This past Saturday I woke up at 5am to the sound of heavy rain and thunder wondering if the Tamoka Marine tournament was going to take place. I went and got the newspaper had a bite to eat and turned on the weather channel. The radar looked as if it was going to clear soon so I hopped in my truck with boat in tow and headed to Hershal King Park to participate in the tournament. There I met my fishing partner for the day, Capt. Chris Herrera.
The tournament started cloudy without any rain or wind. We headed south in search of trout. We threw topwater plugs for the first hour without a single hit. We moved to another area and found trout almost immediately but nothing with any substantial size. We did manage to put a couple in the livewell to weigh in. The winds started to pick up so we moved on. At the next spot Chris picked up a flounder on his first cast. By now the winds had gotten so bad we had to look for a more sheltered area. We tried a couple of places but couldn’t raise a fish, mainly because the tide went slack. We needed to find moving water so we headed north.
By the time we reached our destination the flats were unfishable, whitecaps with all that wind. That’s how the rest of the day went for us and everyone else who fished it. Fish were caught but not in great numbers.
Here’s the results: Chris Atansoski took first place in the blackdrum division with the only one weighed in – 2.36 lbs. Trout – 1st Randy Homer – 2.20 lbs, 2nd – Jesse Schaster – 1.75 lbs, 3rd – Chris Herrera – 1.58 lbs.
Redfish – 1st – Brian Carr – 7.42 lbs, 2nd – Geoff White – 5.91 lbs, 3rd – Shawn Page – 5.75 lbs.
Flounder – 1st Melissa Page – 2.43 lbs, 2nd – Craig Williamson – 1.97 lbs, 3rd – Chris Herrera – 1.55 lbs.
Randy homer weighed in the heaviest fish of the tournament but the species wasn’t included. Randy landed a 7.74 lb snook that he caught at 3:330 in the afternoon using a black top dog topwater plug.
Beach fishing was hot last week with blues and spanish mackerel tearing up bait in the surf. People tossing plugs were scoring all day long. The blues and Spanish are still around and flounder have begun to move in, also look for the flounder to start to turn on around Matanzas inlet this month. Thanksgiving week is usually the most productive.
Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports Ralph Lowery with a 5.10 lb flounder. Joe LoConte had 9 flounder and James Hampton landed a 16 lb – 41” king mackerel. Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle repots blackdrum to 28” around the bridge and snook at night.


Photo: Randy Homer with a 7.74 lb snook caught on a topwater plug

What a difference a day makes. In the 80’s one day and the next day record low temperatures. Such a change can have a definite effect on the fishing. Fish seem to get lockjaw when the barometric pressure changes. It usually takes a couple of days of warmer weather to get them back on a normal feeding pattern. The outlook for this weekend has temperatures back in the 70’s and 80’s for daytime highs so get out and wet a line.
With the cooler air temperatures, daylight savings time and falling water temps will put fish into their fall patterns. Trout will start retreating to deeper water, schools of redfish should begin to appear on the flats, flounder will become active around Matanzas inlet and the snook bite will begin to slow with the falling water temps.
The cooler water temps will also effect offshore fishing as well. Sailfish and marlin will be migrating south. Sails can sometimes be found as close in as 10 miles at local area wrecks and reefs. Grouper and red snapper will also start moving in to these areas. I had a report of sails and wahoo 70 miles out last weekend. Just be careful if you venture out this time of year, seas can get pretty rough.
Last week Russ Saboe and John Inman fished the ICW with me. The day started off slow without a touch on topwater plugs. Things didn’t improve any when I switched them over to mirrolures. Things began to improve once I changed them over to live shrimp and moved to where we had an out going tide. They landed a couple of blackdrum, a few trout and two snook. The snook were 22 and 24 inches. Russ caught the most beat up snook I’ve ever seen. This fish was obviously in the clutches of a dolphin at one time. To look at it you had to wonder how it ever survived but it did.
I caught my biggest fish on a fly last week, a 6 ¾ lb trout. The fish swirled on my bubblehead fly as I striped it in. I picked up my line and cast out the fly again and the fish swirled on it once. The third cast proved to be the one as the fish swiped at it two times and ate on the third attempt. After a short battle the fish was landed photographed and released. One advantage to flyfishing is being able to cast without retrieving your lure all the way back to the boat. If a fish strikes and misses you have the ability to put that fly back in the same spot in a matter of seconds, usually resulting in a hookup.

A couple of weeks ago I reported that I was contemplating switching over to braided line because of losing some big fish on monofilament line. Well I did switch and I must say that so far I’ve been quite pleased with the braid. I spooled up my baitcasters and spinning reels with Sufix braid. It’s a new line of braid and I must say that everything they say about it appears to be true. Wind knots seem to be virtually nonexistent, even with novice anglers. There is no line memory so there are no tangled lines on spinning reels. Working plugs, especially topwaters, is a whole lot easier due to zero line stretch. Also, hook ups with fish are increased due to zero stretch. Because it has a thinner diameter than a same size mono line, 20 lb braid is the same diameter as 6 lb mono, and is slicker than mono you can add distance to your casts.
The only draw back I have found is when it comes to using a baitcaster. If you do not keep the line tight upon retrieving a lure you will get a birds nest on the next cast. This situation can be remedied with just a little practice. I have found that an overrun on a baitcaster with braid comes undone a lot easier than one with mono line. Give Sufix braid a try. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.
The inshore fishing was going off last week until the cold front came through on Sunday. Fishing out of his kayak along the ICW, Mark Wagenschuner landed 25 flounder to 6 lbs in one day. Mark used a ¼ oz bucktail jig tipped with a strip of flounder belly.
Last Friday night the river was loaded with mullet and at the change of the tide the snook bite turned on. They were hitting on soft plastic paddle tail mullet on a jig head. The fish were in the mid to low 30 inch range. Trout were also biting. During mid day Friday the bait was so thick that they were bouncing off the side of my boat while being pursued by predators.
I’ve been doing some early morning flyfishing for snook and doing well. I’ve been throwing a topwater Rainy’s bubble head fly. This fly emits loud gurgling sounds that attracts snook. I’ve had mornings where I landed up to three snook and had 5 other hits. Craig Wiggin fished with me the morning of the cold front and he laned his first Flagler snook on a bubblehead fly.
Tamoka Marine is holding an inshore tournament on October 28th at Herschel King Park. For more information you can call 386-439-7449 or 439-3838.


Photo: Craig Wiggin with his first Flagler County snook caught on a fly.

The harvest moon usually appears in September but this year it fell on October 6th. That coupled with northeast winds has made for extremely high tides. These tides can make it difficult to find fish. If you have a boat that draws very shallow water you can access places where redfish are feeding. They are way back along the tree lines feasting away on fiddler crabs and mud minnows. Berkley Gulp crabs or shrimp, mud minnows on a jig head or a chunk of mullet should do the trick here.
If shallow water redfish aren’t your thing it’s a good time to try for snook in some deeper water. With a good influx of migrating mullet a live lined mullet or artificial bait resembling a mullet will work. Tossing a topwater plug at daybreak should draw the attention of a snook or trout. If you hit a cloudy day try throwing that topwater at any time, you’ll be surprised at the results. Fish dock pilings, dropoffs and creek mouths in the ICW during the day and the bridges and dock lights at night. The best hours at night are between midnight and dawn. The next month should prove very effective for snook so get out and give it a shot.
I fished the morning of the full moon and had one small jack on a fly. I never seem to have any luck at this time but I keep on trying. The next morning I went out and did better. Throwing a topwater High Roller Rip Roller I hooked into a snook that appeared to be about 22” when it jumped. The fish jumped twice, spit the plug and was gone. Five minutes later I hooked into another fish using the same plug. This one didn’t get away and turned out to be a 6 ½ lb trout.
I wanted a picture of the fish but I had left my camera in my truck at the boat ramp. I filled the live well with water, put the fish in it and headed back to the boat ramp. All the while I had to keep the fish moving so he wouldn’t go belly up. At the ramp I got a fellow who was fishing at the pier there to snap a picture of the fish. His mouth fell agape when I let the fish go back into the water. I told him it needed to go make babies and that a picture of a fish lasts a lot longer than one on a dinner plate.
Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports that the surf was a little rough this past week but it didn’t stop Bob Burns from landing an 18 lb king mackerel. Flounder Joe was at it again for flounder to 4 lbs. Bill Allgire says there’s plenty of Spanish mackerel around along with bluefish up to the 6 lbs.


Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein with a 6 ½ lb trout that was caught on a topwater plug. The fish was released alive.

10-4-06 report

Northeast winds kicked up the surf this past week and made surf fishing just about impossible, however it didn’t stop pier fishermen. Bill Allgire at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle on the Flagler pier says a lot of slot size redfish are being caught despite the rough surf. Trout are also being caught but Bill said the bite only lasts about an hour. Some spanish mackerel are around and the whiting bite has begun to pick up along with pompano.
Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports good size snook coming from the bridge at night. Some snook are also being caught during the day along with trout. Night or day the fish are being caught on live mullet or live shrimp. There have also been a lot of black drum caught in the area.
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of flyfishing and last Wednesday my wife Lori and I headed out at daybreak to wet a line. She used live shrimp while I threw a topwater fly. All she could muster were some mango snappers and a flounder. I hooked up with three snook and landed one that went about 16 inches. We tried some other things with no success so we called it a day.
The next day Ron Coppenbarger and George Doyle, both from Jacksonville, fished with me and once again things were slow. They picked up some mangos, small trout and a couple of keeper flounder on live shrimp. It wasn’t until we moved to the south end of the county and they started throwing artificial baits that the action picked up. I hooked up both guys with the same color 7m mirrolure and the trout started to hit. One caught fish and the other didn’t. Ron who was fishig the plug slow couldn’t buy a hit but George who was working his fast was catching the fish. It just goes to show you that sometimes you have to try retrieving your lure at a different speed to get a reaction from the fish. George had about six trout with the largest going 3 Lbs. Ron landed a 19” trout after he threw a bomber lure into a school of bait fish that was being blasted by a tarpon.
Getting back to the fly fishing, I lost a big snook last Saturday, well over 10 lbs due to the fact that the fish caught me totally off guard and also because of my inexperience with big fish on a fly. I did however land a 15” snook the next day. I will tell you the fly I’ve been using is a Rainys bubble head. I bought this fly at the World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada in the Fla. Keys. They make two sizes but I like the 2/0 size the best. The fly makes different noises depending on how you strip the line. You can order it on line at
www.worldwidesportsman.com.


Photo: George Doyle of Jacksonville, Fla. fished the Flagler County waters for this trout that was caught on a 7m mirrolure