As you may know, extremely hot temperatures have plagued fishermen the past few days, making fishing difficult — and fishing in those conditions extremely difficult. Fortunately, the weather has now settled back down into a more comfortable setting, at least compared to earlier in the week, and now anglers can get back to what they like doing: catching fish. Water temperatures are reading in the lower 80s along the beach and in the mid 80s for the inshore waters, but despite the fact, the fishing continues being fairly strong.
Inshore, the baitfish continue to improve in numbers, including lots of finger mullet, meaning the inshore fishing should also improve. Flounder fishing has remained pretty good the past few weeks and with the presence of finger mullet around the creeks and shoreline, it should only get better with more and better quality fish being caught. While soft artificial baits will attract attention from a flatfish, a live Carolina rigged finger mullet is hard to beat. Deeper creek mouths and inlets along the mud banks are good locations to fish. The red drum are also showing up in good numbers and will readily bite the same offerings. A lot of over slot red drum have been reported coming from the areas of the jetties.
Along the beaches, the Spanish mackerel fishing is hit or miss, which is typical for this time of year. Early- and late-day fishing is almost a requirement if you want to have a productive day. Trolling Clark Spoons on No. 1 planers will allow you to cover a lot of water and find the fish. While there are plenty of good-sized fish being caught, there is also a large amount of undersized fish, so measure carefully if putting a fish in the cooler and make sure they meet the 12-inch minimum length.
Just off the beach, in the 7-10 mile range, anglers are reporting a decent bite from king mackerel in the 6-10 pound range. When fishing this area, it is imperative that you find the bait; otherwise you’re basically fishing blind and just hoping that a fish swims by. Slow trolling dead cigar minnows both on the top and in the 20-foot depth range will allow you to cover the water column and find where the fish are holding. As with the Spanish, there are some smaller fish around, so be certain those fish make the 24-inch minimum length requirement and don’t confuse a small king for a large Spanish. The easiest and best way to identify the difference, in my opinion, is with the black dorsal fin that Spanish mackerel have and king mackerel don’t. A few dolphin have also been reported in the same areas and as the water continues to heat up, there should be a few more encounters, although the better fishing for them will be another 10 miles or more offshore.
Speaking of offshore and dolphin, there has been a good bite of fish in the 25-30 mile area. Again, finding pods of bait is key. Bottom fishing in water depths more than 100 feet has been good for black sea bass, triggerfish and grouper. With water temperatures being as warm as they are, finding even the slightest temperatures difference would be a good location to deploy baits and see what may be around.
