Jacksonville

October 6th, 2009

Ahoy there Anglers,

CREEKS:

Redfish are doing well in the creeks now. We have had some really high tides this past month. I don't like the higher tides. Sure you can go hunting for some tailing reds in the flooded grass but when they come back out of the grass they're so full of fiddlers and crabs that it's hard to get them to bite.

Even our low tides have been higher than normal and when that happens the creeks that normally go dry still have water in them and the reds are still not as concentrated in the shallows where they normally are. Maybe this month will be better. Jacks are still around and using top waters on these guys are a blast.

Sheepshead are still in the creeks here and there and our best luck on them is at high tide sight fishing at them when we see their tails out of the water. We actually caught one last week that went about 11 pounds in the creeks.

Spotted trout are biting pretty good but there are a lot of shorts still and the flounder are biting a little better when you can find a patch of them. Some days they're good and some days you can't find one. This has been a terrible flounder year.

RIVERS:

Bull reds in the St. Johns make a fun day on the water. These guys can really bend a rod. Be sure to revive these fish as we want them to spawn this winter and bring us more and more of these great fighting fish. You can catch them on cut blue crabs, mullet, cut croakers or one of their favorites, live pogies.

Yellow mouth trout are in a lot of locations in the rivers now but there are quite a few small ones also. Some days that's all you catch are the small ones but there are some real nice-sized ones around too. Same with the whiting.

Spotted trout along the rock banks and grass edges with structure. Bomber Long-A's, MirrOlures and Skitterwalks are working good and of course live shrimp on slip-float rigs are a favorite among anglers.

A few black drum are still in the rivers from the St. Johns to Nassau River. Quartered up blue crab or dead shrimp will get them into your boat.

There are some nice sized Mangrove snapper in the rivers this year. Great tasting fish. They'll eat dead shrimp, live shrimp and live mud minnows.

Believe it or not, there are sheepshead already biting this year in the river. A lot of small ones but some real nice ones too. We caught 16 one day and boated 33 on another.

A few flounder here and there in the rivers. Live mullet or Gulp shrimp will get you hooked up. I like the 3" Gulp in the Natural color.

Croakers are all over the river but they're still small East of downtown Jax. If you want the larger Virginia croakers now then just go South of Jax. They're catching good numbers of them around Marker 18 down towards Doctor's Lake. They're be here anytime now. They are every year. That's why I'm almost completely booked up for October and am booking for November trips too. Every year during the October, November and December the flounder, sheepshead, black drum and big croaker feast I work 6 days a week.

JETTIES:

Sheepshead are already biting out at the rocks and I hope that's a very good sign for this year's season. Usually I start targeting the sheepshead in the river in September and then at the jetties in October but we've actually been catching them in the rivers and creeks back in July and August and they're some real nice ones at the jetties already. Hard fighting fish. Loads of fun. You'll have to catch a bunch of blennys while sheepshead fishing but that's normal for this time of the year.

Bull redfish are about everywhere out at the rocks. Please be sure they can swim off. Vent them if needed.

Along with the bull reds the black drum are still out there but the numbers have slowed down. I think it's because of the warmer water again. In mentioning the water temperatures, you'll also have to contend with a few sharks at the rocks. Not many though. They're slowly leaving.

I haven't seen any ringtail porgies but I'm sure they're there by now. Black margates are being caught along with the sheepshead and they're good to eat also. They look like a cross between a black drum and a sheepshead.

Whiting should be out in the sand outside the jetties. I just haven't been targeting them but they should be there right now. Small to medium croakers out there also. On the incoming tides the mullet are going out toward the ocean and when you see thousands of them you'll see the tarpon and big jacks just tearing them up. We had two tarpon almost come into the boat

a few days ago. One hit the boat scattering the mullet and the mullet came into my boat. The larger jacks are pinning the mullet up against the South tip of the rocks on the outgoing tides.

MILL COVE:

Spotted trout and redfish are the best fish going on in the Cove now. There are a few flounder but not many has made it in the Cove this year. Yellow mouth and a few small whiting in there also.

Tarpon are still around in there though.

SURF:

Whiting and a couple of pompano here and there mixed in are biting in the surf. There are a few reports of some real nice black drum to 12 pounds in the surf along with a few redfish.

Take care, be careful and be sure to bring your trash back to the boat ramps. There's always a trash can or dumpster back at the boat ramps. Please don't let plastic bags, and paper blow out of your boats. Our waterways need all the help we can give them.