Summer is upon us and so are the fish –

Still catching pompano on the beach regularly.  Fishbites, pompano jigs, goofy jigs are your sure bait choices.  My circle hook rigs – tied in America – work flawlessly.  Put your rods in sand spikes, use a sand flea, shrimp or crab scent fishbite – a different scent on each circle hook and a pyramid sinker on the clip and you are set.  Cast between the shore and the sandbar.

Rig a pompano jig or a Doc’s Goofy jig tip them with a fishbite and retrieve slowly, bumping along the bottom is the technique.

Quite a few big trout being caught in the surf and the bay.  A Mirrolure 52M sinking twitchbait has been a favorite of mine for forty years on the beach.  I call it the “stroll and cast” using a steady retrieve with an occasional twitch.

In the bay gator trout are being landed consistently.  In plastics, your Trout Trick paired with a Trout Eye jig from Z-Man, DOA shrimp underneath a popping cork, and the new Rapala Coastal Lineup has been quite impressive.  Starting with the top water “Skitter V” featuring an exclusive design that radically alters the action of the lure allowing the lure to cut quick with a snap of the rod ending with a soft, long glide on slack line.  This a wonderful top water bait for trout and reds. The slow sinking “Twitching Minnow and Mullet” are designed to perform a tight walk-the-dog swimming action.  Slow sinking allows a glide and drop technique that lands into pockets where big fish love to ambush their prey.

There is also plenty of tripletail being caught in the bay – A DOA shrimp underneath a cork around the markers and buoys will do the trick.  Flounder are showing up in the bay – I like using a small jig with a very light head working it slowly.

If you can get a bait past the snapper there are plenty of grouper being caught.  I like to use Shimano flat fall jigs on a small jigging rod which adds a different twist rather than just dropping bait.

We’ll Hook You Up!

Captain Larry Troy

It’s been an unseasonably warm winter.  The water temperatures are in the 60’s they really should be in the 50’s.  A lot of our pelagic species have remained here rather than heading south to Miami.  About once a week someone catches a Pompano. Speaking of Pompano we have some exciting new jigs for 2017 that have been a year in the making to get them right. They range in size from ¼ ounce to ½ ounce in colors of pink, orange and yellow.

A lot of our trout have remained on the St. George Island side of the bay and not up the rivers where they normally are this time of year.  Trout are on the oyster bars and still on the flats.  On the oyster bars use your Z-Man trout tricks.  We have a new paddles tail Z-Man which acts as a swim bait.  You can bounce it off the bottom or you can fish it mid water like a swim bait.  Suspension baits are also my go to bait around oyster bars like the Rapala Coastal X-Rap with single hooks.  Make sure you work your baits slower this time of year in the cooler waters.

There have been reports of very nice schools of redfish in the state park to the east of the Island.

This is the time of year for sheepshead around structure, around the bridges, rocks and sunken “treasures”.

I’m thinking we are going to have an early spring so now is the time to clean your equipment, stock up and get ready to RUMBLE.

We’ll Hook You Up!
Captain Larry Troy

Probably easier to say which fish are not being caught as everything is on fire this time of year.

Offshore
A lot of Cobia are being landed. I like using artificials for them. Chartreuse 2 to 6 oz. jigs are one of my favorite choices. When checking out structures such as markers and buoys during slack tide is a good way to spot Cobia. Cast your jig, let it fall, reel it up jigging all the way. The Cobia will follow it down; you’ll get a strike set the hook, fight on.
Kings and bottom fish have also been plentiful. My favorite king artificial is a 3 ½” trolled glow spoon. Troll one spoon close to the wheel wash and another at the sixth wave. Down riggers or planers will get the spoons deeper into the strike zone.

Surf
We still have a few pompano being caught daily. We now have a new fluorocarbon/red Gamakatsu circle hook rig for pompano teamed up with fishbites it’s hard to beat. They are catching a lot of trout on the beach with slow sinking mirrolures (52M). Spanish are being caught either trolling or casting spoons, goofy jigs, or Gotcha Plugs.

Bay
The small flats worm by Berkely Gulp with a 1/16” jig head bumped slowly along the bottom has been very successful for the “flatties” (flounder).
Trout tricks are continuing to be a favorite, producing consistent large trout. Any of the Z-Man plastics we carry are very successful and tough. You need a plastic that will stand up to pinfish eating the tails.

All of our inshore guides that we book are producing nice catches of trout, reds and triple tail daily. Love those tails – great table fare! One of our guides landed a 26 pounder this past week.

Hook ‘em Up!
Captain Larry