Snook season opened February 1^st. On the Atlantic side of florida you can keep 1 snook per person per day. A snook must be between 28” to 32” to keep and remember that the tail must be squeezed when it is being measured. On the west coast of Florida and in the Everglades and Monroe County the season is still closed until further notice. If you are looking to pursue snook in our our area your best bet would be the Tamoka river or Strickland Creek. If this warm weather keeps up you may have a good shot a keeper fishing either of those places.

There's a good variety of fish available to anglers at this time. Trout, redfish, bluefish, flounder and mangrove snapper can all be caught in the ICW and adjacent canals. When it comes to live bait I would say that live shrimp would be my choice. If you prefer soft plastics, small paddle tails on a jig head will do just fine or a Zman jerkbait rigged on a weighted worm hook will work equally as well. When it comes to hard plastics I would go to a 3” Yo Zuri crystal minnow in white. If your weapon of choice is a fly, again I would choice white in a baitfish or shrimp pattern.

Trout are abundant at this time. You'll have to work through the small ones to get a few keepers. If you are persistent in the pursuit of trout you will be rewarded with with a few gator size fish; a gator would be considered anything 5 lbs and above. I have hooked and lost several gator trout in the past 2 weeks. I've gotten them a few feet from the boat and had the hook pull out. By the way, all these big fish were hooked on fly.

There have been good reports of big schools of redfish in the flats on the west side of the ICW right at the Volusia/Flagler county line. Those fish should be there for a while as long as the clown with the air boat stays away.

Last week I had Tom and Linda Lowry from NY state on my boat. The couple had a great time landing trout, redfish, mangrove snapper and flounder. They caught over 30 fish in four hours. It was a delight to see people, that are use to catching

small fish, catch big ones and a large number of them. I guess what I'm trying to say to you here is “get out and fish”.

By the way, all the new manatee signs are now in place in Flagler County in the ICW and the area around Highbridge is now a “no wake” zone all tear round.

I hope everyone had a safe and Merry Christmas and Santa was good to you. I will tell you that the Christmas Holiday was good to me in a couple of ways. The first and foremost was that my wife was with me after she spent eight months this past year undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer. She was cleared by the doctor and our lives are back to normal and we're looking forward to a healthy 2013.

I have just about everything I need in my life (that includes fishing equipment) so when my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year my reply was for some advanced fly casting lessons. She was gracious enough to grant me my wish. There is a reason I asked for the lessons that I hope to tell you about in a future article.

A fishing trip with my friend Bruce Hedetniemi on Christmas eve was also a great gift. Bruce had been telling me about the big trout he had been catching the previous day. Every fish was over 22”. He also lost one over 30 inches when it broke a small treble hook that came as standard hardware on the lure. After my recommendation he is now changing the hooks to 4x strength, a much stronger hook. The conversation got me excited because I love fishing for trout. Anyway, not knowing too much about the area we would be fishing I asked if I would be able to fly fish. Bruce said he didn't think so but I would bring a couple of fly rods anyway. We agreed to head out the next day.

It was 6:15 AM when we met at the boat ramp, launched the boat and waited for a little day light so we could safely work our way into the backwater. While waiting for safe light another boat launched and also sat and waited. While they were waiting one of the guys started throwing a cast net for mullet. He was successful and was kind enough to ask me if I wanted some. I thanked him and refused his offering. He had a puzzled look when asked me what we were going to use for bait. I told him I would be fly fishing and Bruce would be using a lure. “You catch fish with a fly rod” was his reply. I told him I do OK and we shoved off.

To make a long story short, Bruce boated 2 trout over 22” using a topwater plug. I boated 12 trout with the 2 largest going 23 and 24 inches. The 24 weighed 6 ½ lbs.

Upon our return to the boat ramp the 2 guys from the morning were also there. I told them to come look at what we caught and that all but one trout was caught on a fly. He was astounded at the size of the trout. They looked at me and said “we need to take up fly fishing”.

This time of year can offer some of the best inshore fishing our area has to offer. There is tons of bait that are migrating south and predator fish are in pursuit of them. Mullet, menhaden and glass minnows are the main baits for the fish. If your out at the crack of dawn and have an out going tide, you will witness very large schools of bait heading south. Be prepared to see fish blowing up on them. Once it gets to be around 8:30 and the sun is up above the trees they just seem to disappear. Not really though, they just go to deeper water. Jacks, ladyfish, trout, flounder, snook, redfish and tarpon can all be found feeding on the schools of bait.


Some of the best places to target feeding fish at dawn are creek mouths, openings that lead to the backwater and the banks of the ICW. The falling water will bring the bait out of the backwater. This is the perfect ambush spot for feeding fish. They also like to keep the bait pinned up along the banks of the ICW.

When trying to decide what baits to use, remember the old adage, “match the hatch”. By that I mean if the fish are feeding on mullet and menhaden go to a lure that resembles it or just cast net some live bait. Try top water plugs such as the Top Pup Jr. or a Skitterwalk. If you prefer soft plastics use a paddle tail or jerk shad rigged on a jig head. No matter what you decide to use I would recommend tying your bait on with at least a 30 lb piece of florocarbon. This will give you a better chance to land a small tarpon or a good size snook. I don’t know about you but I hate losing an 8 to 10 dollar lure to a fish because it wore through my line because I didn’t use that leader material.

For those of you that fly fish like I do, I recommend using a floating line with a 9 ft. leader that has a 12” to 15” 30 lb florocarbon bite tippet. I say a 9’ leader because the water is beginning to clear up. Any baitfish pattern in the color white is my first choice when it comes to flies. If I find tarpon I will use a black/purple fly. I have designed a white fly that is an absolute killer on trout and snook and have been tying it in other colors that are deadly on redfish.

No matter what your choice of baits you need to get out there and fish.

Right now the ICW is loaded with bait and the mullet run hasn’t hit its peak yet. I suspect that will happen in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime this is a great time to get out and wet a line. At any given time of day it is not unusual to see schools of bait being blasted out of the water by predator fish. Most of the bait schools consist of menhaden, mullet and glass minnows. There are small and large jacks, big ladyfish, redfish, trout and flounder all feeding on migrating bait.


You have to be quick with casting in order to hook up with some of these fish. You’ll see them bust bait and by the time you cast to them they are gone. The thing to do when you see them bust bait is to try and figure which direction they are headed and cast out in front of them. It really doesn’t matter much what you throw at them because when they are feeding like that they will eat almost anything. Live shrimp, live mullet, jigs rigged with soft plastics and hard plastic lures will all work when thrown at blitzing fish.

Last week I got a call from Steve Carl telling me that he and his dad Phil worked the banks of the ICW and landed 17 flounder. They kept 7 of the largest fish with the biggest topping out at just over 5 lbs.

Taking in the information relayed to me by Steve I headed out with a charter the following day and we targeted the shallows of the ICW for flounder. Matt Hallas (Chicago) and Jacques Benchimol (Palm Coast) landed 5 flounder with the two largest weighing in at 4 3/4 lbs. They also had 2 reds at 18” and 19”, a couple of jacks, a ladyfish and a few trout.

When working the shorelines for flounder there are certain things I like to look for. One of the main things is shallow water that goes from the channel drop off and extends to the shoreline. I use a 5” Berkley Gulp jerk shad rigged on a 1/8 oz weighted 5/0 worm hook. I’ll cast my bait as close to the bank as I can then begin working it back to the boat. I like to drag it slowly across the bottom and twitching it softly as I retrieve it. A small bait stealer will feel like a fast pecking on the bait and a flounder will feel like a tap-tap and then bite. When you feel that tap-tap point your rod at the fish and give him some slack so it’ll eat the bait When you learn the difference between the pecking and the tap-tap your catch ratio is sure to increase.

Last week I decided to fish a place I haven’t fished in a while, the Tamoka Basin. I set out from the Highbridge boat ramp just before dawn to catch the early bite. I got into the basin and began to fly cast up toward the bank. After working along the bank for about an hour and having no success I motored toward a different area and what I found was a complete joy to me; snook and plenty of them. I came upon a creek mouth where the fish were blasting bait out of the water and on my first cast I landed a snook of about 15”. My 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th casts produced the same thing. I thought to myself “ this is going to be a wonderful day”.


As I was catching these smaller fish every so often you would see a big one bust bait. I put down the fly rod and picked up a spinning rod equipped with a 17MR Mirrolure and cast to a spot where a larger fish was chasing bait. After the lure hit the water I let it set for a couple of seconds then started to work the lure. On the second twitch it got slammed and the fish started pulling line off the reel. I knew when that happened that I had a good size snook on. After putting on a few good jumps I boated the fish, photographed and measured it (26”) and released it.

When I finally left the Basin my total fish for the day was 15 snook, 3 trout, 2 flounder and a redfish. By the way the flounder were also caught on the Mirrolure and they were 14” and 19”.

I returned to the same spot 2 days later and landed another 6 snook. The day after that I returned once again but found the fish not to be as cooperative as they were the day before. I was however able to land 4 more snook and a redfish.

After that second day of fishing I was running back to the boat ramp up the ICW when out of nowhere, about 25 ft. in front of my boat, a tarpon weighing about 150 lbs sky rocketed out of the water. With no time to react I thought the fish was going to land in my boat. Luckily for me the big fish reentered the water about 5 ft. in front of the boat. I had to stop the boat to catch my breath and ponder what would have happened if it did land in the boat. Who says fishing is not a dangerous sport?

So you think that E-10 fuel creates problems for your marine engine now? Well just wait until E-15 fuel is in place at gas stations. On Friday, August 17th 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed the recreational boating industry’s challenge of the EPA’s decision to allow E-15 into the U.S. fuel supply. This decision puts the potentially dangerous E-15 at gas pumps across the country, a troubling scenario for American boaters and the recreational boating industry. E-15 will not only affect marine engines but all small engines such as lawn mowers and the list goes on. You better be prepared to spend money on those costly repairs that ethanol causes. Thanks EPA!!!


Whenever I find a good App for my iphone I like to pass it along to people. One such App is Radar US. It has a onetime charge of $1.99 to down load it to your phone. It’s no nonsense radar that gives up to the minute weather conditions. With the weather we’ve been having lately I find this App to be very useful before I leave my house, on my way to the boat ramp and while I’m out on the water.

Snook season opens on the east coast of Florida on Sept. 1st. If you happen to catch a big snook remember that it must measure between 28” and 32” to keep it and that the tail must be pinched when measuring it. There is a bag limit of one fish per day per person. Your best shot at landing a keeper size snook would be in the Tamoka River. I continue to catch small snook on a white fly or live shrimp but I haven’t been able to connect with one of the monster size ones yet but I’ll keep trying.

With this hot weather the best fishing has been from dusk, all night long and then until about 9 or 10 AM in the morning. Once the sun gets up there the fishing just seems to shut down. Day break and up until the sun creeps over the horizon have been good for top water plug fishing. There have been some big trout at this time. One of my clients missed a monster fish on a top water plug this past week. It wasn’t until he noticed a few casts later that the rear set of treble hooks were missing. How they came off is still a mystery to me.

The fishing in the surf and from the pier has slowed down due to the drop in water temperature. When we get periods of west wind it pushes the warm water out and it is replaced by colder water. This occurrence is known as an “upwelling”.

Most of us that fish around Flagler County know that the big freeze a couple of winters ago severely effected the snook population, not only here but across the entire state. Well I’m here to tell you that they are on the rebound.


Back in February I was catching small 6” to 8” snook on a fly, then they just seemed to disappear. Guess what, they’re back and they’re bigger. This class of fish is now in the 10” to 15” range and I’ve been steadily catching them. Why they have suddenly shown up again is a good question. I think a lot of it has to due with the run of shrimp that we’ve been experiencing in our waters lately. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years is that snook can’t pass up a live shrimp offering.

Although shrimp is, in my opinion, the best bait for snook they can also be caught by other means. I have also found that they love the color white or a combination of white and chartreuse. Last year I came up with a fly pattern that is all white except for a shrimp color nose and the snook just love it. I’ve caught numerous snook on it in the past 2 weeks. When I’m not fly fishing I’ll use a white 3” Yo-Zuri 3D crystal minnow. Another lure that I like is the 17MR MirrOlure in either white or chartreuse.

Whenever you are fishing for snook you should always tie on a piece of fluorocarbon leader to the end of your fishing line (30 to 40 lb test). It will keep you from losing tackle. Snook have very abrasive mouths that will rub through a standard fishing line in a heartbeat. If I’m attaching monofilament fishing line to fluorocarbon I’ll use a double surgeons knot to attach the 2 lines. If I’m using braided fishing line I’ll use a triple surgeons knot to attach the fluorocarbon leader. The surgeons knot is easy to tie and very strong. If you Google it you’ll find out how to tie it.

When I attach a fly or a lure to the end of my flourocarbon I like to use a loop knot. The loop knot allows the bait to work more freely and gives it a more natural appearance when being retrieved. If a lure has a split ring I’ll remove it to use the loop knot. Again Google it and you’ll find how to tie a loop knot. www.animatedknots .com is a real good sight to learn to tie knots.

Now that I’ve told you some of my secrets go out and try putting them to use.

As of June 27th the Florida Forest Service is reporting that rainfall for the month has averaged from 6.88” to 13.76” throughout Flagler County. That’s a lot of rain but it’s about half of what some areas of the state have experienced. Because water levels will be higher than normal due to the rain and wind boaters need to pay special attention to their surroundings when out on the water for about the next week. There will probably be a lot of debris floating around in the ICW, i.e. dock parts trees, tree parts etc. so proceed with caution.


Fishing will also be somewhat affected by the rain and high water. The high water can make it difficult to find fish because it gives them a lot more water to venture into. Salinity levels also decrease due to the influx of freshwater. This becomes a big problem if you fish with live shrimp bought from a tackle shop because they are use to high salinity levels. If your lucky you’ll get 2 to 3 casts out of a live shrimp before it dies. River shrimp have begun to appear in cast nets of those that throw them so try locating your own. These shrimp are very hearty when it comes to our water conditions.

The fish themselves are not all that affected by salinity levels. Fish such as redfish, trout, snook and tarpon can live in very low salinity levels. Tarpon have a special bladder that allows them to gulp fresh air and breath it. At Bass Pro Shops in Orlando you can see freshwater and saltwater fish living in the same environment in the large fish tank they have on display.

Before all the rain settled in the fishing was just turning good. People on my boat were getting legal size redfish, trout, flounder, and mangrove snapper. Jacks, ladyfish and even some ribbonfish were also being caught. Most of the fish were on live shrimp and some on artificial baits. Most of the redfish were caught in shallow water fishing a live shrimp under a popping cork around oyster bars.

I like to use the weighted larger size white and orange popping corks, about 2 bucks at your local tackle shop. They give you more casting distance and are easier to see in the water because they sit upright. They are also easy on easy off and you can easily adjust the depth you fish the bait. Because of the ease of use it allows you to go from live lining a shrimp to bobber fishing without cutting and retying. You can also use them to fish cut bait. Give them a try next time your out.

The fishing was on the slow side for about a week following the full moon. The full moon created higher tides than normal which makes it much harder to find fish. The good news is that the action has begun to pick up again now that the moon is subsiding. Trout, redfish, flounder, jacks, ladyfish and mangrove snapper are all biting. Even some fish that are not normally caught in the ICW have been brought to the boat. Which fish might that be that have been caught you ask? Well I’ll tell you.

Let me start by telling you that in 20 plus years of fishing the ICW and backwaters I have never had a Tripletail brought to my boat. All that changed this past Monday. I had Al and Becky Jacquay from Indiana on board for a ½ day trip and had them fishing with live shrimp. The first spot we stopped they had a couple of small trout and a few jacks. We then moved on to the next spot when Becky hooked into a fish that put a wicked bend in the rod. At first glance I wasn’t sure whet kind of fish it was. As it tired and came to the boat I couldn’t believe she had a Tripletail on. We got it in the boat, snapped a few pics then put it on ice for Becky and Al to have for dinner. Later on in the day Becky also landed a Ribbonfish, also not a common catch in the ICW. What’s next a Great White??

I still haven’t seen any tarpon in the ICW or canals that I fish but I do expect to start seeing them soon. I also haven’t heard of any in the surf. I do however expect to see them with in the next week or so. They usually appear when the first sea turtle nest hatches and the first nest hatches next week. Also, as schools of Menhaden start showing up the tarpon will be with them as this is one of their primary food sources. Hope you’re geared up and ready for them.

The flounder bite in the ICW should start to really turn on in the next few weeks. More fish should be caught and the size of them should start to get bigger.

It’s also a good time to start hitting the dock lights at night for nonstop trout action. Look for dock lights that are close to the water for your best action. The closer the light is to the water the more bait it attracts. The more bait the better your chances of finding fish.

grouper season open

Grouper season has opened for Florida’s Atlantic waters on May 1st and remain open until January 1st, 2013. To get all the particulars on grouper regulations go to: www.myfwc.com.


A couple of people I know ran offshore earlier this week in search of some cobia on the Flagler County reefs. They only found one 25 lb cobia but did get some nice flounder that averaged around 4 lbs.

I don’t keep up too much with the offshore scene so lets move to the beach. There have been some good size pompano caught in the surf; fish up to 21”. The Flagler pier has been producing bluefish up to 10 lbs along with pompano and flounder. The surf has been very clear the last couple of weeks but if the wind switches to the southeast the water will turn to looking muddy. When the water gets muddy the fish tend to turn off and you’ll mostly get saltwater catfish and small sharks. Let us leave the ocean and move to calmer waters.

This Saturday night will be the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. Experts expect that it will exert 42% more tidal force so look for the tides to be higher than normal. I mention this because it will make accessing the backwaters easier. On the other hand it can make fishing the backwater more difficult because the fish also have access to more areas. Use an artificial bait to cover more area quickly to locate fish in the deeper flats.

Last week a friend and I fished the Tamoka River in search of some snook. The search was slow. We fished long and hard before we found the “one”. I was retrieving a Berkley Gulp 4” jerk shad (nuclear chicken was the color) when “it” appeared out of nowhere. The big snook was about 3 feet from the boat as I watched her nonchalantly swim over and eat my bait. When I felt her on my line I set the hook. He was on for about 5 seconds when the hook pulled. I was not a happy camper when I lost that fish. Oh well, chalk another one up to the fish. I guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching.

The flounder action is picking up in the ICW. I caught 3 flounder on fly last week and they were all small keepers. I also had a nice 24”, 10 spot red on a fly. Fish the shallow water along the banks of the ICW using live or artificial shrimp for your best results. You’ll get both species using these baits.

So far the month of March has lived up to its reputation of coming in like a lion. Strong winds have made it difficult for inshore, surf and offshore fishermen. Luckily for inshore fishermen they can usually find places that are somewhat protected from the wind. Fish the leeward side of the wind and you’ll be fine. Surf fishermen are ok as long as the wind is coming out of the west. The west wind tends to lay the surf down. Offshore fishermen are affected by all strong winds no matter what direction they come from. It makes for rough seas that can make venturing offshore dangerous especially for smaller craft. Let’s hope that March goes out like a lamb.
Speaking of offshore, I’ve been getting reports of Cobia 15 miles south of Port Canaveral. This means they are migrating their way up the east coast. When the big Manta Rays show up the Cobia will be with them. Their arrival in this area depends largely on water temperature that needs to be in the 70’s. Normally they tend to show up in our area around the end of April beginning of May. With the warm weather we’ve had this winter they may show up sooner. Start prepping your gear now so you’re ready when they arrive.
I’ve also gotten reports of whiting and redfish being caught in the surf. The reds have been slot size and are being caught on shrimp, whole frozen or fresh mullet and cut chunks of mullet. Chunks are best when a fresh mullet is used. It tends to release blood and oil into the water. These two things are major fish attractants. The best chunk bait is fresh ladyfish if you can get it. I have caught several small ladyfish in the past few weeks that are perfect for chunking. I know a couple of guys that would get mad at me for not keeping them and giving them the fish. I’ll just keep that under my hat for now.
Inshore, the trout action has been steady. The only problem is a lot of them are just under the legal limit of 15 inches. Live shrimp has been the ticket for trout. Live shrimp has also been catching redfish, flounder and bluefish.
Quick story; Last week I was fly casting up toward the bank of a canal when about a foot and a half below the surface I spotted what appeared to be a large fish. It showed no interest in my fly. When I went to see what it was and I got on top of it, it turned out to be about a 3ft alligator. He just casually swam off.

It’s time to clean the dust off those topwater plugs that have been sitting in your tackle box all winter. But before you use them make sure all the split rings and hooks are in good shape. Any defective hooks or split rings can easily be changed with the aid of split ring pliers. The pliers can be purchased for a couple of dollars through any of the major catalog suppliers such as Cables or Bass Pro Shops. They also carry replacement hooks and split rings. This small investment is a lot cheaper than buying new lures whenever something goes wrong with a lure. I even carry some replacement parts on the boat should something go wrong with one of my favorite lures. Now that you have your tackle in order it’s time to take it out and start using it.
I’ll usually start my day out around the crack of dawn casting a topwater or a sub surface lure until around 9AM. If it’s a cloudy day I’ll use it throughout the day. (Sub surface lures will swim just below the surface.) Let me regress for a second and tell you that when you buy an artificial lure to read the instructions on the box. It will give you ways to work the lure to make it more affective to entice a fish into eating it. I can tell you, and almost all fishermen will agree with me, that there is nothing more exciting in the world of fishing than watching a fish come up and exploding on a topwater bait. Second to that is watching a fish come out of nowhere to eat a sub surface lure. Also the time just before and at dusk is another good time to fish these lures.
Some of my favorite topwater lures are the MirrOlure Top Dog Jr., High Rollers Rip Roller and the Zarra Spook Puppy. When it comes to subsurface lures my all time favorite is the MirrOlure 17MR and their 7M series of lures. The 17MR and the 7M also work great during the middle of the day.
When it comes to fly fishing I also like to start the day with a floating fly line and a topwater fly or a lightly weighted fly (sub surface). While fishing the other morning I was casting a white subsurface fly that you could see 50 feet from the boat and follow it under the surface. It was very exciting to watch trout appear from know where to eat the fly and watch others come up to it, look at it and just swim away.
We’ve been having some great weather so get out and wet a line.

The new regulations for spotted sea trout and redfish are now in effect. The bag limit for trout is now six per person per day. The size limits remain the same at 15” to 20” and one of those fish can be over 20”. There is no more closed season on trout. The bag limit for redfish is now two per person per day with a maximum of 8 fish per vessel. In other words if you have 6 people on your vessel you are only allowed 8 redfish.
These new regulations are for the northeast and northwest sections of the state. The northeast section goes from the Volusia/Flagler county line north to the Georgia border. If you launch your boat at the Highbridge boat launch and fish in Flagler County you cannot bring back the northeast limits on fish back to Highbridge. You can only have the limits for the Southern region. If the FWC checks you at the ramp and you have the wrong limits you will be fined. If you have any questions about the new regulations you can go to “my fwc.com” for further information.
Snook season is also open now and the size limits on snook are 28” to 32” with a bag limit of 1 per day per person. You must have a snook stamp to possess snook.
Remember that when you measure fish that have a broad tail like that of redfish, trout or snook you have to squeeze the tail when measuring them. That’s the way the FWC wil measure them if you get checked.
I know the snook fishing hasn’t been good in our area since the Big Freeze of a couple of years ago but I’ve been seeing signs that the fishery is on the rebound. I’ve been getting rports of people catching lots of little ones in there cast nets. And since the water has been warming up I’ve started to catch small ones again using flies. There are also reports of some decent size snook coming from the Tamoka River.
The big redfish schools that were in the Pellicer flats seem to have dissipated with the onset of warmer water. You can still find reds just not in the big schools that were there a month ago.
Trout fishing remains steady but they also seem to be more spread out due to the warmer water.
There’s also been some good size flounder picked up in the flats using Berkley Gulp. I even caught a flounder while trolling a fly down a canal against the wind.
Access to the flats should be a little easier now that the northeast wind has pushed some water back into the area.

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!!!

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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”.

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.