Last month was kind of tough. We had bad winds on and off that caused rough seas and dirty water. For over a week it was muddy out to 240’. Needless to say, fishing was terrible. One thing we did have was the start to an awesome mullet run. Mullet were in the millions from the docks of Bluepoints Marina and up and down the beaches. We should continue to see large schools of mullet throughout this month. Many of these schools have larger fish such as tarpon, sharks, big reds and snook mixed in chewing on them. My rig of choice is an 8/0 circle hook with about 6 feet of 60# fluorocarbon. Hook the mullet through the bottom and top lip. Work the outside of the bait pods. Also look for pogie pods. I like to use a fat pogie in a mullet school. It’s a different bait and usually gets hit quickly.
Just north of the Cape and working your way north to the false Cape there have been huge schools of jacks, Spanish, bluefish and lady fish. They are eating acres of glass minnows. Small diamond jigs and tiny buck tails have been the key. Just cast out into the frenzy and reel it fast. Make sure you use about 6 inches of wire leader. This has been a fun time especially if fishing is slow offshore or if the winds are bad out there.
Offshore, we should start to see the kingfish coming in. It was very slow last month so hopefully this month is the ticket. Fish the normal reefs and wrecks with live pogies. This is also the time for mahi. We didn’t see many last month so this should be it. Fish the weed lines and temp breaks. If you start the day off live baiting the reefs try live baiting for the mahi as they will eat a slow trolled live pogie on a light rod. We don’t always need a TLD 25 with 40# line to reel in a 6lb fish! Sailfish and wahoo are seen in greater numbers this month as well. There are different tactics that specifically target each of these species and a book can be written on each. To keep it simple all these fish will eat a live bait to a trolled ballyhoo rig. Good luck!
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