Fishing Report & Forecast Mayport

By Capt. Kirk Waltz

The heat of the summer is on and summer is now at its peak. Continue to see big schools of bait pushing onto the beach for the month of august. This is a big plus for hungry predators. These large menhaden pods will hold schools of tarpon and sharks feeding in the early afternoon and morning hours. Jack Cravelle and kingfish will usually patrol the border edges and crash them when their bio clocks go off. This bonanza can be a blast when you are looking for some midsummer action and amped up fun! Catch a few baits and pitch them into the pods for big fish rod bending action. My rod of choice is a Shimano Saragosa 6000 coupled with some 60lb PowerPro braid and a med 7ft Teramar spinning rod. Tie on a small piece of 40lb wire a no# 6- 4x live bait hook and pitch this back into the melee. If after a few casts nothing occurs try placing a small float aprox. 2-3ft above the hook and pitch back into the pod. Both methods work well. Sometimes the fish can be shy and you need to try a piece of 80lb fluorocarbon instead of wire. Look for the water explosions to identify which schools are being fed on.

The near shore beach fishing should have kings, jacks, some cobia, bonita, sailfish, and sharks cruising for a snack. Try the SE Hole, Redtops, Jax Pier, Chum Hole, and both the North and South rips on the color break. This area is easy to spot as it signifies the water separation between the water coming out of the St. John’s River and the Ocean as it pushes against it. Slow troll live pogies, cigar minnows, or any available live bait for some great rod benders.

The inshore scene should be great for our bull red run that begins on the full moon this month. These big spawning leviathans are great sport but, remember to handle them with kid gloves and return them to the water as soon as you can. It’s also important to vent these big fish so they can spawn again. Cut ladyfish, mullet, crab and pogies are great baits that should be fished on the bottom. The edges of the St John’s River from the big rocks all the way to the dames point bridge and beyond are good bets. The big rocks should be hit and miss with reds and tarpon and should be most active on the high outgoing tides. I like to flip live pogies on the edges of the rocks for these big marauders.

The inshore scene will be hit and miss on the tides as our water temps start to peak. As this water gets hot the fish head to deeper pockets of water and seem to bite better early in the morning and late afternoon. The preferred method is a jig and shrimp or mud minnow combo. You can look to catch reds, trout, mangrove snapper, flounder, jacks, and ladyfish with this method. Low tide or the falling tide is the preferred time..

For more fishing tips listen to the Outdoorshow radio program on 1010am or 92.5fm every Saturday from 7am to 10am. He can be reached at 904.241.7560 or 904.626.1128 or go to www. enterprisefishingcharters.com