Fishing Report Jacksonville Amelia Island Jacksonville Beach Sept 2008

Summer is starting to wind down, the hurricanes are HOPEFULLY gone and the weather is back to normal. With this brings cooling water and the annual mullet run. This is one of the best times of the year because as the small finger mullet make their way out of the creeks, the reds, trout and flounder are all staged waiting to ambush them. Most savvy anglers will take advantage of this massive bait run by using a bait that looks like one of these poor little mullet. I am glad I am not a mullet.

This is when you can get out your favorite top water or jerk bait lure and if you are in the right place at the right time, catch some quality fish. The way I prefer to fish for these are to get in a creek on the last of the incoming or better yet, the first trickle of the outgoing tide. I like areas the have a grass line coming right down to the oysters or some sort of hard bottom. Hard bottom does not have to be rocks or shells. It can be old oysters, hard mud or sandy. Look down the bank for a shimmering on the surface of the schools of finger mullet. This will look like little waves about 1/4 to 1/2 inch high and usually several feet long and several feet wide. If you see the mullet showering out of the water, you know you are in the right place. The mullet showering out of the water are usually one of the fish mentioned above trying to eat one of the mullet in that school.

Now that you are in the right spot, ease your Minn Kota trolling motor into the water, get your favorite top water lure (I have several, the Zara Spook, Top Dawg, Top Pup, and my favorite jerk bait, a Sea Striker Trout Killer http://www.seastriker.com/softplastics/softplastics_files/troutkiller.htm rigged on an X-Point 5/0 http://ttiblakemore.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65 extra heavy worm hook) and start casting to the edge and working the lure back to the boat. I prefer to work my lure slowly, with a twitch then wait a second the twitch and so on. The strike usually will come when the lure is several feet from the edge as this is where the fish a holding, waiting on the mullet to pass by. For those of us that get really excited with this style of fishing, don't forget to wait until your rod is doubled over. What I men by that is many fish will strike, violently at the lure but not get hooked up. So wait until the fish has a hook in him before reacting. You do not want to jerk the lure away from the fish as it might not be able to find it once you pull it away. I like to have the Trout Killer rigged and on a rod laying next to my feet so I can toss this if the fish continues to miss your top water lure. A lot of times the fish will strike several times at the top water lure but not get hooked up. This is when you toss the jerk bait at the last strike and let it sink a little. The fish will think he has wounded your bait and come back for the Trout Killer. This little trick will produce more hook ups and you will be able to get a hook in the fish that you might not have other wise caught.

My outfits of choice for the Trout Killer is a small Pflueger spinning reel on a seven foot All Star rod. I usually spool my reel with 10 or 15 pound test Power Pro http://www.powerpro.com/ . With this outfit, you will be able to make extremely long cast and then do battle with anything that you manage to hook. My rig for the top water lures is a Pflueger left handed bait caster http://www.pfluegerfishing.com/home.html on an All Star rod http://www.allstarrods.com/ spooled with 20 pound test Power Pro. The reason I like a little heavier outfit is the top water lures weigh more and with the heavier outfit, it is easier to cast.

For those of us that like to soak bait on the bottom for those monster reds, try a place that has a rocky hard bottom, using a piece of cut mullet, crab, cut croaker, clams or menhaden. I like to fish this ON THE BOTTOM. My outfit of choice is a bait cast style reel like the Pflueger GL 15 or Gl 20 http://www.pfluegerfishing.com/home.html on a Shakespeare Tiger rod http://www.shakespeare-fishing.com/index_rods.html . Spool this with 50 pound test Power Pro and use a Carolina rig with a Daiichi 5/0 Circle Wide hook http://ttiblakemore.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=42&products_id=246 . Put the rods in the rod holders and sit back and wait for the rod to double over. Key Point: These fish are cruising the bottom and that is where your baits need to be, so after you send them out be sure the current has not brought the bait up in the water column. I usually check this a few times before I get comfortable and hurry up and wait. You can check this by getting the rod and lifting it up and slowly letting it back toward the water. If you bait is on the bottom, you should be able to fell the sinker hit bottom when you let the rod back toward the water. If you are not on the bottom, you can let out more line of put a heavier sinker in the rig.

For those looking for a box of fish, try croakers. These fish are a blast to catch and eat real good. They are usually around rocky bottom in 15 to 40 feet of water and they will eat shrimp, squid, cut bait and some soft plastics. You get away using a light spinning or bait cast outfit, if you have enough line on the spool to handle a big monster redfish, as the reds feed on croakers and you just might luck up and hook one of these while croaker fishing.

The ocean fishing should be real good for the bottom dwellers and if you want to make the run to the stream there might be some trolling fish like wahoo and tuna. These can be caught by trolling a ballyhoo on an assortment of skirts or naked. Tuna like small baits with a green, yellow or white skirt and wahoo like a big bait with a dark skirt, like black, purple, orange and black or blue and white. A wire leader is a must for these fish as they have a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. When I troll for these, I like to have a couple of baits down deep, using my Cannon down riggers http://www.cannondownriggers.com/products/index.asp and a bait or two WAAAAAAY back on or near the surface. A great outfit for this is a Penn international 50 or 70 on a Shakespeare custom rod http://www.shakespeare-fishing.com/index_rods.html with rollers on the tip and spooled with Sea Striker bright yellow 50 pond test mono http://www.seastriker.com/ss_files/mono.htm . The reason I like the bright colored line is I can see it real well. It is not going to cause a negative result using this bright colored line but it will make a difference in you being able to see it.