Cold water moves on, offshore fishing heats up

The cold water invasion has moved on and offshore fishing has improved.

Anglers fishing the 21 bottom area out of St. Augustine are scoring gag grouper, a few grays, along with scamp grouper. Also mixed in are triggerfish and mangrove snapper up to 10 pounds. Fishing the ledge has also been good with catches of yellowtail snapper, cobia, amberjack, and African pompano.

Closer to shore, the reefs at 9 Mile and 4 Miles out of St. Augustine are giving up vermillion snapper and large flounder.

The annual mullet run has made for some excellent king mackerel fishing along Flagler's beaches and local wrecks and reefs. One local angler reported that it didn’t matter whether you used live bait or artificial, big spoons on a downrigger or planer, ballyhoo with a Sea Witch skirt skipped across the top of the water pinned to an outrigger, or pulling a live porgy on a flat line, they all caught kings. Most boats where bringing back 10 to 12 fish on ice.

Tarpon fishing along the beaches has also improved. They are mixed in with the kings and big sharks feeding on the large schools of bait moving along the shoreline.

Surf anglers as well as pier anglers are benefiting from the annual mullet run as well. Flounder, trout and red fish are being caught using live finger mullet as bait while fishing the beaches and pier.

There has also been a few reports of kingfish being hooked by anglers fishing out at the end of the pier.

Over on the Intracoastal, the early morning bite continues to be the best. Flounder bite has increased, but most of the fish are still small. The next few weeks we should see an increase in size as the bigger fish move in. Redfish are cruising the shoreline along with the mullet schools.

The trout bite was on fire over the weekend, from first light until around 9 a.m. Using a small float rig, baited with a live 2- to 3-inch finger mullet fished in front of a bait pod, my charters over the weekend were able to catch their limit of legal-sized trout.

Capt. Mike Vickers is a full-time charter captain offering offshore or inshore fishing, and boat rentals and can be contacted at 386-569-9674; captainmikesfishing@yahoo.com; or captainmikescharters.net.