Fishing Report & Forecast Mayport

By Capt. Kirk Waltz

Great fishing can be found this month in both shallow or deep water from the big rocks at Mayport to the back country creeks of the First Coast. Reds , trout, black drum, ringtails, and sheepshead will be the primary players this month. Try to fish the warmer weather windows for the best success which pop up numerous times during the month. I like a high outgoing tide where clean water from the ocean has pushed in. I use either a 1/4oz jig tipped with a live shrimp, mud minnow, or a fiddler crab, when you can get them, on a light tackle Shimano 3000 with 30lb PowerPro braid and a 7’ 6” GLF spinning rod. Work the oyster bars, creek runouts, and small rock piles in the river and creeks slowly casting up current letting the water flow do most of the work. Remember the water is cold and the fish are not usually super aggressive. Another favorite method I deploy is to fish a float rig with a live shrimp. This allows the angler to cover a lot of ground when you have subtle moving current. Locate one fish and there should be a few more holding up in the same location. The big rocks can be extremely productive this time of the year holding good numbers of sheeps, trout, reds, ringtails, and black drum. The jig method , float rigs, and even a carolina/egg sinker style rig fished almost verticle can produce some positive results. The big black drum should start to show this month and occasionally you will see some fairly large fish upwards of 20plus lbs . A quarter piece of cut blue crab seems to be most effective but a nice chunk of fresh shrimp will garner some strikes too.

The offshore scene should continue to be really good with great numbers of black sea bass, porgies , triggers, snapper, and some cobia. The preferred method is cuttle fish dropped to the bottom on a single hook rig but, some will use a double chicken rig with positive results. A preferred method is to catch a few grunts and butterfly them into small chunks . This in many instances will fire up the bigger fish. The preferred depths seem to be 70-100ft.

Lastly, remember you can’t catch them from the couch!

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

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