[dropcap]G[/dropcap]reetings to all you fine fisher folks! If you’re a first time, occasional or faithful reader, once again, we thank you for checking us out in this outstanding monthly publication. Now let’s get on to this month’s update and outlook for September.
Now hear this! News alert! Red tide alert and warning! Today is August 10 and the nasty stuff is just 20 miles from our coast. This year’s red tide is really different in appearance. Right now our water from 40-100’ looks more like a stagnant farm pond. Sad site for sure. Yes we’ve had lots of dead fish etc. and yes it has flat out stopped our bottom fishing for grouper and grunts etc. We need a significant shift in our overall wind pattern to move it on and help disperse it. As of now, all offshore charters are suspended. You can pull up the official updates online at various websites. The FWC has a good one and is monitoring it daily with satellite images and water sampling. I’m definitely still booking charters but we won’t venture out until the coast clears. I built my business using the golden rule to measure fish and treat my customers!
Now let’s wrap things up with a brief report and outlook for our inshore action. I would rate our inshore action this month as just fair. Still no scallops in Cedar Key either. All species like speckled trout, whiting, flounder, shark, tarpon and redfish are pretty much scattered around. Our water temperatures are still super hot just like last month. Overall action should improve in September as we might get an early taste of fall to cool things down and enhance the action. Hone in on the big high tides around new and full moon to hunt reds in your favorite rocky points and bar systems. As water temperatures get back to the low 80’s and possibly high 70’s look for speckled trout to return to our many grass flats in earnest. The success of this September/October Spanish mackerel run hugely depends on what our red tide outbreak does. In reality, all our fishing depends on what the red tide does along the Nature Coast. It could get worse than ugly. Conventional wisdom says it won’t make it to shore. Hopefully by the time you folks read this next month the red tide will be long gone and just a bad memory that will go away with time as well.
Hope everyone has a happy and safe and fishy Labor Day weekend! Good luck and good fishing to all as your favorite college football teams crank up another season. See you next month, “if nothin’ don’t happen.”
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