The weather has been just right lately for good inshore and near shore fishing; the great thing is the fishing has been great too! I feel that we are about two weeks ahead of the normal water temps and fishing for this time of year! Here is this weeks fishing report>>>
I'm seeing Bonita, Blues and a few Spanish when we are trolling off the beach to five miles off. Trolling Clark spoons and small deep driver lures has been the key to success. When using the Clark spoons, I would recommend the pink flash spoon in sizes #00, #0 and #1; the pink flash series has really helped me put more fish in the boat. A bird rig on top with a Clark spoon about five to six feet behind it or Blue water Candy Spanish daisy chain (blue, silver, pink) have worked very well on top too. Look for birds working or marking bait on you fish finder is the way to find the feeding fish. When the fish are not on top, I've caught some nice Blues and a few Bonita by casting a spoon out and letting it sink down before reeling is in. I've found that some times these fish are deeper and you can get them by getting down to deeper water.
With all this warm air lately the Redfish and Black drum have been moving in to the shallower waters. I caught some very nice Reds and Black drum this last few weeks in waters of five to as shallow as one foot deep. The trick for the Reds has been Berkley Gulp Alive in patterns three inch Shrimp and Mud minnow; fishing these baits around docks, oyster rocks and grass lines. Going with lighter jig heads 1/16oz and 1/8oz is working well on the fish that are in one to five foot of water. Bait fishing is still good and will continue right through the summer. Red and Black drum are hitting cut shrimp and mullet on Carolina rigs around the same areas; docks, oyster rocks etc… You never know how big or little the drum will be when you are bait fishing; we've had reds as small as fourteen inches and as big as over thirty inches lately.
The Flounder fishing should really start to pick soon, I look for Flounder around the inlets and just off the beach in the spring/early summer mouths. Small baits like mud minnows are great 'Flounder finder' baits, you can use these baits for a long time before they die and they are pretty easy to catch. Another way I really like to catch Flounder is with five inch Berkley Gulp Jerkshad; the pinfish don't seem to tear these apart quite as fast as live baits. Just rig the Berkley Gulp Jerkshad like any grub and keep the flat side of the Jerkshad facing up where the hook comes out. Don't really worry too much about color, but I would recommend going with brighter colors for Flounder fishing.
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Fierce and Battle spinning in sizes 2000, 3000 & 4000 sizes.
Line: Spiderwire Ultra-cast and Berkley Fireline braid in 8, 10 and 15 pound. Rods: Fenwick HMG GS 70M-MF, Ugly stick lites 6'6" and 7' Med & Med-Heavy. Leader material: Berkley Big Game mono & Fluorocarbon. Stren Fluorocarbon leader material in Tannic and Gunsmoke tints; tannic for river and stained waters, gunsmoke for clear water applications.
Thanks for reading this report, if you have any questions just let me know! If you would like to go fishing drop me a line; I'm booking now for this coming summer fishing season and don't forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
PENN Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
