OUTDOORS

Jacksonville Fishing Report: A taste of sheepshead and trout

Christopher Hong
chong@jacksonville.com
Capt. Kirk Waltz said some big black drum were mixed in with the bull reds in the shipping channel of the St. Johns River this week. His bait of choice was blue crab. [Kirk Waltz/Enterprise Fishing Charters]

Jacksonville’s fishery flashed early signs of things to come this week, with sheepshead and yellowmouth trout showing up in Mayport and the speckled perch bite heating up in the sweetwaters to our south.

Fishing for these species should get better as the water cools down, which should gradually happen over the next week if the current weather forecast holds.

In the meantime, the fishing hasn’t drastically changed from the last several weeks. People are still catching flounder and wearing the bull reds out.

Speaking of flounder, the 10th annual Flounder Pounder tournament is going down this Saturday. If you haven’t registered for this popular event, which raises money for the Jacksonville School for Autism, you need to do it soon.

Registration ends on Thursday, and there’s also a mandatory captain’s meeting on Thursday evening. Visit www.flounderpounderjax.com for more information.

The weather kept nearly everyone inshore this week. This weekend's forecast looks like a mixed bag.

Saturday could see scattered thunderstorms and southeast winds between 10 to 15 knots. Sunday looks much better: partly cloudy, highs in the 80s and a manageable 5- to 10-knot wind out of the south. I wouldn't plan to go offshore on either day.

Inshore

The biggest development out of Mayport seems to the sheepshead bite in the main river. I’ve seen several photos full of black stripes and teeth recently. That makes me happy.

Capt. Jeremy Alvarez confirms that the sheepshead, as well as black drum, are starting to show up on his boat. He said he’s caught a few flounder this week, and the bull reds are scattered from the inlet to the Dames Point Bridge.

Capt. Kris Kell said the bull red bite slowed down a bit over the weekend, although he still found good numbers of them on deep channel drop offs in their usual haunts. With our lingering summer showing signs of easing off, he said it may be time to focus your attention away from the big reds.

“This is a nice front blowing through right now. It should fire up even more for the trout, flounder and sheepshead,” he said in a text message. “As the bull red bite roller coasters, those may be the species to begin to target a little more as the water temperatures cool more and more.”

Capt. Kirk Waltz said the bull reds wanted blue crab this week. He also said the trout bite is picking up.

Capt. Alton Robey said there are some nice trout if you catch the right tide. Typically, these fish prefer high and clear water.

Further inshore, Capt. Chip Wingo had a nice trip on Wednesday morning fishing the ditch between Beach Boulevard and the Wonderwood bridges. The highlight of the trip was three snook, although they also caught 6 slot reds, about 20 smaller ones, and some trout. A weightless live shrimp under a popping cork did the trick.

Wingo said the flounder bite was good all week, although the fish were concentrated in the honeyholes. He’s using spinnerbaits and jigheads paired with a white curly tail fish bite plastic grub on the flat fish. He said the black drum bite is also great. You can find fish on the rolldowns in the ditch around 10 feet of water, with the higher incoming tides producing the most fish this week.

Capt. Jeff Wansor said a swarm of oversized reds have invaded the ditch, and he’s catching a bunch in 20 to 35 feet of water anywhere he can find shell bottom. He said mud minnows on a one or two ounce egg sinker worked well.

He said the yellowmouth trout have shown up in the ditch, too. He’s fishing mud minnows and looking for diving birds going after the same schools of ribbon fish and shrimp the trout are.

Freshwater

Joey Tyson of the Bald Eage Bait and Tackle shop in Keystone Heights is selling a lot of minnows right now. And if he knows one thing for sure, the crappie are biting when that happens.

“That’s a fact,” he said.

He said the best action is happening in Lake George, where the slight drop in temperatures has the fish fired up and close to the grass. He heard a recent report of nearly 50 fish coming out of the lake. Lake Santa Fe is producing well, and Lochloosa is so-so, he said.

In the bass fishing world, Tyson said there “ain’t a bunch going on right now.” However, water is passing through the Rodman Dam for the periodic drawdown. This concentrates the fish in a smaller area and can lead to some great fishing, although you must release any largemouth bass you catch during this time.

Down in Highland Park, Capt. Bryn Adams said the crappie bite is showing signs of life, too. She said last week produced some good fishing, although the last few days have been slow.

“But it was a good start to the season. We’re waiting on cooler weather to jump-start them,” she said. “We’re expecting a good season.”

Up in Green Cove Springs, Rick Hamilton of R&J Tackle started laughing when I asked what’s going on in the St. Johns River south of downtown.

“Shrimp,” he said. “Those damn things are never going to leave the river. I got some reports of smaller ones, but I think it’s a matter of where you are.”

He said the croaker bite has picked up considerably, and the mullet are going nuts. If you catch any, let me know. I’m jonesing for some smoked mullet dip and a cold beer just thinking about it.