SUMMER IS WINDING DOWN

As summer winds down, the water temperature starts to steady and maybe even fall a degree or two. With this you will see massive amounts of finger mullet heading out of the feeder creeks and bays. These fish usually travel along the edges and that is where the predator fish will be staged waiting to ambush them.

I like a cork like a popping cork or a small trout float, where you can adjust your depth to present the bait about a foot down. I usually tie on a small weight just under the cork. There are several styles of popping corks. Some weighted and some with no weight. I usually do not like the weighted ones because it seems they have just a little too much weight for the light tackle I use. With light tackle, you really don't need any weight to make a long cast.

Get your Pflueger bait cast reel or spinner if this is your choice, spool it with your favorite 20 pound test Power Pro line. I like a braided line for this kind of fishing because the fish will run into the grass and the braided line seems to cut through the grass better than monofilament. Once my boat is in the right spot, I cast my rig up near the edge and leave the reel in free spool allowing the line to feed out. I usually have my thumb resting just over the top of the line on my Pflueger bait cast reel as line spools out. With my thumb in the ready mode (ready to press firmly on the spool when the cork disappears) I feed line out trying to keep the bait just on the edge of the grass. It is a good idea to use a reel that will hold a bunch of line. This way you can make very long drifts in the zone without having to move your boat.

When a predator fish gets near your bait (I like a finger mullet about 4 to 5 inches long, hooked in the bottom just back from the last fin) it will act nervous and sometimes start jumping out of the water. With your bait just under the surface, sometimes the strike will be just like a top water explosion. Wait until the line gets tight and the rod tip is bent down before setting the hook. You do not want to jerk the bait away from the fish. Make several drifts in this area and if no action, move down a little and start again.

If you do have a Minn Kota trolling motor, you will be able to cast to the edges and cover a lot more ground. Without a doubt the best baits for this will be something that looks sort of like a mullet. My favorites are the MirrOlure Provoker, the Exude RT Slug and the Sea Striker paddle tail minnow.

The RT Slug is rigged using a 5/0 xtra strong Daiichi Copperhead hook. I usually use a Pflueger Spinning reel on a All Star 7 foot medium to light rod with 15 pound test Power Pro on the spool. It is important that you are able to make long cast and with only the weight of the hook and lure this is a great outfit. Because this rig is weedless, I usually toss it about a foot into the grass and work it back out like it is wounded. Twitch, turn the handle a turn or two and repeat, allowing it to sink a little between twitches.

The trolling fish seem to start moving on and the bottom fishing usually starts to pick up in the close in reefs and wrecks. There will still be big numbers of bait fish that can be caught using a Sabiki rig. I like to head out to my favorite reef and catch a hundred or so baits. I then try and I do mean try to get my boat positioned over what looks like good bottom. See I am probably the worlds worst when it comes to getting my boat anchored in the right spot and this type of fishing can be real good or real bad depending on your boat position. If you can get on the down current side of a nice structure you will usually be able to get a hook in some nice snapper and grouper. For this I beef up my tackle to a Pflueger Contender 30 or 40L reel spooled with Cajun Red 40 to 50 pound test line. My hook will either be a Daiichi 5/0 circle wide or D-18 5/0. Now here comes the hard part. After you get your boat in the right spot, send a live bait down. When it hits bottom, turn the reel handle a time or two and get ready for the bite. A snapper usually pecks pretty hard and you sort of have to let it have the bait before busting it. A grouper will generally just SLAM DUNK it. With a circle wide hook just lift up and turn the reel handle. With the D-18 bust it and try to get some of the line back on the reel FAST. After you get a hook in one of these, the trick is to get the first ten feet of line back on the reel. Most of the time if you can do this, the fish is yours.

The bream should turn on this month and with a box of crickets you should be able to fish around docks or fallen trees and load the cooler with these tasty fish. If you can get them you can try grass shrimp, they work reel good. I like a small outfit rigged with a little cork and a little hook. Fish right up in the structure for the most bites.

The shrimp are just now getting right so by publication they should be thick. Try baiting still water or just casting on the channel edge. I like downtown Jacksonville at night on the flats or in the day around Doctors Inlet's channel edge. In the deeper water (more than 6 feet deep) you will need to have webbing put on your net. The limit is ONE five gallon bucket per boat, heads on if you are in a boat or one five gallon bucket per person if you are on a dock.