The other day I was asked if trout fishing was closed for the month, the answer is no. It is however closed for the months of November and December South of the Volusia/Flagler county line. You cannot launch your boat in Volusia county, fish in Flagler county, and bring trout back to Volusia. FWC will not listen to your reasoning if you try to do this, so be aware.
Talking of trout I can tell you this, they are all over the place right now. Fish anywhere in the ICW from Matanzas to the south end of Flagler and you’re sure to find them. They range from 14” to 25”. They’ll hit anything you throw at them. Live shrimp, live or cut mullet and artificial baits. Artificials include hard plastics such as top water and diving plugs. Soft Plastics with a paddle tail will produce extremely well as will shrimp imitations. You’ll want to use either a 1/8 oz or ¼ oz jig head when fishing these soft plastics.
The flounder bite continues to improve with the falling water temperatures. They’re taking buck tail jigs as are trout. They’ll also eating live mullet, live shrimp, mud minnows and soft plastics that are bumped across the bottom.
Mark Wagenschuner fished the Matanzas area in his kayak on Tuesday and had trout to 4 lbs on top water flies and buck tail jigs and a pompano on a fly. Mark also said there were tarpon from 20 lbs to 150 lbs at the inlet. Don’t expect the tarpon to stay around long due to the falling water temps.
Calvin, Kevin and Dan Coates fished with me last Sunday and the trio had over 25 fish. They landed a wide variety that included trout, flounder, redfish, black drum, snook, lady fish and mangrove snapper. All were on live shrimp
Mike Salzer and DeAnne and Mike Salzer Jr. fished with me and this past Tuesday and this trio also did well. They landed a bunch of trout between 14” and 20” and had a couple of keeper flounder. The fish were caught on live shrimp.
After reading about the fishing that is taking place I hope you get out to get in on the action and enjoy the weather we’ve been having lately.


Photo: Dan Coates with a blackdrum that was caught live lining a shrimp

For the past four years I have been involved in The Oldest City Red-Trout Celebrity Classic tournament in St. Augustine to help raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. It seems every year the tournament has been affected by the weather and this year was no exception. Last Friday was the start of the two day event and with winds at 25 knots and gusting the days fishing was canceled.
Launching that Friday at the Villano boat ramp wasn’t too bad until you reached the open water to go under the bridge to reach Camachee Cove Marina. Once you hit the open water you were greeted by 3ft waves. Let me tell you this is not the kind of water you want to be in with a 17’ flats skiff. Heading into the wind and waves I took two over the bow and was soaked by the time I reached the marina. One of the other Captains almost lost his skiff when he came down off a wave and buried his bow into the next wave. He said the water was up over the gunnels but his engine didn’t die and he was able to swing the boat around and rid a lot of the water he took on. Luck was with him this day.
At Camachee Cove they told us the day was canceled but if we wanted to take our people fishing someplace else it was up to us. My anglers, Wade Wilson and Sam Killin, followed me to Bings Landing and we fished for half a day. The fishing was tough due to the wind but they did manage a couple of 3 lb jacks, mangrove snapper,a small red and a 18” snook.
On Saturday the winds weren’t quite as bad. All teams met at the Villano ramp and we were able to take our anglers to any boat ramp we wanted to launch out of. We returned to Bings along with a few other teams. Again the fishing was slow. They had ladyfish, a couple of small trout, 4 reds to 20”, a 16” snook and 3 flounder. The snook was caught on a live shrimp. The reds were caught on live shrimp and Berkley Gulps, the flounder were on gulps, live shrimp and a gold spoon and the trout were on live shrimp and mullet. The guys fished hard for the day but none of the fish were able to put them on the board. Maybe next year will bring better weather for a change.
Locally, trout to 20” are being caught around the backwaters of Highbridge along with snook at night from the bridge. Reds are also showing in this area and other flats along the ICW. Flounder action has started to pick up around Matanzas and should improve greatly as the month progresses.
The surf and pier are providing blues, whiting and reds. Look for the flounder action to pick up in the surf and pier as well.


Photo: Wade Wilson with a snook that was caught during last Friday’s winds. It hit a 7m mirrolure.