July Fishing Report

July 16, 2009 by captchris

Pogy pods have continued to show up in good numbers along North East Florida beaches attracting Tarpon to monster Jacks. Tarpon can be seen doing cartwheels and slashing through the pogy pods in a feeding frenzy. Free lining a pogy on a Daiichi 13/0 Circle hook has been my rig of choice, just toss the pogy outside of the bait schools and hold on. Look for huge schools of bruiser Jacks pushing wakes and devouring anything that gets in their way. A live pogy tossed in front of the school will hardly get refused but for more of a challenge test the drag on your fly reel and toss a 4 inch bait fish pattern and hold on!

Inshore Tarpon up to 40lbs. are now settled on their favorite flats and can be seen during dawn patrol rolling and crashing bait. A live select shrimp on a Daiichi D85Z 3/0 circle hook tossed in front of a rolling tarpon is a sure bet.

First light topwater action is a great way to get the day started with Redfish. Have a second rod handy after missed blow ups and pitch an Exude Dart in the area for second chance hook ups. Mud minnows soaked around oyster beds rigged on a popping cork have fooled many Reds this month.

The Flounder bite has been hit or miss but when they show up numbers can be caught on a mud minnow and jig head combo.

There are plenty of small Jacks, ladyfish and mangrove snappers available for steady action to keep the kids interested. A live shrimp on a Daiichi 1/0 circle hook and a popping cork is a great rig to go catching instead of fishing. A deeper cut in the flats around oyster beds or deeper structure like rip rap or sea walls is a great place to soak shrimp with the kids.

If all fails you can always hit the beach and fish behind the shrimp boats for Black Tip Sharks. Just wait for the by catch to be dumpd and within minutes you will be surrounded by plenty of sharks to catch.

Endless Summer Opportunities

June 12, 2009 by captchris

Now that summer is here options on where to fish are endless. If targeting redfish is your thing first light on the flats has yielded some nice slot fish using live bait (mud minnows) or artificial lures like BiteABait topwaters or Exude Darts.

Maybe Tarpon is more your thing and they too can be found on the flats, rolling during first light when winds are calmest. A live select shrimp is a prime choice for juvenile Tarpon or whip out the long rod and place a black and purple toad fly in their path.

When the sun is up and things start to slow down in the skinny head for the inlets where Bull Redish will be roaming the rocks sniffing out a piece of cut something (crabs, mullet or pogies). Don’t feel like battling jetty groupers, continue past the rocks and head for open water where big silver kings (Tarpon) can be seen crushing pogie pods. A live pogie tossed around the schools should entice ole’ bucket mouth into feeding.

Can’t find any Tarpon? No problem start slow trolling the pogies or mullet and see if you can’t find the other King, King Mackerel! Don’t forget to wire up for these toothy critters.

Hey look at that shark, wait it’s a Cobia! That’s right, look for Cobia as they tend to be a bit curious and will show up when not expected so have a rod ready with a large artificial paddle tail. Look for Cobia piggy backing on Manta Rays heading back south as long as the water temps allow (71.5 is the magic number). I

f all fails you can still find huge schools of bruiser Jacks that will test your strength and tackle! Almost forgot, plenty of Spanish Mackerel around as well, trolling spoons or casting plugs will get your live well filled in no time.

June Fishing Forecast

May 29, 2009 by captchris

With warming water and air temperatures its best to fish at sunrise or sunset with topwater plugs to lure in lunker trout and redfish. Make sure to have a jerkbait rigged and ready to go after missed blow ups for second chance hook ups.

Look for high tide redfish along spartina grass edges, on top of oyster beds and flooded grass areas along ICW. Low tide will push redfish to deeper areas in the flats or along ICW shore lines that hold mullet. Best bait for slow days is a chunk of mullet or mullet head on a 3/0 Daiichi D85Z circle hook tossed around oyster beds. Look for over slot redfish around Matanzas inlet when tide goes slack, use a quartered crab, mullet head or live mullet with enough weight to hold bottom.

Flounder will continue to make up for slow days on the flats and creeks while fishing for redfish. Mudd minnows pinned on a Slayer jig head tossed around deeper creek bends will account for most flounder catches. Shallow water flounder will eat gold spoons and spinner baits retrieved slowly just above the bottom.

Trout fishing will be stellar during low light conditions along creek mouths that dump into the ICW. Subsurface lipped hard plugs like the Bite A Bait and soft plastic FishBites Extreme 3 inch mullet jigged in 4-8 ft. of water will entice trout to chew. Night time dock light fishing will be in full swing as long as the water is moving. RipTide realistic shrimp rigged with a Daiichi Butt dragger in a 3/0 pitched up current and let drift through dock lights will fool just about any trout.

Residential canals will be hot spots during for first light tarpon up to 60lbs. A back hooked mullet or live select shrimp pitched in front of rolling tarpon works best or a Exude Jerk bait rigged on a weight less Daiichi5/0 Fat Gap worm hook tossed in the path of a rolling Tarpon and retrieved at a very slow non twitch retrieve.

Schools of jacks are blowing up on bait fish at first light and make a great way to warm up the drag on your reel. A modified topwater plug with no treble hooks and a single jay hook make for an easy catch and release.

rich 5-26-09

Nanna  5-28-09

Artie

Lee 5-22-09

dennis 5-22-09

Capt. Chris Herrera
386-437-2545
www.palmcoastfishing.com

May Fishing Forecast

April 17, 2009 by captchris

Fishing at first light or last light still proves to be successful with topwater plugs. High Rollers 4.25 stick bait in a mullet pattern proved to be the gator trout lure of choice along with High Rollers Rip Roller prop bait for those who cannot “walk the dog”. When the topwater bite tapers off go for subsurface suspending baits like a MirrOdine or lipped diving plugs worked with a stop and go retrieve.

Redfish continue to shadow mullet seeking refuge on top of oyster beds and will be fooled by FishBites Extreme Jerkbaits rigged on a Slayer XXX Penetrator hook . Gold spoons and other bait fish imitators will get the Redfish fired up to bite. If opting for live bait a chunk of lady fish or mullet head resting near oyster beds is hard for a Redfish to resist.

Look for Snook to show up heavy this month, local bridges, docks and seawalls fished at night will produce linesiders. Live select shrimp, pinfish and lipped diving plugs are local favorites when chasing snook but remember to use a minimum of 30lb. leaders to avoid cut offs. Day time Snook fisherman will opt for top water at sunrise and pitching jerkbaits or live shrimp under docks in the afternoon.

Inlets and nearby creeks with hard bottom and a good drop off will hold flatties and doormats waiting to eat a live mullet on a fish finder rig (1oz. egg sinker and Daiichi D18Z 2/0 hook) or mud minnow pinned on a Slayer 1/4oz. jig head. For shallow water flounder try a Slayer inline spinner matched with a FishBites Extreme Paddle tail.

Spanish Mackerel are still hanging around our near coastal waters just outside of Matanzas Inlet. Proven techniques for Spanish is to slow troll spoons or look for acres size schools chasing bait on the surface. Blues, Jacks and Lady fish will be in the mix so make sure to bring plenty of tackle or live bait and most importantly wire leaders.

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Capt. Chris Herrera

Spring Break Redfishing

March 28, 2009 by captchris

The hot bite that started in February that spilled into March has shown no signs of slowing down into April. Clients this week have been lucky enough to experience large schools of Redfish that are willing to eat artificial or live bait that is PROPERLY PRESENTED. Leading the schools and approaching with stealth was the key to pulling out Redfish from the larger schools.
stephen1

Catching Reds from smaller schools was a whole different ball game this week. Boat position was the key in order to keep the small school of Reds pinned between the skiff and an oyster bar. A little noise was actually the key to success by using a little technique called “bumping” the fish and “bouncing” the school back and forth catching them in transition.

Elle struggling to hold up her 9lb. Redfish that ate a live shrimp on a Slayer Inc. 1/4 jig.
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The following day Culter and his older brother Carlton had a fantastic day catching big brutes like this all day
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Since we are at the beginning of the spring mullet run I had Rich and Dean tossing cut mullet with mullet heads on a Daiichi 3/0 D82Z circle hook and small bb split shot being my favorite to another small school of Reds. In an hours time 13 reds were landed and 2 of the smaller ones were invited back to JT’s Seafood Shack for lunch.

jim-lettorale

dean2

Later that afternoon Joe and his son Ben got the worst weather of the day with gusty winds and some showers but that didn’t stop the duo from hooking some nice Reds and loosing one monster Red that new how to work the oysters to get away.

joe-daley

April Fishing Forecast

March 21, 2009 by captchris

Tie on your favorite topwater plug and get to casting, gator trout will be lurking around the bait pods along the ICW. First light, outgoing tides and schools of mullet is the formula for a successful morning outing for trout. Working topwater and sinking plugs parallel to dropoffs and around creek mouths will guarantee success! Don’t over look deeper creek holes as “Gator Trout” can be taking residence.

Redfish will also be patrolling the shell banks of the ICW working the bait pods during low tides. Deeper flats that are holding mullet will have redfish shadowing mullet pods looking to eat the shrimp and crabs the mullet kick up. A FishBites Extreme watermelon color jerkbait on a Slayer 4/0 Penetrator 3/16oz. hook is a great search bait for flats fishing. Oyster bed hopping and casting to spartina grass edges will also produce strikes as long as the mullet are around.

Flounder should be chewing steady on all stages of the tides in the flats but outgoing being my favorite. Live finger mullet with a few small split shots or using a FishBite Paddle tail slowly bounced across the bottom will produce flatties. Jig fisherman will target deeper dropoffs with mudminnows or finger mullet. Doormats around the inlets will fall for 5-7 inch mullet on a fish finder rig.

Big Blue fish should continue to chew around Matanzas Inlet, they will bite just about any lure that resembles a mullet, first light is best for numbers. Jacks will start to show up as well and being caught at first light with surface poppers or live bait in deeper water later in the day. Ladyfish will be stacking up outgoing tides busting baitfish in the bigger creeks that will keep the kids occupied. Light jigs and paddle tails or live shrimp will get slammed by lady fish on every cast once you find them.

Well it seems as my favorite way to fish (sight fishing) is now a thing of the past its time to adapt with the change that Spring will bring as its only 2 days away. On recent trips I have noticed less schools of Redfish and more schools of mullet invading our inshore waters as the temps continue to climb.

The following day was still a great day on the water but no where near the sore lippin like the day before

Frank Smith was able to land his first Redfish on fly

We found smaller schools where Gary and Frank were able to double up

Knowing that I was on borrowed time with the Redfish schools I was able to get a few more charters on them before they broke up.

Bob took advantage and landed several nice Reds like this one.

The following day I had Russ and Joe who never experienced fishing Redfish schools and were not disappointed with the numbers they seen and caught.

Now fast forward to today where finding any large or small school was tough with the wind and high water so I switched to fishing creeks and targeting single Redfish on oyster beds with tiger minnows and Slayer 1/4oz. jigs. Nine fish fell for this combo today with Bob “Almighty” taking top honors with the 2 biggest fish of the day.

I even had a chance to fish this week where I saw this redfish working some mullet, I threw a paddle tail that was immediately pounced on by this 26″ redfish that weighed just over the 8lb. mark. I don’t think the photo does this fish any justice but by far the fattest fish I seen swimming these waters in a long time.

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March Fishing Forecast

February 21, 2009 by captchris

Springtime is around the corner and should bring the mullet out of their winter hiding holes. Redfish will start to scatter on the flats and will be hanging around the pods of mullet eating whatever gets kicked up. Look along Spartina grass edges, oyster patches during high tides and ICW for low tides. Slayer Penetrator 3/16oz hooks with a Fish Bites Extreme Paddle tail, High Roller topwater plugs and jerkbaits are proven lures that work for reds in March. Trout will be devouring topwater plugs at first light along ICW, creek mouths and docks. Once sun gets high, whip out that jig and soft plastic for subsurface trout. Bluefish will be around Matanzas Inlet mixed in with the trout. Flounder can be found on the flats during all stages of the tide also in creek holes and inlets. Finger size mullet on a fish finder rig with a 2/0 Daiichi Octopus hook or a mud minnow on a jighead should do the trick. Snook will show up from winter holding spots if water temps warm rapidly or else look for them in April.

February Fishing Forecast

February 2, 2009 by captchris

February Fishing Forecast

Hitting the flats once the sun is high and with incoming water will give you sight fishing opportunities for Sheep Head. Best bet is to look around oyster bars till you see the striped bandits nibbling away. A stealthy approach is a must by either poling or quietly using your troll motor. . A rig I like to use is a 1/0 Daiichi octopus J hook with a bb split shot a few inches above the hook, I then rig a shrimp weed less by cutting off it’s tail for sent and inserting hook through the tail and back into it’s body for a weedless rig. Bigger Sheep heads will be hanging around deeper water structure like docks, bridges, channel markers and area Inlets. A fishfinder rig with a live fiddler crab is top choice for vertical jigging deep structure.

Trout fishing will be catch and release only as the season is closed from Flagler County north (Flagler County boundary is north of High Bridge). Schooled up trout will be hanging around ICW creek mouths, deep holes in creek bends and Matanzas Inlet. Small soft plastics like RipTide 3 inch mullet or curly tails on a jig head will attract schooled up trout. Gator trout will be sunning on mud flats during the heat of the day and a live mullet swimming on the surface will tempt even the wariest trout.

Redfish schools will be on sun baked flats during higher tides and roaming the ICW during low tides. Multiple fish can be caught as long as you’re quiet and do not get to close. Black drum are relatives to red fish and noted as good table fair when caught less than 5 pounds and can hold their own once hooked. Recent outings have produced good numbers of “puppy drum” which range from 2 to 6 pounds. Simple rigs are used to catch Black drum, one of my favorites is a Slayer inc. ¼ oz. jig head and a live or fresh dead shrimp hooked through the head. Since Black drum are bottom dwellers and feed almost exclusively on the bottom other good baits that produce “stink” are quartered blue crabs, clams and oysters.

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Capt. Chris Herrera

www.PalmCoastFishing.com

Inshore Fishing Report

January 27, 2009 by captchris

The wind has finally slowed down a bit and I was able to get out with my nephew an put him on this sweet red that was sight fished from a school. I ran out of Fishbites so I had him pitch a RipTide 3″ mullet on a Slayer 3/16 Penetrator hook.

Cheese Cake Mike catches a nice red plucked from a school of about 15 fish.

Today I had one of my regulars, Jim hooked and landed this whopper on his first cast using a live shrimp and a Daiichi D82z 1/0 circle hook

As we were talking about the do’s and don’ts I saw the mother load, we had a school of belly rollers just in casting distance. Now it was time to practice what I preached as far as approaching schools and how to pick them off. I staked us out and had both anglers make good long cast with the wind to our backs and pick off the lead fish.

We had multiple hook ups and did it by not chasing the school around, just letting them get back to their happy zone before being plucked out again.

Capt. Chris Herrera


www.PalmCoastFishing.com

Mosquito Lagoon Road Trip

January 9, 2009 by captchris

Sight fishing is normally a treat for us Northeast Florida fisherman, we have our opportunities during the winter or flats that are near the inlets but other than that its usually blind casting till your arm falls off.

Well this week I was fed up, high winds and high temps caused our waters to murk up again and fishing on my days off where not to be spent blind casting to fish I could not see, I will save that for the other 9 months of the year.

We have one of the best sight fishing for Redfish fisheries and greatly overlooked Gator Trout fishery in the world under an hour from my house. With gas prices taking a good dip, it would be foolish for me not to take advantage and visit Mosquito Lagoon also known as the “Redfish Capital of the World”.

My first trip would start early Monday morning waiting for Tommy to show up on time as usual and myself trying to cheat the alarm clock of a few more minutes. We loaded up the Hells Bay with fly rods, waters and hopes and dreams of catching an oversized redfish on fly.

On the ride down to the promise land, Tommy and I just talked game plan and before you knew it we were driving down the dirt road that leads us to the launch ramp. Not a bad ride down I-95 and only minutes away from warming up on the slot fish that school in the hundreds this time of year.

The weather could not have been any better, no clouds, light winds and oh crap is that 3 boats fishing on the flat we want to fish! Dang there is a reason we like to fish during the weekdays; everyone who owns a boat within a 70-mile radius hammers Mosquito Lagoon reds on weekends. Although there were only 3 other boats, to us that was 3 more than we expected. We just shrugged our shoulders tied on a fly and went hunting.

I quietly polled past the 3 boats that were working a sand bar and gave them space as they were there first and it’s the right thing to do, plus who needs an audience when the reason I like to fish is to get away from the everyday hustle and enjoy some peace and tranquility while pursing my passion.

Tommy and I spent the next few minutes quietly poling the shallow scanning the waters for any sign of singles, schools, bait fish anything that will give us a reason to head in that direction. We have fished this flat before so we had an idea where the fish should be but that didn’t guarantee they would be there. We were also worried that the 3 other boats had already figured out the schools location since this flat is a good 2 miles long and several hundred yard wide and they were all within casting distance of each another.

We saw a small school of baitfish swimming down the edge of the flat and as they passed us we both saw the sign we were looking for, redfish enjoying a mullet breakfast. At first we had no idea if it was a few fish a hundred fish or even five hundred fish all we knew is that we had them to ourselves and we were going to catch one.

I slowly pushed the skiff as quietly as possible so we wouldn’t alert the fish of our presence. I mean why bum rush them and catch one when you can sneak up on them and catch ten, so our game plan was being implemented and we were focused on our goal as we stalked the school like a lion would stalk its prey. “Hold your cast, almost there, hold it, hold it,” I whispered and all of sudden the school lifts and our dreams of a quiet fly shot was quickly disappearing.

“What the &%#! @” I looked at Tommy almost ready to blame him for having a big head and spooking the fish from a distance but quickly realizing it wasn’t his unusual enormous head that spooked the fish but one of the three boaters that we so kindly poled by quietly as not to spook what ever they were trying to catch. Apparently they were not looking for signs of fish but watching us and waiting for us to find the fish for them.

Now if you go and re read our methods on how we were able to get close enough to the school without spooking them you would clearly understand that it took poling, time and being extremely quiet and did I mention being quiet and taking our time!

These two guys decided to look the part but not play the part and what I mean by that is, one guy was on the poling platform holding the push pole (looking the part) but his other partner in crime had the trolling motor down on nearly full power as I can hear the hum of the troll motor. There was nothing quiet or taking their time on how they approached (and I won’t say our school) our space. I do not mind sharing but you have to be somewhat courteous, don’t just plow on in like its Black Friday and there are only two Plasmas on sale and a hundred people fighting it out. That is not was peace and tranquility is about.
Man, that was a lot of writing just to tell you the school vanished into deeper water and neither boat had a shot at the fish and after a few kind words were exchanged we all left the flat.

Our next destination looked very promising as there was tailing redfish and only one kayaker in the vicinity and it happened to be Tommy’s dad. After a brief phone conversation we discovered he had already landed a thirty plus inch redfish and had shots at others. We were back on track and now it was my turn for bow time. Tommy had me on tailing reds within minutes of taking poling duties and I was doing my part as making good cast and putting my fly within reach of the tailers, only one problem, the reds ignored any fly offering I had.

Well this scenario went on for the rest of the day till we finally decided to switch to artificial baits and I was lucky enough to hook an estimated twenty plus pound fish but unlucky when it spit the hook. After that, all the fish stopped tailing and our day quickly came to an end.

We made it back to the ramp and in good spirits despite being skunked but knowing we did have plenty of shots and great cast just no eats and that is better than no shot and bad cast. As I walked up to my truck I noticed some parking lot prankster decided to mess with my magnetic sign and turned it upside down (no biggie) as I turn it around I see a business card fall to the ground and quickly find out the parking lot prankster is no other than my good friend Capt. Pat Murphy.

I made a quick call to Pat and we spoke on how his day on the water went compared to ours and ended the conversation with plans to fish with him the next day as Tommy was returning with Brian (B-fisher) and I could hitch a ride.

Day Two:

We had a late morning start and met with Captain Pat at the launch ramp, after quick meet and greet we laid out our game plan for the morning which was toss topwaters for gator trout. Know one seemed to have a problem with the plan so we loaded Capt. Pat’s new to him Hells Bay and off we were. It was a quick run to Troutsville and mere minutes later both boats were casting to potholes waiting for our plugs to be devoured. On my fourth cast my plug disappeared after an explosion of water had occurred, my line came tight and the head shaking began. Capt. Pat was not impressed by this trout as a he has guided his clients in recent days to seven to nine pound fish and this trout looked to be about three pounds from a distance, but as I gained line this fish kept growing slightly and after landing the trout true weight was closer to five pounds. We made a few more cast but the wind was increasing the grass kept our plugs fouled so we opted more for sheltered waters and tailing reds.

We started up the big motor and shut down after a 15-minute ride through what is now a steady 15 mph southwest wind. Capt. Pat poled me to the limitations of his skiff in search of shallow water reds, which he expected would be tailing in this area. As I scanned the horizon I noticed the first tail waiving me in, a modest fish maybe twenty-three to twenty four inch red digging its nose into the grass foraging for a crab, shrimp or other tasty morsels. I made a good cast with a soft plastic dragged slowly across its path to get its attention, and it did. Again my line came tight and the red fled across the flat like a scolded dog running back to the barn. “ Hey, not a bad fish Pat,” as I reach down and grab a hold of my second catch of the day. After a quick pose and picture the red was revived and released to be caught another day.

By this time I felt bad that Capt. Pat had to work on his day off so I offered to join back up with Tommy and Brian, I thanked Pat for a good two hour session and we were on our way.

Now that the fishing trio was back together we headed to new waters to finish our day. Tommy was still on poling duties and allowed me a few shots with Brian before I would be stationed on the poling platform for the remainder of the day. First fish spotted was given to Brian but I was locked and loaded incase he miss fired, Brian made a good presentation that went unnoticed so Quick Draw McGraw here fired at will and hooked up with my big fish of the day a twenty seven inch perfect tournament fish but no tournament today so a beautiful upper slot red. After the picture session and release, I knew my day of fishing was done and now it was my turn to point out the fish from above.

The next fish spotted was just mere 10 feet away from the boat and doing a headstand as if his head was stuck in the sand, several casts went unnoticed as this red was focused on whatever he was digging out of the sand until he felt our presence and swam off. I believe the following conversation was about how hard it is to catch a fish that’s has his head buried that deep, which must have been a coincidence because Brian spotted a red doing the same thing but now only two feet from the boat. I have heard of can poling but this was the true meaning of cane poling as Brian just dropped his jerkbait next to the fish, gave it a wiggle to get the reds attention, and it worked. This fish had no clue we were right on top and hammered Brian’s jerkbait and the fight was on. Another upper slot, twenty six inch fish is now aboard and being posed for Brian’s picture catch of the day.

Well we have all managed at least one fish a piece except for Tommy who had a valid excuse since he poled Brian all day. We stopped seeing fish for a second and its seemed like every time I mentioned something about a fish less flat one would pop up, so I continued giving Tommy a hard time about this flat we were fishing when his fish appeared. Tommy had a live shrimp on and lead the fish by a bit and this red had no problem finding the live shrimp. Once more we took some photographs and just in time as we were losing light and our stomachs started to growl so we called it a day till next time.

Capt. Chris Herrera

www.PalmCoastFishing.com