EDGEWATER BACKCOUNTRY FORECAST

The hottest time of year has arrived the “Dog Days of Summer”, July and August. This has a big influence on fishing in Edgewater Backcountry and Mosquito Lagoon. Most people will fish early morning, late afternoon, or at night. Start your morning fishing trips as early as possible to take advantage of the sunrise feeding pattern. Cloudy water is the usual for the summer months, use baits a fish can find. Smell, sound, and vibrations in the water are key. Smell can be achieved with bait such as shrimp, cut bait, or scented soft plastics like gulp. Sound made by top water lures with rattles or poppers, and baitfish like croakers and pigfish, vibrations from live finger mullet, mud minnows, and lures like spoons. One of the best live baits right now are the tiny “mini mullet” which are widespread in the backcountry, lagoon, and ICW during early summer. They hatched here locally in early spring, now just big enough to stay put in a cast net. They are usually hugging close to sandbars and shorelines. Fish them free lined and tail hooked in shallow water, or lip hooked with a small weight on the bottom of deeper holes and channels during summer heat. The small mullet are also great summer flats bait, freeline near shallow flats edges, oyster and shell bars. Another option to fight the heat is to fish shade, some fish do take advantage of manmade structures during middle day sunshine. Under bridges, docks, and boats, plenty to pick from, there are uncountable docks and moored boats in coastal Volusia County.

Main rule on these is to pick older structures and moorings, old dock pilings are covered with barnacles and plant growth in turn attracting bait fish, seldom used docks also a plus to hold better game fish. Docks with larger boats in residence usually have a deep hole to accommodate the boat. Fish sinking lures, shrimp, and live bait I recommend to fish close to and under the docks. You will have to deal with snags around the structures, but comes with the territory. Long time moored or docked boats are great FAD’s (Fish

Attracting Device), structured oriented fish will be caught in close and under, including Mangrove Snapper, Redfish, Snook, and Trout. Open water game fish like Jacks and Ladyfish can be close by attracted by the shady spot and baitfish. Many docks also have a bonus of nearby old standing pilings, oyster bars, grass beds, and channel drop offs. One of the best choices for summer night fishing are dock lights and bridges. Schools of bait fish and sometime shrimp are attracted to the light and structure which in turn bring in the trout, snook, redfish, jacks, ladyfish, and snapper to name a few. Match the hatch of which type of bait you are seeing, use a small size lure, swim bait, jig, twitch bait, or soft plastic shrimp for most species. For the most strikes, a free lined live shrimp can be the go to bait. Anchor just up tide and a cast out from the light, throw your bait up current from the circle of light on the water and allow it to “swim” naturally through the target area. Outgoing tide can be best, but a moving tide in either direction is a must for a good bite.

Summer is a great time of year! Everyone finds their way outdoors; grills get fired up and vacations are in full swing. With travel on my mind, I thought to myself, “What could be better than a quick trip across the state to see my friend, Captain Chris Williamson, for a little catch and cook action?” After a quick phone call, I hopped in my car and headed northwest towards Apalachicola Bay until I landed at Williamson Outfitters Lodge. With catch and cook being the theme of my trip, we decided to go after two species of fish in two very different ways.

The first fish we targeted was flounder. The method was gigging and the conditions were perfect. We hit the water on a night with a new moon and timed a falling tide perfectly. now I k now I am southern, but I had never jumped on a boat at night with a gig in my hand to catch dinner! The method was explained to me, and it was time to get to work. I hopped up on the platform and started my hunt. I spotted my first flounder on the flats and waited for the perfect moment to strike. Surprisingly enough, I got it on my first try! We filled up the ice box into the wee hours of the morning while singing our own renditions of our favorite karaoke songs. When the tide turned, the fish moved out and we headed in to get a moment of sleep before going after our next species.

As Elf said when asked how he slept, I too could have responded, “great! I got a full 40 minutes!” That is exactly how I felt, because no sooner than my head hit the pillow from gigging, my alarm was loudly telling me to “get up and go catch some tripletail!” Captain Chris has tripletail in Apalachicola Bay down to a science. He zipped around the bay checking