Well how about that! This month marks my 11th anniversary with the Coastal Angler Magazine. Thanks for your support and feedback over the years.
I want to share about how to be productive in summer weather fishing. Let’s be honest, this time of year brings some challenges. This goes to show that when planning a trip, you need to have mapped out your trip. Plan out your spots and be prepared to hit the water early–I mean that. If you’re not on the water well before the sunrise, you might as well have stayed at Dunkin’ Donuts.
The evening bite can be good as well for those of you who are, let’s say, just not morning people. Check your tides. On a recent trip to the St. Martin’s River, I didn’t and I ended up not only not having a productive day, but we had to paddle up the river against an incoming tide. We hit the spots when there was too much water, caught some small trout and had a couple of nice blowups on the top water early. We then ended up having to paddle back against the out-going tide on the way in. This is called fishing backwards. I don’t recommend it.
As of the writing of this article, the morning trout bite is still good at Aripika near the top of the high tide in the early a.m. The trout are mixed in with the mullet schools. Best bait seems to be the Glow Gulp shrimp or a MirrOdine. The bigger trout will often go for a free-lined piece of cut bait.
For those of you who want to go fishing for the fun of it, the gar population in our area seems to have exploded right now. The hole behind Baypoint, as well as, anywhere along our coast can provide some fun action. The best way to target them and to spot their location is to watch for them to breech (come up for air). Using cut bait, either free-lined or on a cork with a small treble hook, seems to work best. They’re not really edible, though I know people that have. During a slow bite, hooking a four-foot gar can be a lot of fun. Important point; if you let them take the bait, and wait for them to run with it, you will be sure to get a good hook set.
As to the good news, I’m starting to see the return of the reds and schools of black drum in some of my spots north of Baypoint. The black drum fooled me. I saw the school back in the creek and started working a Gulp and Exude Dart around the school, but couldn’t get anything to bite. So, I paddled closer and ended up spooking a school of 20 to 30 slot-sized blackies. As they took off doing that “brrump-brrump” sound (my interpretation of a black drum drumming), I’m thinking why didn’t I throw a shrimp. Well, if they are still there when I get out again, I’ll have a report on summer-time black drum to share with you next month.
Well, it’s time to hit the water. Tight lines y’all.
Bruce