Now Is The Time
Lots of trout and some monsters can be expected
to be caught this month. There are several ways to hunt out these quality
fish and here a few that work for me.
If you like to chunk and wind, get a box of
sinking, suspending and top water MirrOlures, find some areas that have
moving clean water and start chunking the lures. In the early morning and
late evening I like the surface lures like the She Dog and Top Pup. I like
to get my boat as far off of the shoreline as I can cast to the edge. I like
long cast right up to the shoreline and I generally work the lure all of the
way back to the boat. I have had many occasions that I thought I was out of
the strike zone and quickly cranked my lure the last 30 or so feet and had a
strike right next to the boat.
For the sinking and suspending lures, I pretty
much position my boat the same distance from the shore line and also make
long cast. I like to break up my action with these lures pausing them some
on the retrieve to get that wounded bait look. A lot of the times I get my
strike when I pause for a second or so. It seems like the fish has been
following the bait and when you pause it then start cranking it, the fish
says, "I better get that it is getting away" and when you start back
cranking, the fish is just there. Kind of like the fish swan up behind the
lure and just swallowed it. When this happens, it is sort of weird because
there is not strike, the lure is for a split second heavy feeling and them
you wake up and there is a fish pulling back. At this time, you need to set
the hook ONE time and the fish should be there. This takes some getting use
to when the fish is just there with no strike.
Then there is the old tried and true trout float
rig. This rig has probably caught more trout than any other method ever
used, excluding gill nets. The previous methods allow you to cover a great
distance because you are usually working your trolling motor and this method
you will be at anchor, floating your bait out of the back of the boat. This
is best done using a bait cast style reel and a rod of about 7 feet long
with a medium action. The line on the spool should be about 20 to 25 pound
test because you will sometimes be fishing around docks and piles so when
the line rubs on these you want it to be thick enough as not to be cut. For
my leader, I like to use Cajun Red line in about 15 to 17 pound test because
it is almost invisible in the depths that you will be doing this kind of
fishing. You might ask, why is the leader of less strength than what is on
the spool of the reel? When doing this style of fishing, you want your bait
to be almost or just touching the bottom and you will occasionally get
snagged. Sometimes you will not be able to work it free and have to break it
off. When this happens you DO NOT want to loose everything (hook, leader,
lead weight and cork). If your leader is about 1/2 of the strength of the
line on your reel, when you get hung up and have to break off, you will only
lose your hook.
What to look for: I like docks, bridges, deep
drops and channel edges. Now every dock is not going to hold fish but many
will. Look for something different in the structure of the dock. Like a T at
the end or middle or several piles that are close together or best of all an
eddy in the water flow. Once you have purchased the float rig and found an
area that looks good, slide your slip knot to set your depth ( distance
between the knot and lead weight) so the weight is about 2 feet up from the
bottom. As the cork drifts with the current, you want your shrimp to be
bouncing off of the bottom. You need to be ready as you are not going to
feel the bite in the rod. YOU MUST watch your cork and be ready to set the
hook and turn the handle. Your bait of choice is going to be a live shrimp.
Hooking the shrimp so that you do not kill it and it will be able to swim is
kind of tricky as you only have a small area to put the hook with out
killing the shrimp. If you look at the shrimp just under the horn, you will
see a clear spot. This clear spot is not very big maybe 1/16 of and inch
round. This is where the hook needs to go. Be sure you do not put the hook
in the dark spot, near the clear spot or you will kill it and that is not
good as the shrimp needs to be swimming and to do this it needs to be alive.
Here is Don Swain with a monster 34 inch 10 plus
pound trout caught while using this float rig
Charlie Clements with a respectable trout caught
on the float rig
Another nice trout. See the Daiichi X-Point hook
in the side of this trout's mouth
John Carney with a respectable 2 pounder that
looks kind of small compared to the ones above this
The offshore action should continue right through
this month for nice snapper, grouper, sea bass, cobia, mahi, tuna and wahoo.
The king mackerel have started showing up in good numbers on the wrecks from
fifteen to thirty miles out. The best bet is making the long run to the
stream for the mahi, wahoo and tuna.
James Howard with his half of a nice grouper. He
had to share this fish with a sea monster
Last year, we had a real good run of sailfish.
Starting this month, you can expect to see some of these aerobatic fish show
up on the close in wrecks. Last year the Dunns Run (Lat Long 3016230 /
8108490), Middle Ground (Lat Long 3018940 / 8108520) and Pablo Grounds (Lat
Long 3020690 / 8111690) areas were on fire. Look for big concentrations of
bait and work the outside edges of these big bait schools.
Chris Holland with a nice sailfish
Bream fishing with worms and crickets should fire
off this month. Fish the older docks on the St Johns on the south end of the
Buchman Bridge. I like an incoming tide and I usually fish the deeper ends.
Look for the docks that are old and barnacle encrusted.
There should also be some schools of big jacks
cruising the river around the Buchman Bridge in search of mullet. These fish
are great on the fly or light tackle. Expect to see some schools of fish
pushing fifteen pounds. Look for the foaming water.
Remember, moms and dads, take you kids
fishing and you will make a positive difference in their lives.
This report is brought to you by
Good Fishing
Capt. Jim Hammond
