Deep Water Trout in the Heat of the Summer
Think about this. Most of us have our best catches of trout in the cooler months. Why is this? Because as a rule tout like water to be cooler than it is during the hotter summer months. When most of the water is in the mid to high 80's, these fish are looking for a place where the water temperature is cooler, in the low 80's to high 70 degree mark.
When the water is hot in most of our usual spots, what do we do to find these trout that are gathered up in the cooler water? We look for places that have clean cool water? This is almost always places where the water is deeper than 14 feet. Cooler water is going to be in the deeper parts of the river and creeks as cooler water is heavier than hotter water thus the cooler water sinks.
This is what I do to find these spots. I start by looking. Now looking is different than fishing. When I am looking, I do not hesitate in driving my boat over a spot that I might want to fish later. I would NEVER drive over a spot if I was going to fish it right then. As a rule you will run the fish off of this spot if you drive over it. It is okay to do this when you are looking for a spot to come back to later but not if you are wanting to fish it now. I turn on my Bottom Line recorder with the zoom function turned on and I ease over the spot that I think might hold fish. What are these spots that I think might hold fish and what makes them any different than any other spot in the river or ICW.
Two of the most important things to look for are current breaks and structure, which usually cause current breaks. These fish are no different than you and I as far as the amount of energy that they want to use in search of a meal. If they can get behind a rock pile that causes the current to slow down on the back side of the rocks then they are sure likely to use this CURRENT BREAK to their advantage. As the water passes over a rock pile or around a dock piling the structure causes an eddy on the down current side of these pieces of structure and these pieces of structure also create an ambush point that the fish can use to dart out from as bait passes by.
With your recorder turned on to the zoom function, you can see very small rocks and if you really look close, you can see current if it is strong enough. I like to look for bait in and around the structure on the bottom and around the docks that I like to fish. The bait is going to show up as little dots or fuzz on your recorder.
WOODS AND WATER. insert the attached file named, bottom-line-5300-showing-current-break
This principle works the same way with dock piles, dolphins (the things that ships tie up to) or where two or more creeks come together.
TIDE:
Here's a monkey wrench that I want to throw in. Tide plays a big factor in this equation, as the bait or fish might not be there on a different tide. Just because they were the on the incoming does not mean they will be there on the outgoing.
Looking for these spots is going to be a process that will take some time but after you have found several places that are holding these nice trout, the work that you put into this will be all worth it.
You are going to have to have several places like this, because the fish might not always be on the spot that they were last time.
I have spent many hours with my recorder on, going slow, looking for these places. I usually keep a note pad so I can take notes as to the location of the place, what the tide was doing, what time it was (this I will use when I get home to see exactly where I was on the tide when I saw these fish), which direction the wind was blowing (this can affect the direction of the current) and what exactly did I see down there. These notes will surely help you to be able to come back to the spot on a later date.
If you have a GPS, you can save it as a waypoint. You will not believe how difficult it is to find a small spot in the middle of open water when you are trying to line up several points.
This past week I was able to use some of these techniques to land several nice trout from a deep spot that held bait and fish. I threw a diving MirrOlure, an inline spinner and a jig head with a soft plastic mullet imitation.
Working these baits, I used a 7 foot long graphite rod that was spooled with 10 pound test Power Pro. The reason for such specifics is you will need a sensitive rod to feel the structure. You want to be able to be in contact with the bottom or just off of the bottom and you need the sensitivity of this type of outfit to do this
Here is a photo of a nice trout with the soft plastic mullet bait in it's mouth.
WOODS AND WATER. insert the attached file named, trout-with-tsunami-in-mouth-75%-croped
Here is a photo of the results of working deep cooler water for trout.
WOODS AND WATER. insert the attached file named, trout-tsunami-straight -jacket-mirrolure
Local Action;
It looks like the cold ocean water is on it's way out and far away. When this happens, I expect the ocean fishing to fired up and we might have a banner year on bottom fishing. We are having our first Nor'easter and this will fire off the inshore fish.
The king fish should fire back off and continue right through October.
The flounder should be feeding up and you should expect nice catches of these tasty flat fish. Try a small mullet, a shrimp, and Exude Shrimp, of a variety of cutbait. Fish the shallows where you see small mullet showering, docks, rocks or inlet mouths.
This will for sure kick the top water trout action up a notch or two. Try the higher tides along the grass or near creek mouths.
We are all looking forward to a kick start for the reds and this Nor'easter will do just that. We still have gobs of finger mullet in the creeks, so throw something that looks like one of them or use your net and cast for some live ones. A jig head, Carolina rig or cork all works well with a fresh lively mullet. Fish him over the tops of oyster mounds on the high water and in the creek mouths on the falling tide.
The croakers are soon to be in full swing and for these I like to look for rocky bottom. You can use shrimp, squid or Fishbites to fill the cooler with these scrappy, tasty fish. Watch out for this fishes gill rake, it will get you.
Capt. Jim now runs a charter service from Amelia Island to St. Augustine for inshore boats from 16 feet and ocean boats to 62 feet. Give me a call for your next fishing trip.
Charter Information:
Capt. Jim now runs a charter service from Amelia Island to St. Augustine for inshore boats from 16 feet and ocean boats to 62 feet. Give me a call for your next fishing trip and can be reached to book a trip by calling 904 757 7550.
Moms and Dads: Remember mom and dad, spend some time with your sons and daughters taking them fishing and you will not be looking for them come Friday and Saturday nights, as they will be home in bed waiting to go the next day. (I am not just saying this because it sounds good. I MEAN IT, YOU WON'T BE LOOKING FOR THEM.)
This report is brought to you by 
and 
Thanks
Capt. Jim Hammond
Capt. Jim's Fun Fishing Inc.
17184 Dorado Cir
Jacksonville, Fl 32226
(904) 757-7550
jim@hammondfishing.com
www.hammondfishing.com