PONCE INLET & BACKWATERS FORECAST

July is a hot month all around for fishing and the weather! On the inshore bite, getting out early is going to be the key; as the day goes on the bite will certainly slack off. Morning bites in the backcountry are some of the most aggressive and awesome ways of catching a fish. I like using MirrOlure Top Dog surface walkers; they swim incredibly with a lot of movement and if you pass one by a snook or a redfish at first light it’s almost a certain hook up. Once the first light has passed, I will switch over to live or cut bait or use a paddle tail. On charters, a lot of times I will use a soft plastic to identify where fish are laying or staging up to feed and then I switch to bait to get more hookups for novice clients. However, using soft plastics in the mid-to-late morning as your main lure will produce a lot of fish. We recently started carrying the NLBN (No Live Bait Needed) brand of soft plastics at our shop, Yellow Dawg Bait in Tackle in Ormond, and they have been a great edition and work great. They have a twist lock jig head system that keeps your paddle tail in place after a strike or hookup. I highly recommend you try them out!

I also love targeting mangrove snapper in the river each July as it is an easy fish to catch. Almost any dock, bridge, or really any type of structure will hold them. While “keeper” fish will be all up and down the ICW, I do tend to catch my largest fish closer to the inlets. Medium to small size shrimp tend to work best. I have caught fish as big as 18” in the river, and I even will get a couple of cubera snapper each summer targeting mangroves. They are amazing table fare!

Offshore we will target kingfish close to the beach in the morning, and then follow shrimp boats for tarpon as the morning goes on. Close reefs will hold a bunch of nice flounder in July. If you can get mud minnows or small pinfish, that will be the best bait; if not, live shrimp will also get the job done. Lastly offshore we will continue to troll for mahi on days we can get out to the Gulf Stream and focus on weedlines, rips, floating debris and temperature breaks. On days we can’t get all the way out, we will be bottom fishing for mangroves, triggerfish and amberjack. We will also be partaking in this year’s two-day red snapper season; if you are fishing it, please get prepared early as bait will become hard to find.

July is a great month to fish, so get out there! As always, if you see us on the water, say, “Hello!”