Jacksonville Florida Fishing Report - July 2005

[Captain Vic Tison]

JETTIES:
The huge bull reds are mixed in with some real nice slot-sized redfish now in many places along the inside of the Mayport Jetties. We're catching them on dead shrimp and cut croaker on the last of the incoming tide and the first of the outgoing tides.
A couple of sheepshead here and there have been finding our baits along with a couple of black drum between 4 to 8 pounds in the same locations while we're catching the redfish.
Whiting and some small sea bass are biting between the reds, drum and sheepshead but we've only seen a couple of yellowmouth trout come our way in these same locations. More whiting and yellowmouth trout are being caught though outside and away from the rocks than inside the inlet.

Nurse sharks, sand sharks, blacktips and the mean boys, bull sharks are biting any kind of cut bait out off the tip of the north rocks. Be very careful if you're lucky enough to finally land some the larger bull sharks. They are the mean ones and will bite you if they get any chance to.
Tarpon are back and I've seen more of them on the incoming tides this year than the outgoing tides.

CREEKS:
Slot sized redfish are being hard to get along with again this July mostly I think because the water temperature has risen so suddenly again the last couple of weeks.
Speckled trout are not really fired up also in this warmer water but the ones that are biting during the higher tides are really nice fish. My customers have been catching trout from 3 to 6 pounds but as I said there's just not as many around it seems. We catch 3 to 5 one day, 8 to 10 another.
Everyone has been talking about how the flounder has been so evasive this season. They sure have. I'm waiting on our 'fall flounder run' to help save the day on these guys. We should be catching 4 to 7 flounder this time of the year while we're shallow water redfishing, not even targeting flounder but, we're only catching one or two a day while redfishing. I've even targeted then a couple of times but there just seems to be no use. We all though maybe when the small finger mullet finally came in the that'd be the time but the mullet are here and the flounder don't seem to care.
Tarpon to about 60 pounds are up the creeks now and are waiting on you to see if you can handle these showoffs.

RIVERS:
Nice sized speckled trout 3 to 6 pounds each are being caught with one of my favorite lures, the Bomber Long A's at just about any tide now. Look for structure along grass lines in the river and that'll help you find them. The structure you see below the grass edges at low tides will also hold trout and reds at the higher tides when the structure is covered up.
Bull redfish from 15 to 45 pounds are really bending my customer's rods at the last of the higher tides. Man oh man, if you want a fight on your hands, this 'catch and release' type of fishing can't be beat. Of course these redfish are over the slot-size limit but it's great to see that they are in full swing again. You know what I mentioned about the flounder, same here.
Small croakers, nice yellowmouth trout and whiting are all biting in the usual places but as you could figure for this time of the year, the croakers aren't as big as they're going to be in about 2 months. Can't wait!

MILL COVE:
The huge ladyfish schools haven't shown up yet. I know what you're thinking,,, ladyfish? Let me tell you, if you haven't hit one of these schools of 200 to 300 ladyfish 3 to 4 pounds each on some top water lures, you just don't know what you're missing. I'm talking fun, fun, fun!
You know you don't always have to take the fish you catch home. Some are just plain fun to catch and release. Like, you take, 7 to 12 pound jacks, 3 to 4 pound ladyfish, they're almost as fun as a 40 pound redfish. Try it some time and see if you don't agree. They're be here most anytime now on the higher ends of the tides. All you have to do is look for the diving birds in the Cove and run right over to them. You'll see them splashing all around and just cast out and hang on.
Speckled trout are about the best thing going right now in the Cove. The redfish have seem to gotten lock-jaw about as bad as the creek reds.
Flounder that are almost always in the Cove are acting the same way as mentioned before. Waiting on fall.

SURF:
Whiting and pompano are your best bet in the surf right now. Just don't be too eager to wade out very far to make that great cast. Remember the bull sharks I mentioned in the JETTY Section? They aren't anything to play with if you're out in the water with them. They will bite and they don't care what as long as it fits in their mouth. It won't be long and they'll be on their way though where you won't have to worry about them.
Remember to help Mother Nature with the mess someone else is making by picking up a piece of trash here and there floating around. I know it's not your's but since the person that let it get in the water doesn't care that doesn't mean we all can't nake an effort. Our kids will love us for it later when they realize what we're doing.
Until next time,,,