The following Bait Shops Carry

Johnny Garret at Flagler Beach Pier Bait & Tackle said this week saw about five to 10 flounder around the 15- to 20-inch mark and a Spanish mackerel bite that turned on and off to the tune of about 50 a day. There are some blues blitzing the surf now and then, a drum here and there and a couple of whiting, but no pompano, he said.

The sheepshead are on the pilings -- they bred there a few weeks back -- but the water is getting pretty clear, so it'll be tough to trick them. And fiddler crabs, the choice bait, has been scarce lately, he said. Garrett said overall the surf fish bite is best at sunrise or late in the evening, with midday getting pretty slow.

Over the past couple of weeks, the surf temperature has been struggling to pass 70 degrees. It did break it for a time, but it looks like this is the weekend when the mercury might bust through and start its battle of inches toward the 80s.

And if it hits 70 this weekend, that means cobia. Pier anglers have caught about 15 cobia, including some 20- and 30-pounders, during warm spurts the last three weeks.

Matanzas Inlet area

Henry Miles at the Devil's Elbow Fish Camp said the reds are leaving the flats and hitting the river as the water temp heats up, so try some deeper water access areas to the flats at midday. He said a fisherman floating shrimp by the inlet got nine keeper trout, sheepies are on the bridge pilings and the inlet has been loaded with Spanish, but no cobia right outside of Matanzas lately.

Capt. Fred Robert said the water has actually cooled down a bit since the last little cold front and is around 65 now. He said his money is on the cobia being back offshore.

At the inlet channel and inshore, he's been throwing shrimp and Gulp! baits, getting "spotty action" all week with small reds, small snook, small trout, small yellow jacks, a lot of mangrove snapper and medium-sized sheepshead.

Reczek said the jetty anglers are getting 'em all -- pompano, whiting, some big reds, a few flounder, blues, Spanish, drum and sheepshead.

Plenty of whiting and summer trout are being caught while the jetty anglers are waiting for a hook-up from one of the big black drum.

Reds, trout and sheepshead are feeding along either side of the rocks. Fiddlers for the sheepshead and live shrimp or mud minnows will work for the trout and reds.

Beautiful warm weather is predicted for this weekend, giving our local surf fishermen excellent conditions. Whiting, blues and the occasional Spanish mackerel were at the ends of the surf anglers' hooks this week. The low tide falls around 9 a.m. giving you a perfect incoming tide to fish the surf today. Shrimp fished on the bottom will do the trick for a day on the surf with family and friends. Cut mullet or a whole finger mullet will do the trick for the blues and Spanish mackerel.

4-3-08

Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier picked up some this week. The whiting continue to perplex people, with random bites being the rule. Black drum, seatrout and sheepshead are better bets. There were several big drum caught there this week up to 60 pounds. At the St. Augustine Beach Pier, it has been likewise sporadic. A few legal pompano were caught. But the west winds have screwed up the water, and it's not likely to get much better through the weekend with southerly winds forecast through Sunday.

The surf had poor water clarity this week. Whiting, blues, trout and the occasional Spanish mackerel have been caught. Cut shrimp or cut mullet have been the go-to baits. You can usually catch fish no matter when you fish the surf, but the incoming tide - which is all morning this weekend - has been the tide to fish. When the water clarity improves, those of you waiting for the pompano run should plan to be there. I've been hearing of some nice pompano catches from Matanzas Inlet south.

The Amelia by the Sea pier has been producing whiting, trout and blues along with the occasional sheepshead and puppy drum. Fort Clinch also has been producing whiting, trout, blues, the occasional Spanish mackerel and puppy drum. The George Crady Bridge State Fishing Pier has been producing a tremendous amount of undersized speckled trout on the outgoing tide. Whiting and blues also are being caught along with the occasional puppy drum and redfish. Dead shrimp fished on the bottom for the whiting, cut mullet or finger mullet for the blues, and live shrimp floated deep will work well for the speckled trout.

The jetties are holding trout, reds and sheepshead along the rocks and, at the tip of the south jetty, large black drum. Live shrimp and mud minnows are the bait for trout and redfish. Capt. Danny Flynn and charter has a nice catch of reds on Wednesday using quartered blue crab. Use fiddler crabs, mussels and small live shrimp for the sheepshead. Large shrimp or live blue crabs are the bait of choice for the black drum, which have moved into the rivers, so you might try your favorite locations.

At the Flagler Pier, it's much the same. There are a few shots at Spanish mackerel running in the morning, too. And there's a few pompano in the surf. The Flagler pier anglers are seeing a few rays, but they haven't caught any cobia in recent days.

Capt. Luke Pearson (customfishingcharters.net; 386-547-4011) said, "We have been limiting out on trout every day and catching a lot of flounder. The water got really dirty (Tuesday) night from all the rain, and it made the bite a little bit slow. There is a lot of mullet in the river right now, and a lot of sharks. I have been seeing a lot of black tips and bonnet head sharks cruising around destroying schools of bait."

Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier was pretty slow all week. A few sheepshead and drum were caught. Whiting were slow. At the St. Augustine Beach Pier, it was pretty much the same thing. The wind kept most anglers off the planks. The only real bite was on the drum, which are staging up in the slough halfway down the pier.

Saint A

Looks like we'll spend another weekend cussing the wind. Larger boats may be able to make the trip out, but in general it won't be a blue water kind of weekend. Southwest winds will blow Saturday at 10 to 15 knots with seas 3 to 5 feet. Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier was pretty slow all week. A few sheepshead and drum were caught. Whiting were dead. At the St. Augustine Beach Pier, it was pretty much the same thing. The wind kept most anglers off the planks. The only real bite was on drum which are staging up in the slough halfway down the pier.

Ed Countryman at Ocean's Bait & Tackle said 10-pound blues were running wild, but by now most have migrated north. He said big reds have been active in Ormond-by-the-Sea and Tim Coulter got a 26-incher.

Flagler Beach Pier angler Bob Burns said by mid week, rough surf and muddy water reduced fishing to sugar trout, little sharks, sail cats and small keeper drum. Harley Hoffman "got the catch of the week" Wednesday with five drum, four weakfish and two whiting, Burns said.

Ponce Inlet area
Jetty rock anglers stopping through the Fishin' Shack reported slot-sized reds and drum deep, plus a few sizeable flounder hitting mud minnows.


Tomoka Basin area
Countryman said mangos and sheepshead are owning the docks and, "two of my customers reported catching large snook on the Tomoka State Park Bridge at night this week."

Matanzas Inlet area
Jeff Collins at the Devil's Elbow Fish Camp said boats are slamming big trout in deeper water. Slot sized reds are running in the inlet, and big jacks are running amuck.

If you're interested in comparing your haul to an inshore Flagler tourney effort, the Flagler County Sport Fishing Club's Bucket Full O' Fun had 126 anglers and first place was Jason Leverett's 25.95-pounds of fish.

4-17-08

It was good last weekend on JAX pier with some pomps, trout, flounder and drum but slow since then due to the wind

4-24-08

4-29-08

Johnny Garrett at the Flagler Pier Bait Shop said a lot of sand perch and a few seatrout and weakfish are being caught. Flounder averaging around 5 pounds have been caught "in little spurts," he said.

Early in the week they were catching blues from 8 to 18 pounds. He said, "Those are like Jersey Shore's bluefish that are lost!"

And the black drum bite "was phenomenal" Sunday and Monday, he said. Jumbo live shrimp was the ticket, he said.

Bob Burns, a regular on the end of the pier, said more than 60 drum were caught off the pier those two days.

All these big fish have scared off the whiting. They've been M.I.A. from most reports, sparing a nine bull catch at the old Ormond Pier. (Hint, see the tip of the week.)

Surf temps have hit 70 degrees.

Tomoka Basin area

Countryman said sheepshead and mango snapper are still being caught in fair numbers around the docks. And he's heard about some good-sized snook at the Tomoka State Park bridge.

Ike Leary at Granada Pier Bait & Tackle said some big reds have been caught in the basin.

Ponce Inlet area

Capt. Fred Robert reported water temps around 77 degrees. He's catching bull reds off the channel bottom again and said a few tarpon are starting to arrive. The mullet and small mangos are everywhere, he said.

Capt. Luke Pearson has been hunting the backwater creeks and getting upper-slot reds on top-waters early. He said there are a lot of scattered pompano and good trout activity, but snook have vanished.

5-1-08

5-2-08

"The water just started to clear up (Wednesday and Thursday). It's been muddy all week," he said.

And forecasts out to mid-next week are calling for winds and swells to remain calm.

Ponce Inlet area

Capt. Fred Robert said there are some 30- and 40-pound reds in the channel and by the Coast Guard station sandbars. He's getting them on live pogies he's netting inshore.

Capt. Robert also reported that sheepshead are slow, but small mangrove snapper, jacks and ladyfish are abundant, and the water temp is 72 degrees.

5-8-08

Southerly winds will blow all weekend, which should mean poor surf and pier fishing. Winds are forecast at 10-15 knots Saturday with seas 2-4 feet and 15-20 knots Sunday at 3-5 feet. Offshore fishing will be a challenge. It might be a good weekend to downsize and hit the St. Johns River for some panfishing.

5-9-08

Flounder run yields 10-pounder

Surf & Piers

Johnny Garrett at Flagler Pier Bait & Tackle said the main catch has been blues, Spanish mackerel and lady fish. He said a couple of ribbon fish have been caught lately. King mackerel love to eat them but no kings have been caught.

Garrett said the pier's anglers are also getting a few sheepshead, drum and pompano. The whiting are starting to show up again, and the early birds are getting a combined total of two or three flounder every morning, he said.

The surf temps in Flagler are around 71 degrees and they're still seeing some rays swim north, but haven't caught any cobia from casting to them, Garrett said. Pier anglers did get a 24-inch Spanish mackerel off of one, he said. And they've seen a couple of triple tail swimming by.

At the Sun Glow Pier, Jan at the gift shop said whiting, blues, ladyfish and pompano have been the main catches, but a lot of stingrays are scaring off fish.

Daytona Beach Pier bait shop tender Don Benware said they've had fair action with flounder, whiting, blues, a few sea trout when the water is cleaner, and some reds and Spanish.

5-15-08

.The water is dirty with east winds following west winds. St. Augustine Beach Pier is about the same. Both report a few whiting, black drum and an occasional trout or pompano. The Flagler Beach Pier reports mostly bluefish, Spanish mackerel and small

5-17-08

Stan Farber at High Bridge Bait & Tackle (386-677-2248) said the snook caught are always hooked by anglers on the bridge fishing the fenders deep. He said a 24-inch pompano was caught in the channel. Reds are coming off the flat by the blowout and at low bridge, he said, and a few flounder and whiting are being caught.

Capt. Fred Robert (407-948-5035, fishing-guy.com) said drifting the inlet channel has turned up reds to 35 pounds. He said a lot of blues are around, and some big sharks are shadowing bait schools. The water is 76 degrees, he said, so the big tarpon should be here soon. Stories about a few sightings of silver king at the south causeway in New Smyrna Beach are already floating around town.

5-22-08

Ocean piers : The first kingfish of the year -- a 40-pounder -- was caught off the Jacksonville Beach Pier this week, along with some black drum, flounder and a few Spanish mackerel. The St. Augustine Beach Pier had some hot runs of bluefish and Spanish mackerel -- and lots of rays and sharks when the waters got muddy. The Flagler Beach pier reports blues, Spanish and ladyfish.

Richard Bramerel at the Fishin' Shack said the jetty anglers are getting a good flounder bite, "a smattering" of Spanish macks and some sheepshead and reds.

Jeff Collins at the Devil's Elbow Fish Camp said it's flounder, flounder, flounder!

5-29-08

Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier had a fairly slow week with some nice fish but few fish. St. Augustine Beach Pier was covered up all weekend with Spanish mackerel, with an estimated 800 fish being taken in a four-day period.

That hot flounder run of recent weeks has largely left the surf zone and is now concentrated around the inlets. At its peak, though, Luke Zona at the Sun Glow Pier in Daytona Beach Shores said piers were getting around 20 to 30 flounder a day, with most in the 5- to 6-pound range. He said one Sun Glow angler got a 12-pounder.

Zona said lately it's whiting, blues and Spanish macks. Surf temps are in the mid-70s.

Donnie Benware at the Daytona Beach Pier said a few flounder are still around. He said the trick is to rig a live mud minnow, shrimp or finger mullet on a sliding rig, fish shallow and slowly walk along the pier to keep the bait dragging through the sand.

Benware said his best catch of the week was as 31 1/2-inch red. He said there are a lot of little sharks, spade fish, and in the evening, some black drum. Some mullet passed by this week, and one small cobia was caught, he said.

Joe LaMonica at Big Al's Bait & Tackle said the Flagler Beach Pier is getting whiting, blues, Spanish, a few pompano. Over the weekend they saw a few early pods of menhaden with tarpon in them, but none were caught. But pier anglers did get a small king, he said.

Capt. Chris Herrera said the flounder run is red hot at the inlet. The best bait has been mullet just bigger than a finger, he said. He also said to fish the slower current at the beginning and end of the tides. Jacks, ladyfish and blues have been on the attack in the river, and since Tuesday, Capt. Herrera said a lot of bait has been showing up at low tide in main channels. He said big trout are a good possibility once you find bait.

Capt. Luke Pearson guided a trip Wednesday and put Mark Waters from North Carolina onto some big snook, then drifted the inlet and caught a tarpon more than 100 pounds.

Capt. Pearson said there are quite a few big tarpon in the inlet, and he's finding his snook in the mangroves.

The fish hounds at the Fishin' Shack said jetty anglers are getting oversized reds and flounder, and Bud Spicer fished the river and caught a 14.2-pound flounder, keeper-sized snook and reds, all on live bait.

6-5-08

Ocean piers: Action on the Jacksonville Beach Pier has picked up this week with four kings caught along with some nice trout, big jacks and a few flounder. At the St. Augustine Beach Pier, the Spanish Mackerel showed back up mid-week. A 21-inch pompano was caught. Oddly neither pier reports any catches of whiting.

Ed Countryman at Ocean's Bait & Tackle said on calm days ocean kayakers have been out about 500 yards from shore casting spoons for Spanish mackerel and anglers are still getting blues to 10 pounds. Whiting, drum and flounder are in the first slew, he said.

6-12-08

There's some of just about everything at the Jacksonville Beach Pier this week, but not a lot. They report catches of kingfish, big jacks, whiting, pompano, black drum, spadefish and flounder. The St. Augustine Beach Pier has been slow with some whiting, small spadefish and croakers when the water's clean. Flagler Beach Pier reports some flounder, black drum and infrequent runs of Spanish mackerel.

Billy Lancenese at Flagler Pier Bait & Tackle said the water is 81 degrees, flounder, drum and whiting are biting and nothing big except sharks has been caught off the end of the pier.

Capt. Luke Pearson said his Thursday morning trip caught six snook, some reds, drum, a bunch of big mango snapper and some nice flounder. Anglers are reporting water temps outside the inlet channel cooled a few degrees to 78. Pearson said the best fishing has been on incoming tides at the inlet and outgoing tides in the creeks.

Anglers also reported hooking up keeper gag grouper under the Inlet Harbor dock using 10-inch live mullet and a little throttle to get 'em out of the pilings.

6-20-08

Paul Gill at the Daytona Beach Pier said black drum at the end of the pier "are the hot item." Flounder, a few reds and whiting are striking, too. Incoming tide has been the best, but even the middle of the day has been good lately, he said.

Capt. Billy Smitherman of Hooker Sportfishing said his trips have caught king mackerel, barracuda and a few grouper, snapper and sharks. He said good water is real scattered right now due to a spotty upwelling that's occurring. He said the bottom has been real slow, and anywhere you go the bottom bite is going to get harassed by a lot of sharks.

Capt. Fred Robert said it's been sharky! Since last week, water temps dropped 10 degrees to 74 in the inlet channel. The good fish have all pushed inside into the river because of that. Not as many big reds are around, but snook, jacks, small tarpon and trout are there. He said the menhaden schools are in 30 feet.

Capt. Fred Robert said he saw some manta ray and caught cobia off them in 20 to 30 feet just off the beach. He said he's jumped some 60- to 80-pound tarpon near the south bridge in New Smyrna Beach and there are a lot of jacks and blues river.

Capt. Robert said the word from Cape Canaveral is that some schools of 100-pound tarpon are on their way. The water is 82 degrees inside the inlet and 76 near shore, he said.

Surf & Piers

Billy Lancenese at the Flagler Beach Pier said divers inspecting the pier for structural integrity before construction of a lifeguard tower saw some 36 fishing poles on the ocean floor beneath the planks and pylings.

Lancenese said the bite's been flounder, black drum, whiting, kings and weakfish. They're seeing lots of bait pods and getting about one or two kings a day, usually early or late, including a 57-incher on Wednesday.

Matanzas Inlet area

Zach Miles at the Devil's Elbow Fish Camp said flounder are still running "wide open." They're in the inlet and in the river, he said. Black drum picked up, too. As for redfish, hit the creek mouths, it's too hot on the flats, Miles said.

7-3-08

Pier has been dead. Word is, even the sharks aren't biting in the ugly water. At the Flagler County Pier, a few drum and whiting were caught over the weekend, but the water is bad there as well.

Ocean piers: Unless you want stingrays and sharks, leave the Jacksonville Beach, St. Augustine Beach and Flagler piers alone.

7-17-08

Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier picked up this week with reports of Spanish mackerel, flounder, pompano, drum, trout and some nice bull whiting moving up and down the beach. The water is clean. The St. Augustine Beach Pier has been, for the most part, dead all week. The Flagler Beach Pier reports consistent catches of black drum from 2 to 4 pounds most of the week, along with some whiting and flounder.

Billy Lancenese at Flagler Beach Bait & Tackle at the pier said the water temp is 74 and was up to 78 Wednesday.

He said it's been flounder and lots of black drum. Thursday morning saw a dozen drum from 5 to 6 pounds, and savvy anglers have been getting four or five drum each the last few days, he said.

There was one pompano, a few sheepshead and Lancenese said pier regular Bob Burns lost a big king on Thursday.

Lancenese said only a few whiting are being caught.

Tomoka Basin area

Capt. Kent Gibbens said he is catching lots of snook and tarpon.

"In the last three weeks I've caught at least 20 snook. The biggest one was 13 pounds. It's just as regular as clockwork if you know where they are," he said.

The basin has been good for a few reds and trout, but Capt. Gibbens said he is mostly fishing up rivers. He said to target edges that drop off to deep water, which can usually be found around bends in the river.

Capt. Gibbens said he heard very good reports of snook and big reds at the inlet this week.

Capt. Lee Noga said a little summer flounder run is going down. A good spot is the sandbars near the Coast Guard station on the New Smyrna Beach side of Ponce Inlet, she said.

"Tuck yourself well inside the beacon piling towards sand and north of the concrete fender, and cast towards the inlet during the incoming tide," she said.

"The river is holding small mullet, 3-plus inches, and the blues and flounder are tearing them up," she said.

"Nighttime fishing is on fire at the south causeway bridge for reds and snook during the outgoing tide."

7-25-08

Surf & Piers

Billy Lancenese at Flagler Beach Bait & Tackle said they have 80-degree surf!

He said drum and flounder are doing good and they've been getting kings all week, with three Tuesday, one Monday and one Thursday, plus three more kings that got away.

Blues, whiting and a few sheepshead and trout are also hitting the planks, he said.

Paul Gill at the Daytona Beach Pier said they did have "hot and heavy" flounder until those storms muddied up the water. Now they're slower but still around, mangoes to 16 inches are thick and whiting have returned.

7-31-08

9-4-08

9-25-08

10-02-08

10-16-08

10-23-08

10-30-08

Inshore north of the St. Johns River: Amelia Island - especially the southern tip - should be a great place to surf-fish. Flounder, big reds, pompano and whiting have been biting. Some nice drum were caught in the surf, too. Of course, the big spawning reds are all over the place - the Amelia River and Tiger Basin, in particular. Fort Clinch is a nice spot for flounder.

Ocean piers: Jacksonville Beach Pier has been slow. The St. Johns County Pier has been giving up scads of oversized redfish -- on almost any day and any given tide. There are some nice drum being caught there as well, along with some short pompano and whiting. The pompano are moving south from Duval County beaches right now.

11-2-08

He took 45 pompano from that same small trough the day before, never getting more than two rods out at a time. When that bite died down, he went to Huguenot Park and put 15 more on ice. Finch holds a commercial license to catch these fish.

Tuesday, they just weren't there. But to Finch, that only meant an opportunity to find them somewhere else. We packed up and headed out. A hot lunch helped warm the bones. But the combination of sun, cold and windburn already had my face cracking like a glazed donut.

We headed for Huguenot Park, backed the trucks up to the surf and set out two poles, both with double-circle hook rigs. Before we could bait another, Finch's rod had a bite. While he reeled, mine did, too. His fish hit the sand, a double-header of pompano and whiting. Mine came in with a double catch of black drum. During the next hour, we caught a half-dozen nice pompano.

11-6-08

It's been an ugly week, but the weekend will take an upturn. Tough northerly winds will blow at 10 to 15 knots Saturday and Sunday, seas will be 2 to 3 feet and skies will be clear with highs in the mid-70s.

11-13-08

11-20-08

That's about what the weather's going to give you to work with this weekend.

Northeast winds will blow 10 to 15 knots with seas at 3 to 5 feet. Even the larger lakes have been shut down all week with a foot or more of chop. Surf fishing should be ugly, too.

Ocean piers: There was a good bite of sheepshead at the Jacksonville Beach Pier on Tuesday.

The St. Johns County Pier produced scattered catches of whiting and black drum. But both piers should be a little challenging this weekend with the wind and the cold.

11-27-08

The Flagler County Pier reported some nice catches of bluefish and black drum.

12-4-08

Ocean piers: Both the Jacksonville Beach and St. Johns County piers were slow all week. The Flagler County pier has been consistent on black drum and bluefish for a couple of weeks now.

Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier has been horrible all week. Even the sharks and stingrays vacated the area. It was slightly better at the St. Johns County Pier. If you're looking for whiting, south Ponte Vedra Beach has been the hot spot.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/sports/outdoors/jim_sutton/2008-12-11/jim_suttons_fishing_forecast#ixzz2r7JCKfpU

12-18-08

Inshore north of the St. Johns River: There has been a fair bite of drum and whiting in Cumberland Sound. Fort Clinch has been good for whiting. The jetties at the St. Marys Inlet is giving up pretty good numbers of sheepshead.

Inshore south of the St. Johns River: The trout and redfish are around, but the majority of them are too small to keep. The whiting fishing has been excellent on south Ponte Vedra Beach - in the area of the Gate Station. There have also been good reports from the beaches down by Marineland on the Flagler/St. Johns County line.

Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier has been slow all week with reports of a few whiting and black drum. The St. Johns County Pier is not much better.

12=20-08

Fort Clinch and the George Crady State Fishing Pier sheepshead anglers are catching good numbers of sheepshead. Whiting and puppy drum are also being caught at these locations. Sawpit creek has been producing large trout on lure or live bait.

Ponce Inlet. 26 blues

ALRIGHT GUYS! Had an amazing day at Ponce yesterday. Weather was beautiful and perfect. Here's the outcome: Total of 26 fish at the end of the fishing trip. We released a couple of blues cause they're a little small. Here's some pics for you guys and don't mind the way my facial expression is in one of the pics lol.

12-31-08

Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier was slow all week, even for small sharks and stingrays. The St. Johns County Pier was closed during preparations for the big fireworks display at St. Augustine Beach.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/sports/outdoors/jim_sutton/2008-12-31/jim_suttons_fishing_forecast#ixzz2r7OenqyY

1-8-09

Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier was slow again, with sporadic catches of small whiting. The St. Johns County Pier was slow.

Your best bet here is whiting. The area of the old pipeline near the central part of Amelia Island is producing lots of bull whiting.

The point on Amelia Island State Park has been producing fair catches of whiting, trout and reds. As usual one day fishing is hot and the next fishing slow for Amelia Island State Park. You just have to hope for one of those days of hot action. The Fort Clinch finger jetties has also had good action with trout, sheepshead and whiting. The whiting fishing along the surf has been hit and miss this past week. The anglers who are willing to move up and down the surf until they find the hot slough are having the best luck.

Whiting fishing should pick up in a few weeks

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/community/my_nassau_sun/2009-01-10/weather_may_be_confusing_fish#ixzz2qzSK5qhs

1-15-09

Inshore north of the St. Johns River: Amelia Island is still the only place on the First Coast where whiting continue to bite in the surf. The big bull whiting are all over the beaches on the island.

Surf fishing has gone severely south over the past week. They weren't up on the red sand beaches north of Vilano, and they weren't on the red sand beaches south of Matanzas. There were some scattered reports from Crescent Beach, but it looks like they've all headed for deeper water, whether that's 40 feet of water out past the surf or 25 feet of water in the channel at the St. Augustine Inlet. If you find some, let me know.

1-22-09

Surf fishing has been non-existent all week because of the wind and cold. But even before that, the whiting seemed to either be in around 30 feet of water off the beach -- where you can reach them only by boat -- or stacked up in the deeper holes in the ICW, within a few miles of the St. Augustine Inlet.

The St. Johns Pier has been dead all week. The weather has been pretty, the water is beautiful and nothing is in it. The only thing of interest there has been some right whale sightings. They generally move down our coast calving this time each year. Great White Sharks also come in close to our beaches now in anticipation of these whale births. It's easy pickings for the big sharks. There were a few whiting and a bunch of bluefish being caught on the Flagler County Pier

Surf fishing has been horrible. There was an unconfirmed report that they were catching "buckets-full" of whiting on the beaches of Flagler County - the Marineland area in particular. But that one's not been confirmed. There continues to be a steady bite of red snapper, but they seem to be moving to deeper water and the 21-fathom line has been the place to look. There was a huge bite of jumbo snapper and grouper on the Red Snapper Sink, located about 26 miles east of Crescent Beach. The natural spring is in 90 feet of water.

2-5-09

2-7-09

There is some good news: A warm snap is expected this weekend. I would take advantage of this prediction and enjoy some time on the water.

Also, there's great news for surf anglers. The whiting are arriving, with some reports of bull whiting that appear to be as big as small redfish when reeled from the surf. Bull whiting were reported last weekend all the way from the beach accesses at the north end of Amelia Island such as Fort Clinch State Park, Main beach and Slider's access, to American Beach and Amelia Island State Park on the south end.

Dead shrimp fished on the bottom with the incoming tide is usually the best combination for catching the winter whiting bite.

2-12-09

Surf has been shut down for 2 weeks with little in the way of fish. The Whiting are concentrating off the beach, but not in range of surf anglers. If you take a boat out in 30 ft of water you could catch all you want. Flagler pier, a few whiting, blues, drum and sheepshead.

Published Th

2-19-09

The whiting fishing has been great all week. The mouth of Moultrie Creek has been good. But the best action has been on the Sugar Bar located between Porpoise Point and the Castillo de San Marcos. Anywhere you can find 30 feet of water should be good now.

Let's start with the surf. The whiting have continued their disappearing act on county beaches. The St. Augustine Beach Pier was dead all week. But the Flagler Beach Pier has been on fire since Monday. Buckets of bull whiting are being taken down there. Some flounder have been caught. And they're catching quite a few oversized redfish in the surf as well. I have no idea what makes that area so good when others just like are not. But go.

The other way to catch all the whiting you want now is to take a boat and drift outside the surf line in about 30 feet of water. The whiting are stacked up out there. The netters are killing them. It just seems that they're not coming into the surf for whatever reason. It's got a lot of folks scratching their heads.

2-22-09

2-26-09

The whiting are the big news this week. They showed up in the surf Monday. The St. Johns County Pier had the first decent week of fishing in a month or more. The whiting are biting north of the inlet at the main Vilano ramp. They will probably be farther north at the Gate Station on South Ponte Vedra Beach by the weekend -- or gone again. No one seems to be able to make sense of what should be one of the easiest fish to predict and to catch. There have been good reports from Marineland on down to Washington Oaks State Park.

2-27-09 JAX

March is a perfect month for surf fishing our beaches.

Whiting is a sure thing to be at the end of your hook at most any beach access. Fresh shrimp fished on the incoming tide along our beaches, preferably in a slough, will give even a novice surf angler a good day at the beach.

Also, as of Sunday, anglers can start keeping their speckled trout catches.

The George Crady State Park fishing pier anglers have been catching trout, whiting, sheepshead and puppy drum.

Fort Clinch State Park anglers have been reporting whiting, puppy drum and trout along with an occasional redfish.

3-2-09 Netters cathing louds of whting jax

3-5-09

The whiting are hitting in the regular holes: Moultrie Creek, the San Sebastian River and the Sugar Bar inside the St. Augustine Inlet.

Flounder, reds and black drum have been scattered and slow.

3-8-09

I predict there will be excellent whiting fishing along our local beaches this weekend. Shrimp fished on the bottom at any one of our beach accesses with a decent slough will provide the perfect time to spend with family and friends.

The north end of the island, Sliders access, Peter's Point, American Beach and the point on Amelia Island State Park are all great honey holes for March whiting fishing.

The Fort Clinch pier and the George Crady Bridge fishing pier would be great choices for this weekend's whiting bite. Not only could whiting be at the end of your hook, the bridge and pier offer puppy drum, reds, trout and sheepshead this time of year.

The huge black drum should roll in along with warmer water temperatures. The north and south jetties as well as Nassau Sound will be excellent hot spots to try for this year's long-awaited drum run.

3-10-09

I have noticed some boats in about 30' of water bottom fishing.The same thing is happening in Jacksonville right now,they're slaying the whiting.

3-11-09

3-15-09

The George Crady State Fishing Pier and Fort Clinch State Park have seen whiting, sheepshead and puppy drum. Reds and speckled trout are being caught with live shrimp on a float rig with the outgoing tide.

3-19-09

The surf fishing has been weird, but what's new?

3-24-10

3-26-09

The whiting bite has been very erratic -- especially in the surf. Some anglers are still finding them inside the inlet and the mouth of Moultrie Creek.

There were some reports of decent whiting catches just off Fort Matanzas down in Crescent Beach.

The Spanish mackerel made an appearance in the inlet this week. They'll come and go throughout the spring. The best way to be sure to find them is to be out there -- or be ready to be out there. It's usually a fleeting bite -- especially over the past five or six years here.

And, of course the bluefish are everywhere. And you know summer's not that far away when the jack crevalle start covering up the ICW -- which they are. It's starting down south in the Devil's Elbow area and should be moving north.

3-29-09

Puppy drum and whiting are being caught in good numbers at Amelia Island State Park. A few large drum were landed this week from the George Crady State Park fishing pier, along with puppy drum, reds, sheepshead and whiting.