Jacksonville Inshore Fishing Forecast

Fishing Forecast:

Tie on your favorite topwater plug and get to casting, gator trout will be lurking around the bait pods along the ICW. First light, outgoing tides and schools of mullet is the formula for a successful morning outing for trout. Working topwater and sinking plugs parallel to dropoffs and around creek mouths will guarantee success! Don’t over look deeper creek holes as “Gator Trout” can be taking residence.

Redfish will also be patrolling the shell banks of the ICW working the bait pods during low tides. Deeper flats that are holding mullet will have redfish shadowing mullet pods looking to eat the shrimp and crabs the mullet kick up. A FishBites Extreme watermelon color jerkbait on a Slayer 4/0 Penetrator 3/16oz. hook is a great search bait for flats fishing. Oyster bed hopping and casting to spartina grass edges will also produce strikes as long as the mullet are around.

Flounder should be chewing steady on all stages of the tides in the flats but outgoing being my favorite. Live finger mullet with a few small split shots or using a FishBite Paddle tail slowly bounced across the bottom will produce flatties. Jig fisherman will target deeper dropoffs with mudminnows or finger mullet. Doormats around the inlets will fall for 5-7 inch mullet on a fish finder rig.

Big Blue fish should continue to chew around Matanzas Inlet, they will bite just about any lure that resembles a mullet, first light is best for numbers. Jacks will start to show up as well and being caught at first light with surface poppers or live bait in deeper water later in the day. Ladyfish will be stacking up outgoing tides busting baitfish in the bigger creeks that will keep the kids occupied. Light jigs and paddle tails or live shrimp will get slammed by lady fish on every cast once you find them.


Well it seems as my favorite way to fish (sight fishing) is now a thing of the past its time to adapt with the change that Spring will bring as its only 2 days away. On recent trips I have noticed less schools of Redfish and more schools of mullet invading our inshore waters as the temps continue to climb.

At least one of my last charters while sight fishing will be a memorable one that will be hard to top. Tommy and I had charters this day and we worked together to corner a very large school of Redfish that were all in the upper slot category.
After it was all said and the done and the dust cleared we landed over 77 upper slot redfish in just over an hour. Between both boats we had 2 fly fisherman and 3 spin fisherman all hooked up at once several times.

Full moon causing slow fish off Jacksonville, St Augustine, Mayport and Northeast Florida

The skies have been clear and the moon has been full. The offshore fishing reports from the last few days haven't been too great. The pelagic fish are most likely feeding all night long. A wahoo here, a blackfin tuna there but nothing too consistent.

I would suggest putting a cedar plug on some light mono (100# or less) way back in your spread. Troll 6-8 knots and you'll probably get a hungry tuna or two. There are dolphin out there. Find the weedlines and sargasm out past 200' of water to get a good shot. The tuna patch a little south of Jacksonville should produce as well.

As the moon gets smaller the fishing will get better...

Jacksonville and St. Augustine Offshore Fishing Report March 9, 2009

We had quite a few trolling reports come in from the past weekend. It seemed to be hit or miss. A few boats came home with some nice Wahoo including the Inside Chance boat bringing home 9 wahoo and a couple dolphin. The Smooth C's boat, a 36' Yellowfin, found quite a few nice Mahi including a 36# bull dolphin. It's a bit early to be seeing nice dolphin so hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

There are still plenty of snapper to be caught. The best bites have been coming from the 21 fathom area. 120-125' feet of water with live bait will get you your best chance at some nice red snapper.

Northeast Florida Fishing Report - March 1, 2009

Fishing continues to be good if you know where they are! The snapper bite continues to be good but you need to go a little ways offshore to find them. There are fish in close but the water is too cold and the fish are lethargic and not responding well to bait. Head out until you get at least to the mid 60's and you will get a better red snapper bite. Fishing has been good from 90ft out to 21 bottom. Elton bottom and surrounding areas has been holding good amounts of red snapper as well as very large beeliners or vermillion snapper.

Trolling has been hit or miss. If you can find some warm water you should find some fish. The Double Standard boat, a 29ft Sea Vee, had 4 nice sized Wahoo on Friday as well as a couple dolphin. They saw 72 degree water and the bite was active most of the day. However jsut a week earlier trollers had 65 degree water at the ledge and there wasn't much of anything happening.

Support our Snapper Fishery!

Please be advised the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is meeting this week at:
Jekyll Island Club Hotel
371 Riverview Drive
Jekyll Island, GA 31527
Telephone: 1-800-535-9547 or 912-635-2600

Informal Question and Answer Session - Monday, March 2, 2009 at 5:30 PM - join Council member Dr. Roy Crabtree, Regional Administrator with NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) and Council chair Duane Harris to discuss issues relative to fisheries management within the Council's area of jurisdiction.

Interim Rule/Closure for Red Snapper Fishery - If the Council considers an Interim Rule request for addressing overfishing for red snapper, a public comment period will be held Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 1:45 PM.

The Council will vote at this meeting to determine if an interim rule for the closure is required. If the vote passes red snapper could be closed within 45 days of the ruling based on final approval from NMFS and the Sec. of Commerce.

***Please make an effort to attend tonight or Thursday's meeting to help prevent the red snapper closure from being passed***