I would like to take a moment here to express my condolences to the entire Meekins family on the tragic loss of Skyler Meekins. Skyler loved to fish and was very well known to all the piers regular anglers. Over the years she honed her skills out there and had many tarpon and king mackerel to her credit. Skyler was also an accomplished inshore angler who spent many a day fishing with her dad, Hap Meekins. Her and her dad came in 2nd place in this years bucket “O” fun tournament and walked away with $1,400 in prize money. She also spent many a day fishing offshore with her dad. Skyler’s smiling face will be missed in the fishing community.
Every August big redfish appear at Matanzas inlet and this year is no exception. Reds to 40 inches are being caught. The bait of choice is live mullet rigged on a 3/0 circle hook. You’ll also need enough weight to hold the mullet along the bottom. Usually a small egg sinker or a couple large split shots. The optimum time to fish is at the change of the tide. This is when the fish seem to be most active. Once the current starts to rip through the inlet you’ll need to go to heavier weights to keep the bait down near the bottom. Reds to 30” can be caught on an outgoing tide at the mouths of creeks that feed into the ICW. If you can, get into the creeks on the out going tide and find a hole where the reds will congregate.
Elsewhere in the ICW, daytime trout fishing remains on the slow side. The water temperature is high which makes the trout lethargic. I believe if we get some rain it will cool the water down enough to turn these fish on. Nighttime trout fishing has remained consistent.
Flounder continue to be caught using live mullet, mud minnows and live shrimp. Keeper size mangrove snapper are abundant and are readily caught using live shrimp or pieces of shrimp.
Snook fishing remains good and will only get better when the mullet run begins. Lou DeFazio and I headed out the other morning to fly fish for snook and Lou landed his first snook on a fly. I had a couple of strikes on a topwater fly but no takers. Lou has been getting snook to 32” at night using a jig/shad tail combination.
Tarpon can be found rolling in most of the canals. Most of the fish I’ve seen are anywhere from 20 to 60 lbs. These fish can be very difficult to catch. Live lining a mullet is probably the best bet to connect with a silver king.
Pier fishing has been slow. Small reds, pompano and blues are the report. Look for the fishing to pick up in a couple of weeks when the mullet and pogy runs begin

The inshore fishing action was doing well until we got some west, northwest and north winds on Sunday and it continued into Monday. Once the wind kicked up it pushed a lot of water out of the backwaters and the ICW. The combination of low water and northerly winds slows down the current in the ICW. (Our outgoing tide flows north). When this happens the fishing also slows. One thing I have learned over years of fishing the ICW is that the fish like a fast moving current. The faster moving water creates more bait movement which makes the fish feed more actively.
Let me give you an example of my theory of current flow. Last Friday Louis Ziegenfus and Wayne Geisler fished with me and they caught 25 fish between them. They had snook, redfish, trout, flounder, jacks and mangrove snapper. The current flow was good that day. The following day Bill Smith and Jack Philbrick fished with me and the winds started to pick up a bit. They still managed to get some snook, trout, flounder and jacks but not as many fish as the day before. On Sunday the wind was stronger and the current slowed down. I couldn’t raise a single fish on my top water fly, something that doesn’t happen often this time of year. I then changed locations and switched to a mirrOlure and only managed a small snook and a small trout. Then on Monday Bill Mayne and his buddy Les fished with me and the current slowed even more due to the wind. The fishing was slow but they did manage to boat a sheepshead, a trout and a flounder. This kind of proves my point that the slower the current moves the slower the fishing.
The action in the surf is mostly small pompano and whiting. An unusual catch made in the surf this week was a 16” permit caught by Steve Watson. This is the first permit I have heard of being caught in the Flagler surf. Permit are usually caught on offshore wrecks and much farther south of here. This doesn’t surprise me though as small bonefish are being caught around Ponce Inlet. King mackerel are being caught from the pier.
Inshore there are lots of snook around. It seems the larger ones are being caught at night. Last week there was a good run of snook at night with fish in the 28” to 30” range being caught. I look forward to a good snook season when it opens September 1st. Look for the action to really pick up when the mullet run starts. Trout fishing has been best at night under dock lights and there is still plenty of good size flounder being caught.
Roy’s Bait House is holding it their 4th annual redfish tournament on Saturday, September 1st. at Mad Dogs under the rte 100 bridge. For more information you can contact the shop at 439-1027.


Photo: Louis Ziegenfus holds a 3.4 lb flounder that he caught on a live shrimp.

Snook season reopens next Saturday, Sept. 1st. Let me remind you that snook regulations were changed this past year. The slot limit for snook on the east coast of Florida is now 28” to 32”. The bag limit, state wide, is one per day per person. If you plan to fish the Everglades or the west coast of Florida the slot size is 28” to 33”. You must squeeze the tail when measuring snook. You can find out all the regulations on saltwater fish by going to http://www.myfwc.com/, or by picking up a saltwater fishing regulations pamphlet at your local tackle store.
Snook can be caught in all of Flagler’s salt and brackish waters and occasionally as far north as Matanzas Inlet. Some of the best fishing can be found in the Palm Coast canals under docks, along sea walls and by spillways that empty into the canals. They can also be found almost anywhere along the ICW. If fishing at night try under the Palm Coast bridge, the rte. 100 bridge in Flagler Beach and Highbridge in Volusia County or any of the lighted docks along the ICW. Docks where the lights are closest to the water will produce the best.
I like to start my day fishing for snook at daybreak when they are still actively feeding near the surface or in shallow water. If you’re using spinning rod or a baitcasting rod start with a topwater plug such as a topdog jr., skitterwalk or a highroller rip roller. All these plugs make noise to attract fish. If you fly fish use a topwater popping fly. My favorite is the 2/0 Rainy bubblehead fly. Once you properly learn to work this fly snook find it irresistible.
As the day wears on, usually when it hits around 9 am you’ll want to change to deeper diving plugs such as bombers or rapala x-raps. Soft plastics such as bass assassins jerk baits fished on a jig head or an exude shrimp or D.O.A. can also do the trick. Burkley gulps can also be very affective.
Overall, live bait is the best way to go during the daylight hours. Live mullet can be used and is a good choice once the mullet run starts. Live pinfish and pigfish are also very good baits. I’ve even caught mangrove snapper and had snook come up and eat them as I was retrieving them to the boat. You still can’t beat a large live shrimp to connect with a snook during the daylight hours. They just can’t pass it up.
Snook have sandpaper like mouths and very sharp gills so one piece of tackle that is a must when snook fishing is a leader no matter what type of bait you are using. Preferably fluorocarbon. 30 lb is a good choice during the day but in the night, fishing around docks and bridge fenders, I would go to a 40 or 50 lb leader.


Photo: Here is a typical size snook for our area. This one weighed 7 lbs and was caught on a mirrOlure during the middle of the day.

Let me set the scene for my past Sundays’ fishing excursion. I shut down my engine as I pulled into a Flagler Beach canal, lowered my trolling motor and readied my fly rod to begin fishing. As I worked my way into the canal I noticed that things were awfully quiet, very few mullet jumping, a lack of bait and nearly a dead low tide. I thought to myself, am I wasting my time or should I move to find some moving water. I decided to stay and give it a shot since I had limited myself to 3 hours of fishing. Working my way down the first half of the canal I didn’t have a single hit or blowup on my topwater fly. As I continued into the second half of the canal I had my first unsuccessful strike. I continued on and had a couple of more strikes but still no takers. I finally connected with a snook that was about 10 inches.
When I reached the end of the canal I worked it for a few minutes and had a good strike, but once again a missed fish. I worked my way up the other side of the canal and landed another small snook. I then decided to go back and work the end of the canal one more time. On my third cast something inhaled my fly and began to run with it. The fish then jumped about 3’ in the air and I knew right away what it was, a small tarpon. He proceeded to jump three more times before I got him to the side of the boat. Once I had him there he took one took last jump and landed right in the boat.
This was by no means a big tarpon as standards go, it only measured 25”, but it was still big fun on a fly rod. It was also my first tarpon on a fly rod. There’s only one goal I have in mind now when it comes to tarpon and that is to land a larger one on fly tackle. Oh well, I guess this means I’ll have to spend more money on a heavier weight fly rod and reel. Something else I can add to my already vast arsenal of fishing tackle.
The big talk this past week was of the 8 king mackerel that were caught off the pier on Sunday. That was a record according to some of the regulars that have fished the pier for years. Neil Foglia has caught 4 kings so far this year weighing 10.12, 15.3, 23,and 28 lbs. One more and Neil will have a record for the most kings in a season. Neil has caught his kings using live spots, bluefish and pogys for bait. Other than kings the pier is also yielding whiting, pompano and black drum.
Roy’s Bait House reports that Bob Quartero was offshore for 2 red snapper, 1 dolphin and 5 king mackerel. Inshore Chuck Kaszupski and Chuck Jr. fished Stomach Lake for 3 trout, 18, 19 and 20 inches. Greg Wilke – 24” black drum. Wes Cooper – 27”-6.8lb trout, 22”-5.5 lb black drum. Robert Cassesse – 26 ¼”-6.3 lb trout. Alan Norman – 23”-3,9 lb red. Bob Rees – 24”-4 lb trout.


Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein caught this 25” tarpon while fly fishing using a topwater bubble head fly.

The inshore fishing action was doing well until we got some west, northwest and north winds on Sunday and it continued into Monday. Once the wind kicked up it pushed a lot of water out of the backwaters and the ICW. The combination of low water and northerly winds slows down the current in the ICW. (Our outgoing tide flows north). When this happens the fishing also slows. One thing I have learned over years of fishing the ICW is that the fish like a fast moving current. The faster moving water creates more bait movement which makes the fish feed more actively.
Let me give you an example of my theory of current flow. Last Friday Louis Ziegenfus and Wayne Geisler fished with me and they caught 25 fish between them. They had snook, redfish, trout, flounder, jacks and mangrove snapper. The current flow was good that day. The following day Bill Smith and Jack Philbrick fished with me and the winds started to pick up a bit. They still managed to get some snook, trout, flounder and jacks but not as many fish as the day before. On Sunday the wind was stronger and the current slowed down. I couldn’t raise a single fish on my top water fly, something that doesn’t happen often this time of year. I then changed locations and switched to a mirrOlure and only managed a small snook and a small trout. Then on Monday Bill Mayne and his buddy Les fished with me and the current slowed even more due to the wind. The fishing was slow but they did manage to boat a sheepshead, a trout and a flounder. This kind of proves my point that the slower the current moves the slower the fishing.
The action in the surf is mostly small pompano and whiting. An unusual catch made in the surf this week was a 16” permit caught by Steve Watson. This is the first permit I have heard of being caught in the Flagler surf. Permit are usually caught on offshore wrecks and much farther south of here. This doesn’t surprise me though as small bonefish are being caught around Ponce Inlet. King mackerel are being caught from the pier.
Inshore there are lots of snook around. It seems the larger ones are being caught at night. Last week there was a good run of snook at night with fish in the 28” to 30” range being caught. I look forward to a good snook season when it opens September 1st. Look for the action to really pick up when the mullet run starts. Trout fishing has been best at night under dock lights and there is still plenty of good size flounder being caught.
Roy’s Bait House is holding it their 4th annual redfish tournament on Saturday, September 1st. at Mad Dogs under the rte 100 bridge. For more information you can contact the shop at 439-1027.


Photo: Louis Ziegenfus holds a 3.4 lb flounder that he caught on a live shrimp.

This past Monday I walked out to the end of the Flagler Beach pier to see how the fishing was going for tarpon and king mackerel. Not much going on that afternoon. I did talk to pier regular, Bob Burns, who told me the tarpon and pogys had disappeared but the king mackerel fishing was still productive. Since there have been no pogys to use for bait for the kings anglers have been using small live bluefish.
This is how the angling technique works to catch the kings and tarpon from the pier. Most of the people are using conventional rod and reel outfits. First you need a good stout conventional rod about 9 to 10 ft long along with a conventional reel that will hold 30 to 40 lb test line. At the end of the line is tied a large bobber with a claw style sinker attached to the bottom of it. This rig is then cast out from the end of the pier as far as they can cast it. They then have a 5 to six ft leader with a snap swivel on one end and a stinger rig hooked to the other end of the leader. A stinger rig is a couple of treble hooks connected to a wire leader. The live bait is then attached to the stinger rig. The snap swivel is then placed on the line that has been cast out and the bait slides down the line into the water. Once the bait is in the water it swims around near the surface like a wounded fish and hopefully attracts a predator. The best way to learn about this type of fishing is to go to the pier and observe how the angling is done.
According to Bob, 22 kings had been brought to the planks so far this year and 4 tarpon have been beached and released. Bob also runs a web site, www.flaglerbeachpier.net, where you can get reports and see photos of the fish that have been caught.
On the ICW side the fishing was a little slow this past weekend due to the full moon.
During the full moon I was only able to raise one small snook on a topwater fly and another small snook and a small trout on a mirrolure About five days before the full moon I was out throwing a 7m mirrolure and caught eight trout and had about another ten that came up and hit the plug but didn’t take it. I expect the fishing to be better this weekend now that the moon is on the down side.
National Marina Day will be held at the Palm Coast Marina, 200 Clubhouse Drive, on Saturday August 11th. Some of the events will include the 2nd annual cardboard boat race, free electric boat rides, kayak lessons and tours and many other vendor displays. For more information call the Marina at (386) 446-6370.
Roy Mattson at Roy’s Bait House reports that Steve Martin and crew did an overnight trip offshore for a 28.14 lb king mackerel, 14.14 lb cobia, red snapper, black sea bass, mangrove snapper and triggerfish. Inshore Mike Martin – 25” redfish. Jennell Flesher – 2 trot and 2 flounder. Tom Panetti – 21” redfish. Gina Rodgerson – 4 lb trout.
Jake Jaquish of Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports king mackerel being caught on the pier along with pompano, bluefish and whiting. Jake also reports trout and snook around the Highbridge area.