The weather the last week has made for some rough seas offshore but nice days inshore if you don’t mind a breeze. It’s looking better over the weekend, Saturday is predicted to have some residual swell but not much wind. The longer period swell should be fishable in bigger boats offshore. Unless the winds change up on us Sunday is looking pretty nice for anything you could want to do from the creeks to the ledge.
Inshore the fishing has been steady this week with a good mix of action. Local anglers really have a great variety of fish to catch this time of year with Sheepshead and Black Drum near the inlets to Trout in the ICW and Redfish in the creeks and everywhere else. This weekends sunrise low tides in the inlet give you a great window for a couple different options.
If you want to sight fish that’s a great tide for targeting skinny water redfish early, especially in areas farther from the inlets where you’ll be able to catch the last of the outgoing at dawn and then have the low incoming through the morning as the sun gets up. The creeks farther from the inlets in areas like Palm Valley or Browns are good places to start, anywhere with the tide lagging a couple hours behind the inlet. The sunrise low is also a great tide to start in the inlets on the rocks fishing for Sheepshead, Drum, Redfish, and Spanish as the cleaner water moves into the river through the incoming tide.
The Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish are still around on the beach and the Pompano are starting to trickle in as well. It won’t be long before we start seeing some Cobia and King Mackerel filtering into the nearshore reefs and party ground wrecks as the water temperatures begin to warm up.
Offshore the Wahoo fishing has been great this year and we’ve still got a little time left in the Shootout. A rough ocean has kept the fleet inside for much of the last week despite ideal pre full moon conditions. If there’s any signs of hope in the offshore forecast I would expect to see a flurry of last minute attempts to fish over the next few days.
It’s almost time to swap the high speed gear with outriggers and Ballyhoo as we start seeing more Mahi passing through on their Northern migration. The next couple months are the prime time for trolling off the First Coast with Mahi, Blackfin Tuna, Kingfish, Wahoo, Sailfish, and even the occasional Marlin in the mix.
As always wishing y’all tight lines, fair winds, and following seas going into the weekend! If you’re looking to book a charter, submit a photo, or have a report to share reach out to me directly at chris@fishjax.org or visit www.fishjaxcharters.com.
With Fletcher on spring break last week local student Miles Mailloux got some time on the bow and caught this nice Redfish that was feeding over a submerged oyster bar.
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