Snook and trout continue to provide steady action for anglers fishing in the ICW. It doesn’t matter what time of day you fish as long as you fish the right tide. I have found the best times to fish are the outgoing tide, especially the last two hours of it and the first two hours of the incoming tide. During this time when the water is reaching it’s lowest point the bait becomes more concentrated making it easy prey for feeding fish. I expect the snook action to continue until the water temperature drops.
What type of bait to use? That’s up to the individual fisherman. For those fishing live bait shrimp is the best choice right now. Either free line it or fish it under a popping cork such as a Cajun Thunder. A live shrimp on a jig head that is bounced along the bottom will also work well.
There is more of a variety when it comes to artificial baits. Jigs, diving plugs and flies are all catching fish right now. The Storm Wild Eye is one of my favorite jigs. This jig can be worked at a steady retrieve using various speeds to achieve different depths in the water column. If that doesn’t work try bouncing it along the bottom, this method is very effective when the water temperature is cooler.
When it comes to plugs the Mirrolure is very effective. The 7m, 17m and 52 m all do the trick. The 7m and 17m will swim about 12 inches below the surface when retrieved properly. The 52m is a heavier, deep diving plug. These three plugs should be retrieved with a twitching motion. Read the box it comes in and will tell you how to work the plug. The Bomber long “A” in the 3 ½” length and the Rapala X Rap are good plugs for working depths in the 3’ to 6’ range. The Rapala Twitchin Rap is also a very effective plug that is worked below the surface. All of these plugs, except for the 7m and 52m, have rattles built into them. You can get a variation of the 7m that does come equipped with rattles.
Fly fishing with streamer flies has also been very effective as of late. White, chartreuse/white and yellow or yellow/white are the best colors to use. These colors work best if there is some flash material tied into them. I had ten snook on a chartreuse/white fly last week.
Last week I had Molly, Anna and Cindy Messerly fishing on my boat. After a few casting lessons the mother daughter trio wound up landing 26 fish. They had trout, redfish, ladyfish, mangrove snapper and a snook. All fish were caught on live shrimp.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports lots of snook, trout and reds being caught in the bridge area. Most of the snook are under the slot size and the trout are out of season. Anglers fishing from the bridge are still landing some keeper size snook using jumbo live shrimp and deep diving plugs.
Johnny at Flagler beach Bait and tackle reports lots of black drum in the 4 to 12 lb range are being caught on shrimp at the pier. Whiting, blues and a few pompano are also providing action. Spanish mackerel are still being caught in spurts from the end of the pier.


Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein holds a snook that Molly Messerly caught on a live shrimp.

Last week the snook bite was incredible. On three of those days I took advantage of the nice weather to wet a line. On the 14th I set out about 9:300am to do some fly fishing, it turned out to be a very productive day. On about my fifth cast I hooked into my first fish of the day. When I saw what it was, a bluefish, I hoped it wouldn’t bite through my leader and I’d lose my fly. Luckily that didn’t happen because he was lipped hooked. The fly was an Enrico Puglisi mullet imitation that has a rattle tied in it and the color was chartreuse and white. A very productive fly for the color water we have here. I retied the fly to the leader and continued to cast. My efforts were rewarded with 11 more fish, 1 trout and 10 snook.
There were so many snook around that at times I could see 4 to 5 snook come up and swipe at the fly on a single retrieve. I even had them follow it right back to the boat then swim underneath the boat. At one point all I had to do was hold the fly rod out over the water, jiggle the fly and they would come up and smack it. I figure that if I would have landed every snook that either smacked my fly or I hooked and lost, I would have had over 30 of them that day.
The following day, the 15th, I took a friend of mine out who loves to catch snook. Maybe it was because of the cold front that was coming through that afternoon that the snook were everywhere busting on bait. All you had to do was throw to where you saw the fish feeding and you were almost guaranteed a fish. Between the two of us we landed 23 snook, a redfish and jumped 2 small tarpon. Artificial baits or fly were used to catch the fish. The artificial baits were Storm wild eyes, MirrOlures or flies. However, on this day, my EP fly did succumb to the abrasive lips of the snook.
The cold front came so I stayed home on the 16th. That evening I got a call from a buddy who wanted to fish the next day. I said ok but let’s wait till about 9:30, let it warm up a bit. On the way to the launch I told him that the bite might be off because of the cold but we should get some fish as it warms up. We used Storm baits to land 10 snook that day despite the low overnight temperatures. Hint, we had to fish the baits slower and deeper to get hookups.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports that big black drum, whiting, blues, pompano, sheepshead and some flounder are all being caught from the pier. Johnny also told me he got his first tarpon, 10 lbs on a fly, fishing in the Tomoka River.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle says ther are big reds coming from the banks of the ICW south of the bridge. Shrimp or mullet is the bait of choice.
Roy’s Bait House is holding a Fall Surf Fishing Tournament on Dec. 1st. Entry fee is $20. for more information call Roy at 439-1027.

If it’s action you’re looking for on the end of your line get out and do some trout fishing in the ICW. They might not be big but there are a lot of them around. You might have to catch 10 before you get a keeper but the action can be steady. The best time to find them seems to be around the change of the tide. Don’t rule out the rest of the tide though. As long as you have moving water you will find fish.
These fish will eat almost anything you throw at them. Live shrimp, soft plastic jigs, plugs or Berkley Gulp baits are all working. If you’re not an experienced artificial bait angler would like to learn, now is the time to do it. Put a Berkley Gulp shrimp on a ¼ ounce jig head and bounce it along the bottom and you’ll catch something weather it’s a trout, flounder or black drum. The 3” Storm wild eye is also producing a lot of fish. It comes with the jig head built in so there’s no guess work involved as to how heavy a jig head to use. This jig can be bounced along the bottom or throw it out and use a steady retrieve with a slight twitching motion.
Fly fishing for trout has also been very productive. White or yellow streamer flies with some flash material tied in have been working well. You also have a good chance of catching a snook or two using these flies.
Last week I was involved in the Oldest City Red Trout tournament held in St Augustine. It was the same there, tons of trout and small reds. Boats were coming back with reports of 50 to 60 trout in a day, the majority on the small side with the larger ones going around 16”. All you had to do was go up a creek on a falling tide and you were into fish. Bill Brunson from New Jersey fished aboard my boat for 2 days. The first day we fished in St. Augustine and he landed about 25 trout and reds. The next day we fished south looking for bigger trout. Bill did land an 18 ½” trout but it wasn’t big enough to place. A 20 ½” trout took 1st place. We did however find some nice flounder in a creek at the end of the outgoing tide. The fish were caught on Berkley Gulp shrimp.
Last Friday I got a call from my buddy Lou DeFazio telling me that he got into a bunch of fish. He had 25 trout, ladyfish, mangrove shrimp and 5 snook. All the snook and 80% of the other fish were caught using a fly.
The surf and pier are producing whiting, blues, black drum, pompano and a few reds.
I would like to wish my friend and fellow fisherman Chuck Kaszupski a speedy recovery from bypass surgery he underwent a couple of weeks ago. Being an avid fisherman I know he’s chomping at the bit to get back out on the water.


Photo: Bill Brunson holds up one of four 18” flounder he caught fishing with a Berkley Gulp shrimp.

Cooler fall temperatures have finally arrived making for more pleasurable fishing conditions. The brisk morning air can make for a teary eyed run on the river but as the day progresses with a rising sun, clear blue skies, warming temperatures and little or no wind, you have no doubt as to why you got out of a warm bed to go fishing. Catch a few fish and you have the makings of a fishermen’s perfect day.
The colder air and shorter daylight hours will drop the water temperature making some fish species more active and others more lethargic. The fall run of flounder should begin and peak the week of Thanksgiving. Bluefish will invade the ICW causing for a lot of lost tackle due to their teeth. Sheepshead will gather around bridge and dock pilings feeding on the barnacles and also in the backcountry around oyster bars. Redfish will begin schooling in the shallows as the water temp drops. Trout will be abundant but will mostly be on the small side, look for bigger ones in deeper water and deep holes in the backwaters. The big tarpon will be gone but you may find some juvenile ones in the Palm Coast canals. Snook will move out of the ICW and into the back Palm Coast canals and into the deeper water of the Tamoka River. As winter moves in the fishing may become more difficult but if you put in the time on those mild clear blue days you will catch fish.
This past Monday I found one of those picture perfect days and traveled to St. Augustine to fish with Capt. Steve Holmes. Steve was gracious enough to show me places to fish for the Oldest City Red/Trout Tournament benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The day started out slow but as the tide began falling the fishing turned on. Steve took me up a creek where we found trout and reds. I had a couple of trout on the way in that I caught on a jig and had about another ten good hits. We then came upon an intersection where there was a lot of bait activity and fish were busting on them. We put the boat on the creek bed and began casting our jigs. On the first cast I landed a trout. On each of my next six casts I landed a fish. When it was all over I pulled fourteen fish from that hole. I totaled 21 fish from that one creek. I think I just might have to take my people back there during the tournament. By the way, the boat captains don’t fish during the tournament.
Roy Mattson of Roy’s Bait House reports that Nicole Marcelli had a 25” red and a 16” blackdrum using live shrimp. David James fished Tamoka Park for 2 blackdrum to 17 inches and 3 flounder to 17 inches. His fish were also caught on live shrimp.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports lots of whiting, some flounder, blues, blackdrum and sporadic schools of Spanish mackerel being caught at the pier.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle reports that he and Johnny Garrett were out Sunday and had 16 snook with the smallest measuring 26 inches. There are plenty of trout and reds also being caught in the area.
Trout season is closed for the months of November and December south of the Flagler County line. You can not catch trout anywhere south of the county line and bring them back into the county and likewise you can’t catch trout in Flagler County and bring them back south of the county line.



Photo: Ted Szeremeta, visting from New Jersey, holds a blackdrum he caught on a live shrimp. Ted and his son Greg also had trout, mangrove snapper, redfish and ladyfish.

When it rains it pours and I’m not talking about the weather we’ve been having lately. Things on my boat have been going awry the last few weeks, situations I have no control over.
The first incident happened two weeks ago as I was cruising down the ICW to my first fishing spot. I wasn’t far from that spot when all of a sudden the whole boat started to vibrate. I throttled back to neutral and raised the engine to see if I possibly picked up a stray rope or fishing line on the prop. I didn’t see anything so I put the boat in gear and took off. The boat instantly started vibrating again so I shut it down immediately. This time when I raised the engine I found the problem. One half of one of the blades of the stainless steel prop was missing. I hadn’t hit anything nor had I hit anything in the past that would have caused this problem. Not wanting to lose a day of fishing and risk any damage to the motor by running the engine, I put the trolling motor down and fished my way back to the boat ramp.
Once at the ramp and the boat was out of the water I inspected the prop and found a clean straight break with no damage to any of the other blades. Upon further inspection I found rust inside of the crack indicating to me that this was likely a flaw in the production process. I returned the prop to my boat dealership and they sent it off to the manufacturer (Power Tech) in Texas. My presumption of a defect must have been correct because Power Tech is replacing the prop at no cost to me. I bought an aluminum backup prop to use in the meantime. Not a bad idea to keep a spare prop onboard especially if you plan on fishing in remote areas.
My next situation happened last weekend. I left the ramp at 6AM and pulled up to my first spot, put the trolling motor down, and began fishing. I landed one trout and decided to move to another spot. I raised the trolling motor and took off. Upon approaching the next spot I put the boat into idle speed and instantly smelled smoke. As I looked around I saw that it was coming from my trolling motor and there was lots of it. I reached for the breaker on my console that shuts off power to the motor to disconnect it. Being a person who can’t fish without a trolling motor I called it a day and headed back to the ramp. Once at home I removed the motor and put on a spare that I keep for just such situations. I took the burned out motor to Bob’s Discount Marine Supply in Deland for repairs. The motor comes with a three year warranty so lucky for me all repairs are covered.
All in all I came out of these problems with no cost to me other than some driving time and fuel costs. I expect it would have cost over a $1000 had not the manufacturers stood behind their products.
Fishing wise not much to report on this week due to the weather. In the ICW snook, trout, flounder, blackdrum, jacks and ladyfish are being caught if you are brave enough to fish in the wind. It looks as if things should start calming down this weekend and getting back to normal, let’s hope so.