Wow July has been a busy month! With school being out and summer vacations in full stride I’ve been fishing a lot. Add in to the mix attending ICAST and I have a lot to share with you.
Let’s begin with the fishing report. This month has been much the same as last month. The tarpon bite remains strong in and around the passes, beaches and bridges. I’m catching those fish on pass crabs, small blue crabs, thread fin herring and scaled sardines (white bait). The mangrove snapper bite is as close to a sure thing as you can get right now. They gather up in massive numbers on almost any piece of structure. I’ve been targeting them on inshore reefs, channel ledges and rock piles. I prefer to use live white bait and shrimp for bait. Live and dead chumming with white bait and chum blocks help elevate the snapper in the water column making them easier to catch. While fishing the structures I have also been getting some gag groupers mixed in. The snook fishing In the swash of the beaches and in the passes has been really good as well. The snook are congregated in those higher salinity areas for their spawn. I like white bait, pin fish and pig fish for the larger snook.
Looking ahead to August tarpon will begin to move more towards their late summer areas inside Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor. I look for these fish in water deeper than 6 feet that has some sort of structure and a high amount of bait fish present. I like to use pin fish, thread fin herring and DOA trolling model baitbusters in black back with silver glitter. I’ll also start looking for more red fish schools to show up on the flats. I like to shark fish in August as well.
To beat the heat of summer try fishing early in the morning or late in the day after the storms move through and cool it off a little. Another great way to stay cool is to go scalloping. I’ve been running scallop trips in Homosassa and doing well. We’ve been in depths from 3-7 feet depending on the tide and my clients snorkeling abilities. The best results have been in areas that have more “mossy” grass than eel grass.
My hot picks from ICAST are some of the new reels from Daiwa including the Fuego and Ballistic spinning reels and the new Power-Pole VISION and Power-Pole CHARGE units. I’ll have more info on these amazing innovative products next month.
If you’re looking for a charter I can be reached at
Capt. Bobby Woodard
www.Captain-Bobby.com
863-224-1418