.
Getting back to the fly fishing, I lost a big snook last Saturday, well over 10 lbs due to the fact that the fish caught me totally off guard and also because of my inexperience with big fish on a fly. I did however land a 15” snook the next day. I will tell you the fly I’ve been using is a Rainys bubble head. I bought this fly at the World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada in the Fla. Keys. They make two sizes but I like the 2/0 size the best. The fly makes different noises depending on how you strip the line. You can order it on line at
www.worldwidesportsman.com.

Photo: George Doyle of Jacksonville, Fla. fished the Flagler County waters for this trout that was caught on a 7m mirrolure

2006-09-26T21:42:00.000-04:00

Here’s a little bit of information for you, Florida now leads the nation as the state with the most registered boats. It has taken over long time leader Michigan. Florida’s growing population is the main reason for the takeover. Our waters continue to get more crowed and I see more and more people with a disregard for the rules, mainly due to a lack of knowledge. There are safe boating courses that are given by the Coast Guard Auxiliary that can prove beneficial to those that take the course. One advantage is a deduction in insurance costs. Maybe it’s time that everyone be required to attend such classes.
Last weekend I attended a preopening of the new Gander Mountain store at 3750 Flagg Lane in Lake Mary. It is an 80,000 sq. ft. building that holds a variety of outdoor merchandise. It has everything from fishing, boating, hunting, camping, clothing and even scuba diving. They even have boat and atv sales with an on premise service department. It is definitely worth the ride.
The surf and pier are still producing trout and redfish along with some whiting. Look for pompano to start to turn on soon once the water temperature drops a few degrees.
The ICW is yielding some trout, reds, flounder, snook and blackdrum. Capt. Chris Herrera was out the other day and landed reds on live mullet, cut mullet and Berkley gulps. Phil Summersill from Lake Mary fished with me last Sunday and had a decent day. Phil is a Florida native and has fished most of his life but never caught a snook, he had three that day. They ranged from 16” to 24” and were caught on live shrimp and Mirr”O”lures. He also had flounder, blackdrum and mangrove snapper.
The Flagler County Sportfishing Club held it’s annual inshore tournament this past week which benefited the Palm Coast Little League. One hundred thirty six anglers participated and divided up $3,200 in prize money. The top 5 fish in each category won money. Here are the results:
Redfish – 1st - George Gardner 6.55 lbs, 2nd - Warren Green 6.30 lbs, 3rd - Joe Hill 6.20 lbs, 4th - David Cribb 6 lbs, 5th - josh Forbes 5.25 lbs.
Trout – 1st - Chuck Kaszupski 3.95 lbs, 2nd - Chuck Kaszupski 2.06 lbs, 3rd - Tom Hodgin 1.65 lbs, 4th - Toby Collins 1.40 lbs, 5th - Duke Daniels 1.40 lbs
Flounder – 1st - Shawn Nickols 3.50 lbs, 2nd - Brian Pohl 2.30 lbs, 3rd - Warren Green 2.25 lbs, 4th - John Jordan 2.10 lbs, 5th - John Baggott 2.05 lbs
Blackdrum – 1st - Shawn Nickols 3.50 lbs, 2nd - Brian Pohl 2.30 lbs, 3rd – Warren Green 2.25 lbs, 4th – John Jordan 2.10 lbs, 5th – John Baggott 2.05 lbs.
Boat Winners – 1st – Jeff Johnson - 40 Something, 2nd – Michael Struhar – Hooked, 3rd – Larry Stevens – Fine Time.

Photo: Phil Summersill, a life long Florida fisherman, shows off the first snook he’s ever caught. It was landed on a live shrimp.

2006-09-20T09:04:00.000-04:00

As I was driving south on A1A Tuesday afternoon I was looking out at the ocean and I noticed two large schools of bait. Judging by the way they were flashing on the surface I could tell they were pogys. I sat and watched for a while but saw no action from fish feeding on them. As I started to pull away one of the schools erupted and by the size of the splash I could tell it was a tarpon. I thought all the tarpon were gone for the season but I see I was wrong. Don’t look for them to stay around for long because the bait is quickly moving south.
Rick at Roy’s Bait House says they are getting trout and reds in the surf and from the pier. The trout are in the 18” range and the reds are averaging in the 26” to 30” range. Most of the fish are being caught on live mullet. Pompano have also begun to show and whiting continue to be caught. These two fish can be caught using sand fleas or shrimp. The best bait for pompano are clams if you can find them.
In the ICW it’s reds, trout and snook. Snook are being caught at night around highbridge and the bridge on Old Dixie highway in Tamoka state park. Trout and reds are being caught in the ICW along the dropoffs. Topwater plugs are working early and switching to plugs, gulp baits and jigs as the day continues.
Last Saturday morning I headed out before daybreak to try for some snook and trout. I started with a topwater plug but had no luck. I then switched locations and started flyfishing with a popper. I had numerous fish that hit the fly and missed but ended up catching a 3 lb jack and 2- 18” trout. Sunday I headed out again but couldn’t catch anything on topwaterpulg or fly. I then switched to a 7m mirrolure and raised some big trout but none were willing to eat my offering.
Later in the day I noticed a fish busting bait on the other side of a flat. With the water being high I moved across the flat toward the action. I started throwing my 7m but no luck. All of a sudden the water exploded and I threw my lure into the action. As soon as it hit the water it was devoured. Line started peeling off the drag and I couldn’t stop the fish as it made it’s way under a dock walkway. I thought I could slow the fish down some by thumbing the spool on my baitcaster. Wrong move, the added pressure was too much and the 10 lb test mono just popped. Yet again another reason I give myself to switch to braided line.

Photo: Nathan Starke eyes the 22” trout he caught while live lining a mullet

2006-09-13T10:04:00.000-04:00

We have now come into a fall tide pattern. Water levels will remain extremely high for the next month or so. This is due to the moon phase and alignment of the planets. Fishing can be a little difficult during this period as it allows fish to get into places they can’t normally get to. The fish will be way back in creeks and in the grass looking for food. Capt. Chris Herrera says you can see and hear the reds way back in the grass. If you plan on venturing into the grass on foot make sure you wear a good pair of wading shoes. You’ll be able to spot feeding redfish to toss your baits at. Jerk baits rigged weedless or weedless flies will be your best bet. A live shrimp rigged weedless also works well.
Last week I spent four days at Hawk’s Cay Resort in the Florida Keys attending the Florida Outdoor Writers Association conference. The first time I went to the Keys was twenty years ago and have been back a couple of times since. Just like hear things are changing rapidly. The first sign of change is on the roadway in. The road is being widened in ares and a high rise bridge is being built to replace the old drawbridge. Farther down the road you start to notice a lot of the old mom and pop motels have been replaced with condos. Many of the old restaurants are gone giving way to more development. Ok, enough about changes.
The Keys are still a great place to fish. Other than Biscayne Bay to the north it is the only place in the U.S. where you can catch bonefish. The biggest bones in the world are caught there. They also have a great tarpon fishery and some of the best offshore fishing in the state.
At Hawks Cay some of the guys were jumping tarpon on jigs in the 30 to 40 lb range at the entrance bridge to the compound. At their marina small tarpon were hanging around the docks. On an outing to Pigeon Key one evening Rodney Smith, editor of Coastal Angler Magazine, brought his fly rod and waded out under the bridge. In about 20 minutes he landed 2 jacks, a snapper and jumped a 40 lb tarpon. That’s how good the fishing can be there without even having a boat.
I did go bone fishing one day and came away empty. They were having the same problem in the Keys, extremely high water. The high water makes it very difficult to spot the gray ghost of the flats. I did have a shot a tarpon however but he just turned and swam away from my shrimp offering. The Keys is still a great place to fish!
Here are the results of Roy’s Redfish Tournament, 1st place – Gregory Wilk – 5.6 lbs, $700, 2nd place – Robert Rees – 5.5 lbs, $500, 3rd – Capt. Mike Vickers – 5.3 lbs, $150.

Photo: Lori Ottlein hand feeds a tarpon at Robbie’s Marina in the Florida Keys.

2006-09-05T20:17:00.000-04:00

It’s time to go to Matanzas inlet to get the big reds. I’ve been getting reports of big reds in the 15 to 40 lb range and lots of them. This is usually the time of year when the reds begin to migrate offshore and also follow the mullet down the coast. Ken Stone said he was at the inlet on Sunday and it was one after the other with the bull reds. One disturbing thing I heard was that there were a lot of oversize fish kept that day. People don’t seem to understand that the big fish are the ones that reproduce. No reproduction no new fish. Slot sizes and bag limits are in effect for a reason. When it comes to big fish, I always say take a picture it lasts a lot longer than a fish on the plate.
Last Friday Richard Delacy from Port Charlotte fished with me. The fishing was slow, mangos, jacks, ladyfish, a trout and a small snook. Then it happened. Richard hooked up with a fish that just started pulling line off the reel. All we saw was a huge tail that was swirling and splashing. When he finally got the fish near the boat it turned out to be a very large snook, 15 to 20 lb range. The fish had wrapped the line around itself and on it’s last surge popped the 10 lb test mono line like it was nothing. We both wanted to cry. If anyone out there catches a big snook with a hook and leader in it’s mouth it was the one that got away. I guess the fish didn’t realize all we wanted was a picture and he could have gone back. For a long time I’ve been putting off going to braided line but losing that fish has convinced me to give it a shot.
Sunday Doug Bunnell and Lynn and Robbie Beal of Midland Texas fished with me and again found the fishing to be slow in the ICW. Sounds like we should have been at the inlet but who knew. Robbie who has never really fished much was a quick learner once given a few casting instructions. She put a whoppin on her husband Lynn and Doug. She caught the most fish and the biggest. She had a flounder and a couple of black drum with the largest being 20”. When she caught the drum it pulled hard and she said help me – help me but the guys told her she was on her own. Well she landed the fish without help from anyone.
Roy’s Bait House reports Julie Enzweiler had a 30” red. Jessie Maxie fished the surf for whiting and pompano to 3 lbs. Bill Walker fished the surf with live mullet and caught and released 7 reds that were over 27”. Tom Steinmetz fished live mullet at the rte 100 bridge for an 8.12 lb trout.

Photo: Robbie Beal of Midland Texas shows off a 20” black drum she caught while live lining a shrimp.

2006-08-31T12:35:00.000-04:00

Roy’s Redfish Tournament that was to be held today, Sept 2nd, has been postponed until Saturday, September 9th. The captains meeting will be at Finnegans Pub Friday, Sept. 8th from 5:00-8:00 pm. For more info call 386-439-1027.
Driving along the beach in Flagler it appears that the schools of pogys that were abundant a few weeks ago are now gone. They have headed south and along with them the tarpon. This years tarpon run was a good one with the only setback being the upwelling that dropped the water temperature. They came right back though after the water warmed again. We may get to see a few more tarpon as the mullet run begins to pick up.
With the tarpon gone it’s time to get back to inshore and snook fishing. Snook season officially opened Sept 1st. There are two new rules for snook this year, a new slot size, 27”-34” and you must squeeze the tail when measuring the fish. There is a 2 fish per day per person bag limit here on the east coast. If you travel to the west coast of Fl. there is a 1 fish per day per person bag limit. You must also have a snook stamp on your license to have the fish in your possession. A snook stamp costs $2.00.
Over the next few weeks I’ll cover some of the different methods to catch linesiders. For now I’ll say live shrimp is one of the best ways although other live baits also work well. It seems like snook can’t resist a big live shrimp, the bigger the better. Most of the tackle shops will sell select shrimp if they have them although you’ll pay a little extra for them. They are best fished by free lining them. There are different ways to place a shrimp on a hook. The most common is under it’s horn.
Beef up your tackle when targeting snook especially if your fishing docks or bridge fenders. You’ll want to use a medium heavy rod rigged with 15 to 20 lb test mono or 30lb braided. Tie on a 2 to 3 ft. length of 30 to 50 lb flourocarbon leader tied to a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. I like to use short shank small hooks as I believe less is better. Live shrimp can also be used effectively under a sliding cork rig. This setup allows you to fish at a specific depth. Your local tackle shop can show you how to rig the cork setup.
Roy’s Bait House reports lots of whiting in the surf along with some pompano, blues and sheepshead.

Photo: Chad Squires of Jacksonville displays a nice flounder he caught in the Flagler surf while fishing with a plug

2006-08-31T12:21:00.000-04:00

2006-08-23T09:20:00.000-04:00

The big news this past week is the display that the tarpon were putting on along the beach. I was driving home from Daytona on Saturday when I got a call from Capt. Chris Herrera. Chris was on the pier telling me about the aerial show the tarpon were putting on. I turned my truck and headed north along A1A. When I reached Flagler Beach you could see large pods of pogys everywhere. As I proceeded north to the pier there was a very large pod about 300 yards off the beach that had a lot of action in it. It only took a couple of seconds and tarpon were busting on them. A couple of times there must have been close to 10 tarpon busting at once. The sight was so incredible that cars were pulling over to view the spectacle and people across the street were on their decks watching. It was something to see. I called Chris back and we planned a trip for the next day.
I met Chris and Tommy Derringer at Bings landing the next morning and we headed out of Matanzas inlet in search of the silver king. We stopped on a small school of pogys to fill the live well then went to look for the mother load. We found a large school of pogys with tarpon rolling and crashing on them. We quickly baited up and cast into the school. It took about fifteen minutes and Tommy was hooked up. The fish made it’s first jump and it was a beauty, about ten feet in the air. None of us had ever seen a tarpon jump that high. After about 20 minutes and six more jumps the tarpon was boated, photographed and released. No other tarpon were caught that day but there were a couple of breakoffs. I don’t expect the tarpon to be around much longer as they are on their migration south so this could be the last hurrah until next year.
Snook season opens next Friday so you should be reminded that there are new rules on size limits and how you measure the fish to be able to keep one. The minimum length has been changed from 26” to 27” with the maximum size still being 34”. When you measure the fish you must now squeeze the tail and measure it from the tip of it the jaw to the tip of the squeezed tail. If your not sure how this is done go to www.myfwc.com and click on fishing and then on measuring.
Roy’s Bait House reports king mackerel in the 20 lb range are being caught from the pier and that whiting, small pompano and some small cobia are in the surf. Corky Giddens had a 22” redfish and Rick Fisher landed 50 whiting.

Photo: Bob Rees shows off a 7 ½ lb trout that he caught in the back waters using a plastic jig.

2006-08-16T10:53:00.000-04:00

Things have been pretty quiet on the fishing front the past week. Mostly everyone I have spoken with had the same thing to say, SLOW. Fish are being caught but it seems most of the fish are on the small side and a lack of quantity. When I talked with Randy Homer, one of the better trout fishermen I know, and he told me he had one small trout on his last outing you can bet things are slow. He did have one good thing to say though, flounder. Randy’s been picking up some good size flounder using grub tail jigs around dock pilings.
One thing I have observed on my last couple of charters is that you can catch fish up to about 10 AM then things just seem to shut down. This can probably be attributed to the fact that the temperature starts to heat up about that time. Once it heats up the water also gets warmer and the fish become lethargic. Things pick up again once evening sets in. Fishing the dock lights at night is always a good bet. Fish the docks that have their lights closest to the water, they will hold the most fish.
Last Saturday , Jim Gage from Massachusetts fished with me and landed 6 snook to 18”, a couple of trout to 16”, flounder and jacks. Once it hit 10 AM things slowed down. Sunday Capt. Chris Herrera and I had the Saling family, Joe and his sons Daniel, Chris and Brian, from New Jersey out. The day started out promising catching trout and ladyfish under dock lights but things slowed as day went on. The highlight of the day was when 11 year old Daniel caught a 20” trout. Monday Bob Madge from Cooper City, Fl. fished with me and he had 4 snook to 21”, flounder, trout and mangrove snapper. Once again the action slowed around 10AM.
The only feed back I’ve had about offshore has been from Tom Moleski. He and his friend Judy hit some of the local wrecks and had a couple of cobia and some good size flounder.
Roy’s Bait House reports that someone landed a 32 lb king mackerel on the pier. Chuck Kaszupski caught and released a 30” snook fishing the rte. 100 bridge at night. Whiting and small pompano are being caught in the surf.
Roy’s Bait House is holding an inshore redfish tournament on September 2nd, 7AM-3PM. Captains meeting is at Finnigans Beachside Pub Sept 1st, 5pm-8pm. Entry fee is $50 per person, 2 people per boat. 1st place will pay $1,500 based on 100 entries. For more information you can call 386-439-1027

Photo: Daniel Saling shows off a 20” trout caught on a recent family outing

2006-08-09T09:45:00.000-04:00

Right after I wrote last weeks article about all the tarpon action along our beaches we were hit with an upwelling. The upwelling dropped the water temperature about ten degrees causing the tarpon to disappear. There are still a few small schools of pogys lingering around but no tarpon on them. They’ll probably show up again on their southern migration.
This past Monday Capt. Chris Herrera and Tom Derringer headed out of Matanzas Inlet in search of some pogys and hopefully some tarpon. They found a small school just outside the inlet and cast netted some for bait. The duo decided to head due east to see if they could locate a larger school with some fish on it. A school was found and they began to live line a couple of pogys. Tom soon hooked up to a fish and to his surprise was rewarded with a 62 inch sailfish. Sailfish are normally found in deeper cooler water but must have come closer inshore with the cooler water that the upwelling brings in. They also jumped a couple of good size king mackerel that day. Congratulations guys.
Capt. Ralph Olivett traveled farther offshore this past week, 55 miles, to load up on amberjack to 50 lbs, cobia, vermilion snapper and triggerfish. He also fished inshore and had reds to 25” and a 28” trout.
The ICW is yielding lots of flounder up to 5 lbs. The flounder bite has turned on probably due to the fact that the mullet run has started. Best baits of course are live mullet followed by mud or tiger minnows. Live shrimp will also work along with plastic jigs. Tip the jig with a piece of fresh shrimp for the best results using a jig.
Trout, snook and reds will also be feeding on schools of mullet. Look for reds to follow the schools into the flats. Fish the weed lines and oyster bars with topwaters for some good results. Trout and snook will be feeding on live mullet and shrimp. Artificial baits, hard or soft plastic, resembling mullet will also work well as will topwaters in the AM or PM. Capt Chris Herrera fished the night dock lights of Palm Coast this past week using Riptide soft plastics and was rewarded with a 6.05 and 7.12 lb trout.
Roy’s Bait House reports that the inshore fishing is picking up due to the start of the mullet run. Six year old Cole Blackburn landed a 28 ½” trout. Dennis Richard – 9.14 lb bluefish in the ICW. Lee Robert – 18” trout at the Flagler bridge. Seven year old Dylan Olsen – 14” flounder. Joe Walkup – 10 flounder to 4 lbs at the inlet. Mark Francis – 10 flounder to 5 lbs at the 206 bridge. Nathan Starke – 6 flounder to 4 lbs and two 20” weakfish. Mike Delaney – 22 whiting from the surf and released 20 plus undersize pompano.
Snook season opens in less than three weeks, September 1st. It’s time for all snook fishermen to start preparing their gear for the fall snook action. Best time to fish will be at night under lights and around bridges. I’ll cover more on this subject as opening season nears.

Photo: Tom Derringer poses with a 62” sailfish that he caught and released 2 miles east of Matanzas Inlet. The fish was caught on a live pogy.

2006-08-02T08:25:00.000-04:00

The seas have remained relatively calm for the past few weeks making the run out of Matanzas Inlet a fairly easy one. For those willing to venture forty to fifty miles out you can find fish. Steve Martin did just that and was rewarded with amberjack, cobia and an african pompano. The wrecks and reefs closer inshore seem to be producing a lot of small red snapper and barracuda. Along the beaches the tarpon are still ravaging schools of pogys.
Last week Dan Rutkowski and I headed out in search of the silver king (tarpon). We cast netted a bunch of pogys from a small school and then headed in search of a school that would be holding tarpon. It didn’t take but a few minutes to find a large school with tarpon busting on them. We pulled up next to it and cast our baits out. It took about a minute and Dan was hooked up, it was his first tarpon encounter. The fish took off and had Dan’s reel screaming as it peeled off line. The fish made its first jump and we estimated it to be around 100 lbs. After many acrobatic jumps, some two feet from the boat, the fish surged quickly snapping Dan’s line. It sounded like a 22 rifle being fired when that line snapped.
After the line broke Dan turned and picked up his other rod and tossed out another pogy. It took about thirty seconds and he was hooked up again. This time the fish was smaller, about 65 lbs, and using heavier tackle the tarpon was boated, photographed and released. We fished a while longer and could see tarpon rolling and feeding but couldn’t connect with another one. I never did get a tarpon that day (1 shark) but it was still fun to see Dan land his first one.
Fishing in the ICW has improved over the past week or so. There is a large variety of fish biting right now. The other day Mike Broderick and Elise Broverman fished with me and the duo scored different species of fish. Ladyfish, jacks, mangrove snapper, black drum, redfish, flounder, trout and snook were all boated by the couple. Mike lost a couple of big fish. One he couldn’t stop and it broke off the line on a dock piling. The other picked up his shrimp and and took off so fast it just snapped the 10 lb test line. I think that fish may have been a 30 lb tarpon that I saw rolling just a few minutes before the bait was picked up.
Last Sunday I had a charter cancel so I decided to go fishing anyway. I was on the water before daybreak and made my first stop at a place that produces trout on an out going tide. I made a cast with a topwater plug and was instantly rewarded with a trout. I put the rod down and picked up the flayrod. After a few cast I laned a 19” trout. After about 30 more casts and a few missed fish I finally did something I’ve been trying to do for a while, I caught my first snook on a fly – 25”. The topwater bite quit so I changed my location and switched to a 7m mirrolure. I landed a 2½ lb and a 3 lb trout then called it a day.
Roy’s Baithouse reports that Paul Baudet fished the surf for whiting, blues and 2 small tarpon. Anita Dillon fished the ICW for a 2.11 lb flounder and Fuzzy Jim had 3 flounder – 15”, 18” and 20”

Photo: Dan Rutkowski with a 65 lb tarpon taken on a live pogy. The fish was released.

2006-07-26T09:50:00.000-04:00

Now’s the time, if you get a chance, to get out and hook up with a tarpon. The pogy schools have been so thick early in the morning it seems you could almost walk across them. Sitting along A1A in Flagler Beach you can see tarpon busting in the schools. At times you’ll see them come completely out of the water. Also mixed in are king mackerel, jacks, bluefish and sharks. A word of advice for surf anglers, if you are wading in the surf and a school of pogys comes by get away from them, there’s usually sharks around them.
The best time to go out for tarpon is early in the morning, especially if you have a shallow draft boat such as a flats skiff. The sea is usually at ait’s calmest in the am until the breeze kicks up the sea as the day goes on. Find yourself a school of pogys and cast net a bunch. Most of the time one throw of the net will do. Keep the water in your live well constantly flowing or they’ll die. If you’re using spinning gear a reel in the 5000 series is good along with a matching 7 to 8 foot rod. Conventional reels should be in the 20 to 30 lb class with either mono or braided line to match the tackle. Fifty to eighty lb fluorocarbon leader attached to a 5/0 to 8/0 circle hook will do the trick. Place the hook sideways through the nose or the back of the pogy in front of the dorsal fin and your good to go.
When you approach the school try to position your boat to drift with the school. Shut your engine down. Cast the pogy into the school or around the edges. All that’s left to do is hang on and wait. Let the fish run with the bait before setting the hook. Remember to bow to the tarpon when he jumps. This will put slack in the line and prevent h it from spitting the hook. It also takes tension off the line to keep it from fraying the leader.
On the ICW side there are lots of flounder and legal size mangrove snapper being caught. The flounder are averaging 12 to 20 inches and the mangrove 12 to 16 inches. Both fish are excellent eating. Last Thursday Robert Ammon, Mike Bramlett and Heather Bramlett fished the ICW on board my boat. The trio had black drum to 18”, mangrove snapper to 15” and flounder to 14”. Robert lost the big fish of the day when it decided to dive under the boat. Once it did that the line cut and the fish was gone. I think it was a big snook because of the way it was fighting. We’ll get him next time Robert.
Roy’s Bait House reports that Anthony Pantuso caught and released a 125 lb tarpon at the pier. Joe Locote had 10 flounder from the pier and Mike McCray had 3 flounder in the ICW. Hap Meekins was offshore for a 29.14 king mackerel.

2006-07-11T20:11:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone had a great and safe 4th of July and you got to enjoy the fireworks at the Flagler pier. The pier, having been closed for a couple of days due to the fireworks, is back to fishing as usual and is producing some good catches of flounder. Bluefish and whiting are both being caught from the pier and the surf. The blues are taking whole mullet and chunks of mullet. Whiting are taking shrimp, sand fleas and fish bites. As of now the beach and ocean is loaded with sargasum weed making the fishing a little difficult. The weed has been brought in by the easterly winds we’ve been having.
Now for some good news for live baiters. Live shrimp is once again starting to appear at bait shops on a regular basis. The first couple batches were on the small side but the size seems to be increasing with every batch that comes in. Lets hope this scenario continues.
On the ICW side it’s trout, snook, redfish, flounder, mangrove snapper, jacks and ladyfish. All can be caught live lining shrimp, mullet or mud minnows. In three trips last week a total of eight snook were brought to the boat with the largest weighing 4 ½ lbs. Also had some nice flounder healthy flounder. One had a half devoured pinfish in it’s throat but still ate the large shrimp we had out there. I also had a party out from New Mexico and one of the guys hooked into a tarpon that went about 15 lbs but it was lost at the side of the boat.
Dave Strickler , his daughter Christine and son Trey fished with me last week and they caught all of the above mentioned fish. Trey had a 4 lb snook and his sister had a 4 ½ lb snook. Both were the biggest fish they ever caught. The family also got to have a close encounter with a manatee. We were fishing a canal in Flagler Beach when the large mammal came right next to the boat. It was an experience of a lifetime for the family from western North Carolina. In all I must have seen 30 manatee in four days of fishing last week so please be aware that they are around when you are out boating.
Capt. Ralph Olivett has been scoring regularly on reds up around Matanzas inlet. Ralph has been using live mullet and scored eight slot size fish in one trip. Capt Chris Herrera is tossing topwater chuggers at aadaybreak for trout in the 6 to 7 lb range. Chris says to fish the grass banks.
Roy Mattson at Roy’s Bait Shop reports that Joe Lacone and his grandson fished the pier for 20 flounder. J Robertson – 7 flounder, 12 whiting and 3 blues. Dave Holloway – 9 blues on frozen mullet. Mike Adkins – lots of whiting from the surf. Roy also reported that someone had dumped 40 flounder that had been gigged at the route 100 boat ramp . What a waste of a resource. I told Roy that if he read the FWC’s report every week he would get sick at he number of people getting caught with illegal fish and that doesn’t include the one that aren’t caught.a

flagler fishing

2006-06-27T22:27:00.000-04:00

Since the fishing seems to be a little on the slow side as of late, let me tell you about a fishing trip Capt. Chris Herrera and I took a couple of weeks back. Chris, who fishes quite often in the Indian River Lagoon, said he was going to take me to the lagoon for my birthday. The following morning he picked me up at 5 am and we headed south for the fifty minute drive to the boat launch at Haul Over Canal. We launched the boat and headed west into the lagoon. After a short run we headed south across some grass flats and came to a stop to look around for some fish. We didn’t see anywhere we were at but did see some boats to the east of us. We set course in their direction. When we got to within about 500 yards we shut the engine down and switched to the trolling motor. There were about seven boats that were sitting on a school of about 75 reds. Believe me when I tell you that there wasn’t a one under 20 lbs. They were so big that they were tailing in two feet of water. Chris eased us into the pack using the trolling motor. You don’t want to make any unnecessary noise because these fish spook easily. Chris had his rod ready to go with a live shrimp. Once he figured which way the school was moving he cast the shrimp about 10 yards in front of it and just let it sit. As they neared the shrimp Chris began to move it ever so slowly. One red picked up the shrimp and started to take off with it. Chris then started to reel in the circle hooked shrimp, the hook set and the battle was on. Fifteen minutes later we boated the big red which we estimated to be about 35lbs. It was the biggest red I have ever seen.
Then it was my turn. But as luck would have it the school seemed to stop feeding. I cast numerous times to the school but they just stopped feeding, maybe because of the pressure they were getting from the other boats. We than headed to another spot and couldn’t locate any fish there. We decided to give the original spot another shot. The fish were still there but they wouldn’t touch anything you threw at them so we called it quits and headed to Mosquito Lagoon. There I landed a 20” trout and an 18” red, both on plugs, a far cry from the big reds of earlier that day. We both vowed to make the run to the IRL another day.
This being a holiday weekend I would like to remind everyone to to take extra precaution and boat safely. Avoid the alcohol until you get in the safety of your own home. BOATING and ALCOHOL DOESN”T MIX . Have a safe and happy 4th.

Photo: Capt. Chris Herrera shows off a 35 lb Indian River Lagoon redfish.

2006-06-21T09:15:00.000-04:00

Every week I receive a report from the FWC (Florida Wildlife Commission) about arrests and citations handed out throughout the state. These citations usually pertain to hunting and fishing infractions, poaching, illegal fish etc. One disturbing one that I read recently was of an arrest made here in Flagler County. The person has been citied for killing eight great blue herons by use of a pellet rifle. How anyone could kill such a beautiful, defenseless creature is beyond my comprehension. Isn’t part of the reason we live here because of the wildlife? It’s bad enough that so much wildlife is being depleted due to development that we don’t need individuals to speed up the process. If you know of a wildlife infraction and want to report it you can contact the FWC online at, myfwc.com then click on wildlife alert at the bottom of the page or call 1-888-404-3922 for an incident in progress.
Another disturbing article I read in the paper the other day was of a two year old that was killed when he fell of the stern of his fathers boat and was killed by the propeller. This incident most likely could have been avoided. I can’t express SAFE BOATING enough. We must be aware of our surroundings and the people onboard our boats at all times. It only takes a second for an accident to happen that may well have been prevented by the use of a little precaution and some common sense. Some of the things I see people doing while boating are accidents waiting to happen. Please, think and Practice Safe Boating !
Surf fishing has slowed a bit. What I have been hearing is mostly of blues and whiting. Still waiting for the tarpon to make an appearance along the beaches.
The ICW is producing reds, snook, flounder and some trout. Most of the flounder are around the fourteen inch range. Live shrimp is still a rarity. Mud minnows, mullet and pinfish are the live baits of choice. I probably had my worst day of fishing in the past 2 years when all I could produce was a 14” mangrove snapper and a couple of catfish for the party on my boat. They did however lose a nice snook. It’s tough when you have young children on the boat and you have to change your whole style of fishing. Capt. Ralph Olivett did well though. His party had 4 reds and a flounder. The reds were 27, 26 ½, 18 and 19 inches. All were caught on live bait.

Photo: left to right - Capt Ralph Olivett holds a redfish for Alyssa Wilson, Lindsey Jones – mangrove snapper, Lauren Jones – flounder, Dayton Wilson – redfish.
Rear, Shane Wilson –redfish, Gary Jones - redfish