Tight Lines

Shawn Smith holds a bull red he caught and released on Sept. 23 surf fishing using cut mullet.

I’m truly very sorry if you did not get to spend some time on the water this week. Nassau county’s anglers could not have asked for weather more conducive for fishing. After spending too many days on the water this summer in the searing heat, a charter boat captain such as myself really appreciates a week like this.
Unfortunately, another dreaded northeaster is predicted to move in by this weekend and hamper our offshore fishing.

The big question lingers with our local anglers: when will this northeaster end? My guess is soon. The weekend weather looks to be dry and cool with much less wind, moving around out of the southwest. If this forecast holds true, anglers can expect good fishing especially around noon with a low tide falling around 1:17 p.m.

Anglers who can make the run to the inshore reefs can expect excellent bottom-fishing. The snapper and grouper remain plentiful around most of your favorite reefs with keeper snapper mixed in with the many throwbacks.

To give you an example of the action last week, Jim and Barb Gordon along with Dick Butler fished the RL and HH area two days last week. In 1½ hours Sept. 10, this team reeled in 36 snapper, five of whichwere legal to keep. They also released three grouper. Dick reports the sea bass action was slow and the live bait was not available.

Special -- Donald Burch shows a nice redfish he caught recently while fishing the flood tide in the grass with Capt. Jim Tucker.

I would plan on taking advantage of the schools of mullet cruising our creeks and rivers this weekend. Northeast winds are predicted and would hamper any ideas of traveling offshore this weekend.

If the surf doesn’t get too rough with the predicted northeast winds, there will be plenty of action with whiting at the end of your hook. The fishing gang at Amelia By the Sea pier reports puppy drum, whiting and the occasional trout. Anglers fishing Amelia Island State Park reported reds, trout and flounder using live finger mullet. One day fishing will be fired up, the next anglers are complaining no fish. You will have to cast-net some live fingerlings and just give the point a try.

Capt. David Hagins displays the red snapper he reeled in Wednesday, Sept. 3, aboard the Wahoo.

Nassau County’s anglers are still dealing with the effects of our tropical storm season. Even though Ike, thankfully, has moved out of our area, we are still dealing with Ike’s high seas. Our rivers are slowly returning back to normal from the effects of Fay and Hanna.

Offshore, the bottom fishing should be excellent if the high seas allow our local anglers to wet a hook. Bring along frozen bait such as Boston mackerel, cigar minnows or Spanish sardines: the live bait may not be available at the buoy line or at the reefs due to this week’s high seas. If you have a good pinfish spot, bring some live pinfish along to drop at your favorite location. Further offshore, at Brunswick and Elton bottoms, you can expect a good charge of footballs, aka beeliners, using squid on a double hook rig. Snapper and grouper also should be available at these locations.

Jeffrey Block displays an impressive redfish he caught in the Nassau Sound on Aug. 28. 

Hopefully, as predicted, Hanna will have passed us by, leaving Nassau County with a beautiful sunny weekend. The schools of mullet are still cruising our beaches along with an incoming tide all morning. This should give the local surf angler plenty of action this weekend.

The low tide will be falling around 9:14 a.m., leaving a perfect tide to fish this morning. Whiting, pompano, blues, trout and small sharks were in the reports this week. The point at Amelia Island State Park has been producing reds, trout, flounder and small sharks.

Special -- Shane Newman shows a nice-sized cobia he reeled in Aug. 8 aboard the Consuela with Capt. Mike Shepard. Snapper, grouper and sea bass were also caught during the trip.

Tropical Storm Fay has become a bad memory for Northeast Florida and its anglers due to the flooding from the slow-moving storm and torrential rains.

There is a positive note, however, for the local anglers who enjoy traveling to fish in Lake Okeechobee: the water level has returned to normal due to the heavy rains.

Nassau County anglers will have to contend this weekend with high seas, super high tides and extreme muddy water due to the after-effects of Tropical Storm Fay. Hopefully, you or your boat did not experience any wind damage due to Fay.

For the offshore anglers, once the seas calm and the water clarity clears, you can expect excellent fishing. The water temperature should be back to normal for this time of year and the bait should return after a few days to enhance our bottom and live bait trolling.

As cooler water temperatures remain along our beaches, inlets and offshore, anglers need to change their fishing tactics to reap the benefits. If the predicted weather forecast comes through with northeast winds, these conditions should bring our water temperatures back into the normal range of 83 to 85 degrees.

Offshore anglers are usually live bait trolling this time of year, but with the lower water temperatures they have switched to bottom fishing all week and they are having excellent results. Grouper and snapper are being caught at most of your favorite inshore reefs. Further offshore, at the Brunswick and Elton bottoms, snapper, grouper and large numbers of beeliners are being caught. Live cigar minnows and sardines will work best when bottom fishing the local reefs and wrecks. Be on the lookout: there also have been large numbers of cobia in these areas, also.

The cooler-than-normal water temperatures are once again the topic of conversation amongst our local anglers. The dreaded thermacline has once again lowered our water temperatures almost 10 degrees below what the temperature should be this time of year.

The lower water temperatures at the inshore offshore reefs have all but shut down the slow trolling with live bait. If you are wanting to make the trip to the inshore reefs, I would plan on bottom fishing. The snapper and grouper fishing has been good this week with grouper being caught up to 20 pounds within the 15 mile range. Live cigar minnows, Spanish sardines or pinfish will be the baits of choice when bottom fishing with live bait. Barracuda and a few cobia are still being caught at these locations slow trolling; the kingfish have left for warmer waters. TW, HH, RL and FC are a few of the many reefs that have been holding summer bottom species.

The surf temperature for Northeast Florida should hover around the mid to high 80s but that is not the case; our surf temperature is in the middle 70s. This is significantly cool for this time of year. Hopefully, the predicted easterly winds will help to bring our water temperature back to normal.

If the water temperature continues to be in the 70s, this condition will affect whether we have live bait in our area for local anglers who are planning on entering the Greater Jacksonville Kingfish tournament next week. The junior angler event will be Wednesday and the tournament will occur Thursday through Saturday, July 26.