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Northeast Hot Spots
Get an early start for roaming redfish.
The scorching midsummer sunlight drives fish deeper to look for shade and cooler water. Successful anglers keep this in mind and concentrate on fishing cooler times of the day - early mornings, evenings and nights - for top bites throughout the region.
During the middle of the day, fish deeper. Capt. George Strate, who charters from the Mayport Princess at the mouth of the St. Johns in Mayport, fishes the 80- to 100-foot bottoms for snapper, beeliners and sea bass. "We fish the small ledges, the 2- to 3-foot breaks running east and west," he says. "Cigar minnows and Spanish sardines are the most productive baits, but cut squid works just fine. My clients catch fine grouper, triggerfish and lane snapper in the midsummer months. Farther out, the offshore guys get marlin and sails east of the Gulf Stream, 52 miles or so out. Slow-troll live baits or drag rigged hulas."
Fish the western edge of the Gulf Stream for the real speedsters - dorado, also known as dolphin or mahi, wahoo and yellowfin tuna. Kingfish roam everywhere in July and early August. Look for them from the Gulf Stream to the breakers, from Fernandina through Volusia County. Top baits include ribbonfish, pogies and mullet. Chum over wrecks or reefs. Fishing over bottom humps can also bring success.
Nearshore anglers may find many giant king mackerel just off the sand between St. Augustine and Jacksonville Beach. Just offshore, Spanish mackerel in peak migration follow big bait pods. "You'll see kings, jacks and cobia on those same pods as well," Strate says.
Schools of juvenile tarpon feed along the St. Augustine jetties on the outgoing tide. Look closely and you might see their whip-like dorsal rays break water. Cast a heavy outfit tipped with a spoon or big popping plug into the rocks. Pull it forward quickly; then, let it sink and pull it again.
Capt. Larry Miniard of Ponte Vedra works the Intracoastal Waterway on cool summer mornings. He looks for slot-size reds cruising the west side of the waterway during very low tides. When he finds them, he tempts these reds with tipped jigs, topwaters or baitfish flies. "It's got to be low tide," Miniard said, "and with very little boat traffic."
Topwaters and jerkbaits also tempt summer speckled trout feeding along the oyster bars and grassy edges of the Intracoastal from Daytona Beach north through Devil's Elbow. Capt. Brian Clancy of New Smyrna Beach fishes the Mosquito Lagoon from Haulover Canal north to Cedar Creek. Can't fish the cooler hours? The north Mosquito Lagoon produces big trout all day long on the grass flats.
"Don't move much while you fish the 'white holes,'" Clancy says. "Make long casts into the wind, which is the direction trout will be facing. You can get closer in windy conditions."
Clancy also keeps an eye out for schooling redfish. He finds plenty of spot-tails in the 10-pound range around the islands and grass.
"For schooling redfish, look around the klinker islands in the middle of the grass flats on the west side of the lagoon," Clancy says. "Bull reds, 25 pounds and more, tail on the east side, working the edges of grass flats in 2 to 3 feet of water."
Fish early or late. For the best results on big reds, stick with natural baits. "Bull reds love live pinfish and mullet," Clancy says.
DOCK TALK
Know a junior angler who's yearning for a taste of the tourney trail? The AT&T Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament offers prizes to the top 50 catches in its Junior Angler Tournament.
For kids under 16 years old, the entry fee costs $10. A Carolina Skiff JV 15 powered by a 25-horsepower Mercury outboard and a Loadmaster trailer is the top prize.
"That's a $14,000 value," says Ketty Huggins, tournament communications director. "Last year we had 674 junior anglers signed up. We expect as many this year."
Register at the AT&T Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament website, www.kingfishtournament.com/register.php.
- David Lambert, Regional Editor
Southeast Hot Spots
Intercept tarpon heading north.
Always a summer hot spot, Sebastian Inlet can yield big mangrove snapper and snook. Fish live pigfish on the bottom. Bull redfish eagerly take live crabs during the falling tide off the north Sebastian Inlet jetty. Shallow grass flats north of Long Point Park hold reds, trout and snook in early morning. Fish soft plastics, like D.O.A. shrimp, Bass Assassin jerkbaits or gold spoons near sandy potholes and patchy grass.
Early in the morning, tarpon roll in Vero Cove and around the mouth of Fort Pierce Inlet. Troll big-lipped plugs, like a Mann's Stretch 25+, for night tarpon action. During the day, kingfish, barracuda and an occasional grouper hit plugs trolled near shallow reefs.
In Fort Pierce Inlet, look for abundant Spanish mackerel, snook, bonito, jacks and sharks. Cast small jigs tipped with shrimp along dirty-water edges just off the beach south of the inlet to fill a bucket with whiting.
Head to the boils off the St. Lucie Power Plant to catch tarpon, permit, snook, barracuda and other game fish. Soak live threadfin herring or sardines for tarpon and snook. Toss live crabs or jigs tipped with live shrimp for permit.
Submerged spoil islands and grass flats in the Indian River from Fort Pierce to Stuart hold many trout and snook. Redfish pods roam the west bank. If freshwater discharges stay minimal, expect to see snook and small tarpon in the North Fork of the St. Lucie River. In the summer, tarpon head north off Palm Beach and Jupiter Island. Look for rolling fish in 10 to 30 feet of water on calm mornings. Get ahead of the tarpon, drop sardines to the bottom and wait for fish to come to you.
Offshore, target red snapper near any structure, reef break or isolated ridge. Head to deep water for big grouper, snapper and amberjack. Drop a live pigfish or a jig tipped with a whole squid on The Cones in 280 feet of water or at Push Button Hill to battle these brutes.
The Six-Mile Reef off Stuart and the Sirotkin Reef about 100 feet deep off St. Lucie Inlet are good spots to target a mixed bag. Drift live greenies or sardines on top for kingfish, dolphin and sailfish. Tempt grouper and mutton snapper with live baits on the bottom. During the full moon, target wahoo off Jupiter in 180 to 300 feet of water. Bright nights also bring good action from king mackerel, mutton and yellowtail snapper.
The High Bar off Juno and the Hobe Sound Loran Tower Reef offer good locations to drift sardines. Slow-troll small bonito to get monster bites from bull sharks, hammerheads, barracuda, smoker kings and wahoo. Even blue marlin occasionally make an appearance.
Catching dolphin during the summer generally requires long runs offshore to find weed lines, temperature breaks or floating debris. If trolling for dolphin and wahoo becomes too costly, try deep jigging while drifting over wrecks between Hillsboro and Port Everglades. Drop a 5-ounce Williamson Benthos metal jig over wrecks 150 to 300 feet deep for blackfin, bonito, amberjack, African pompano and mutton snapper. Tempt kings between Hillsboro Inlet and the Deerfield Beach Pier in 80 to 120 feet of water or swords at night in the 1,200- to 1,500-foot depths between Boca and Fort Lauderdale.
DOCK TALK
Not convinced that targeting wahoo during the summer full moon is worth your while? Talk to Jeff Flit or Steve Owens, both of Boca Raton: Last August the fishing fiends planned a daybreak trolling trip aboard Flit's 31-foot Yellowfin, Crunch Time. The action began with a small dolphin and a sailfish release, but the hit that came at 8:30 a.m. just north of the Highland Beach water tower in 120 feet of water will forever burn in their memory banks of fish tales. "It hit like a freight train," Owens said as he watched nearly all the 40-pound line evaporate from his Penn International 30 reel on the first run. After a wild 30-minute battle, it took both anglers to lift the behemoth 6-foot, 75-pound fish over the gunwale for Owens first-ever wahoo.
- Tom Twyford, Regional Editor
South Hot Spots
South Florida anglers draw their swords.
Anglers can catch swordfish all year long off south Florida, but many prefer to fish during the summer. Winds generally remain light, keeping seas calm. Afternoon thunderstorms typically dissipate by dark, while temperatures remain pleasant for night anglers.
Many anglers in Broward and Miami-Dade counties leave the dock around 4 or 5 p.m. to run 12 to 15 miles southeast and start fishing in water about 1,400 feet deep. At the swordfish grounds, anglers deploy a mix of baits, including blue runners, tinker mackerel, goggle-eyes and rigged squid fished at a various depths. Then, they drift north, back toward their home inlet. Depending upon their port of origin, Keys anglers usually run 20 to 25 miles offshore. The typical swordfish caught at night during the summer weighs 50 to 100 pounds, but anglers occasionally land swordies in the 200- or 300-pound range.
Fishing during the day, the hottest trend in swordfishing, usually produces bigger fish. Daytime sword anglers try to beat the heat by departing early in the morning and heading a little farther offshore. In about 1,700 to 1,800 feet of water, they start dropping baits ranging from squid to butterflied bonito with the aid of electric reels. Keep these baits near the bottom with a 10- to 15-pound sash weight.
Anglers targeting dolphin also favor an early start to get the first crack at floating debris and weed lines before other anglers pick them clean. It also helps them avoid the searing heat of midday. Some anglers troll ballyhoo, squid and lures around the weeds and debris, while others run and gun, looking for diving birds or other signs of fish, then casting out live bait. Chunks of ballyhoo also work well when casting toward a school of dolphin. Live bait or a jig dropped below the schoolies may produce a big dolphin or wahoo.
The best wahoo fishing of the year occurs three to four days before and after the full moons in July and August. For the best results along the Atlantic Coast, slowly troll or drift with live goggle-eyes and small bonito or troll lures in 150 to 225 feet of water.
Kingfish and some blackfin tuna wait just outside the reef line, but anglers often catch a bunch of bonito before they hook into a king or tuna. Yellowtail and mangrove snapper bite best late in the afternoon and at night in water 50 to 80 feet deep. Yellowtails and mangroves also bite along the edge of the reef throughout the Keys. Night offers the best time to target Keys tarpon. Use live bait around the bridges and in the bridge channels.
Snook season stays closed until Sept. 1, but catch-and-release fishing for snook remains good in the river mouths in the Ten Thousand Islands and at night around inlets from Government Cut to Boca Raton.
DOCK TALK
Snook fishermen pray for rain, which was scarce last summer. After a heavy downpour, snook bite at spillways throughout Miami-Dade and Broward counties because the south Florida Water Management District opens spillways in freshwater canals to let the excess water drain into canals that connect with the Intracoastal Waterway. Snook can detect the change in the water salinity and gather at the spillways to feed on the bluegills, shad, shiners and other small fish carried through the spillway by the flowing water.
Snook anglers often use live bait, which they catch at the spillway. For an effective way to fish shad and shiners, hook them on a jig head and cast into the spillway. Let the jig head bounce naturally downstream along the bottom into the mouths of lurking snook. Other effective lures include swimming plugs and soft-plastic swim baits.
- Mike Miller, Regional Editor
West Hot Spots
Troll live bait for smoker king mackerel.
North of Tampa Bay lies Hudson, home of Capt. Steve Bowler and some great Gulf Coast flats fishing. "At this time of year, change tactics to be successful," he advises. "The water gets really warm, making it difficult to fish with live bait, so I switch to artificials."
Although live bait remains plentiful, a well full of liveys can quickly become a watery coffin in the summer heat. "If you are running in shallow water, the livewell intake only picks up warm water low in dissolved oxygen," Bowler says. "An oxygen infuser may help, but baits hooked and tossed into the water are already pretty stressed and don't do well." Bowler also cares for the fish he catches. "After a hard battle with a big snook that's been swimming around in this warm water, you've got to hold the fish and revive it if it's lethargic," he says. "If you just let it go, that fish will not survive."
"The past few summers," says Capt. Jonnie Walker, "we had big king mackerel staying around all summer instead of just migrating through the area in late spring." The guide trolls over the extensive system of offshore artificial reefs out of Sarasota County for kings in the 30- to 40-pound range. "We use live threadfin, Spanish and cigar minnows," he says. "The key is to slowly troll them, I mean as slow as you can troll and still make headway."
He trolls a kingfish rig with a stinger. To make this rig, Walker secures about eight inches of wire leader to a swivel and tips the leader with a heavy-duty 2/0 hook. Behind the hook, he attaches another short length of wire holding a No. 4 treble hook. "It's real important to hook live bait on correctly," Walker adds. "Hook threadfins and Spanish sardines through the nostrils and cigar minnows through the lips."
With many big snook busy spawning in the passes and nearby waters, fish for Mr. Linesides along the beaches. "This is a great time to sight-cast for them," says Capt. Dave Gibson of Fort Myers. "The fish hold in the troughs right at the edge of the water. If they were any closer to land, they'd be flopping on the beach." When cruising the shoreline, pay particular attention to any structure in the water. Snook use such spots to wait for baitfish to come by.
Gibson likes to cast flies at beach-dwelling snook. "It's best to use an 8- or 9-weight rig with floating line and either a small chartreuse Bendback with an orange or red head or a white Deceiver with a bit of Flashaboo."
DOCK TALK
Well known for holding more than its fair share of sharks, the Cape Romano flats south of Marco Island usually provide very productive and exciting angling. "You don't even have to shark-fish to encounter a big shark," says Capt. T. J. Reuther. "While snapper fishing one day, we had a mangrove snapper right at the boat when a huge bull shark came up and ate the snapper before we could get it out of the water." That pales in comparison to what happens when he intentionally fishes for sharks. "A 16-foot tiger shark swam by the boat one day and my customer wanted to catch it," Reuther remembers. "Now, understand that this was a big guy with huge arms. So I got out the gorilla pole and he hooked the shark." As the monster fish began to run, it nearly pulled the muscular angler off the boat deck. "The guy asked me to hold the pole while he put on a belt to help him fight the fish," the captain says. "But, I said no way and told him to put the rod in the holder, which the guy did. Next thing I hear is a loud snap and then silence." When Reuther turned around to look for the rod, he couldn't find anything except the rod butt. The rest of the rod was gone - sheared off right behind the reel.
- Kris Thoemke, Regional Editor
Panhandle Hot Spots
Time to tempt tuna off the Panhandle.
Look for fireworks both on and off the water during July in the Florida Panhandle. The exceptionally warm eddy off the Gulf Stream draws in big schools of tuna, dolphin and billfish.
During the 2007 Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament, held out of Bay Point Marina in Panama City, the top two tuna weighed 123.8 and 119.8 pounds. The top two dolphin each broke the 50-pound barrier.
Capt. John Holley, one of the winning captains in that event, skippers the Ole Miss, a 65-foot Hatteras out of Destin. His secret to finding big schools of tuna? Spot large flocks of birds on the radar. Birds feed on the spoils from big tuna. Grander marlin might also gorge themselves on tuna. The captain recommends trolling bonito rigged with circle hooks through the area.
Closer to shore, water temperatures in the upper 80s bring in schools of big dolphin and feisty wahoo. In the summer, masses of "June grass," or sargassum, accumulate in large mats that attract baitfish and give cover to pelagic predators. Slowly trolling live blue runners parallel to floating grass mats might bring strikes from wahoo, says Jim Roberson, the IGFA representative from Destin who makes wahoo his passion during this season. Roberson prefers to set out a live blue runner and allow it to swim under the grass mat. "If there is a wahoo anywhere nearby, you'll get a hookup," he says.
Tom Stephens runs a 31-foot Fountain out of Panama City and targets "smoker" kings, some exceeding 50 pounds, by slow-trolling nose-rigged blue runners under kites along weed lines. "Later in the season, I've even hooked sailfish within 10 miles of the beach," he says.
Victor Wright at Gulf Breeze Bait and Tackle across the bridge from Pensacola says the early-morning bite for speckled trout and redfish is always hot in the summer on the grass flats along Santa Rosa Sound. Make long casts with noisy topwaters or flashy baits to avoid spooking fish in shallow water. Wright also says to entice redfish by casting almost any swimming plastic rigged on a 4/0 bass hook with no weight on a 20-pound-test fluorocarbon leader to get the fish out of the grass.
Capt. Dwayne and Sandra Allen operate Book Me a Charter out of Apalachicola and offer trips to target tripletail in Apalachicola Bay. Sandra says that anglers hoping to catch tripletail should approach crab buoys or other floating objects carefully and look for the fish lolling around the buoy. "Cast a live shrimp beyond the tripletail and slowly reel it toward the fish so it can see the shrimp," she says. "When the fish hits, hang on!" Tripletail look docile but jump out of the water and put up a good battle when hooked. The biggest tripletail to come from the bay weighed about 31 pounds, caught by Clay Patton of Panama City. They also make excellent tablefare, tasting like grouper.
Fishing in federal waters (9 or more miles offshore) is limited for snapper, but some of the best grouper and red snapper fishing occurs in state waters where the season remains open until Oct. 31. Capt. Allen looks for snapper in water 100 feet deep or less. "My main secret to success is to anchor so the stern stays just ahead of the target wreck. The fish head toward the current. This puts your chum and bait more directly in front of the fish." Live cigar minnows and live pinfish produce larger snapper and grouper, he says.
DOCK TALK
In case you need a reminder of how good fishing is during July, Conrad Hawkins caught the 1,046-pound Florida record blue marlin on July 14, 2001, during the Bay Point Invitational Billfish tournament. Too big for the tournament scale, the fish had to be weighed on a certified scale at a Panama City junkyard! Just a reminder, scallop season opens July 1 in St. Joe Bay, the only location in the Panhandle where people can catch scallops. Judging by the number of boats in the bay each year, get there early if you want a parking spot and a scalloping location.
- Jim Wilson, Regional Editor
The Chevy Florida Fishing Report airs from 7 pm till 8:30 pm every Thursday night, beginning January 31st through October 9th. Check your local listings for changes.
