Recent inshore fishing reports from the Northeast region.
Epic Week in the Valley
Florida Sportsman member: Slug-O
The past week in the valley has been nothing short of “EPIC” for me. With the water temp in solid 70 degree range and bait thick as fleas on a stray dog, the bite has been the best so far this year. With mullet as thick as you can imagine, the reds, trout and a few flounder have all the food they want.
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Lots of Bait, Lots of Fish
Florida Sportsman member: Slug-O
Three ways are really working well with mullet. Popping corks with 24 inches of 30 pound flouro with 3/0 khale hook works well at creek mouths or oyster beds with current. Freeline live mullet hooked through the back, casting to schools working the banks. The last is 1/8th ounce jig head with a live mullet that can be used about a 1000 ways.
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Northeast Trout and Reds
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
Focus on the river, not the creeks, but river shoulders. Find spots with current breaks, bottom contours, and sharp drop offs. Bottom type is definitely a factor. Gravel, shell and rocky bottoms are all good signs to look for. I don’t do well in areas with sand or mud bottom.
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Fun in the Creeks
Florida Sportsman member: Guanagator
Got out this morning and picked the right creek, Alexis had a fat 16 inch flounder within a minute of the mullet hitting the water. Was expecting reds but no complaints. My second cast, I hooked something solid on the catch 2000 and unfortunately it got me in the oysters and sliced the leader, downside of using a 1000.
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Northeast Sheepshead
Florida Sportsman member: sydngoose
We hit channel markers and pilings from the inlet up the intercostal. Number one circle hooks and very small leaders (6 inches of 15 pound flouro) was the ticket. We ended up with six nice sheeps but two absolute STUDS, at 10.25 pounds and 7.20 pounds.
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Oak Harbor Slam
Florida Sportsman member: Cast&Blast
Went and hit the Harbor in the cold wind with two buddies and 4 dozen shrimp. Most fish caught were under slot reds and trout but we found a 20 inch red and a 17 inch flounder to bring home for dinner.
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Cold Weather Convicts
Florida Sportsman member: fsu11
We managed nine keepers the majority were 2 to 4 pounds again. We didn’t go through half a pint both days. The key was moving water, we fished the exact same spot both days and when the tide was moving we caught fish and when it stopped, so did the bites.
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Cold Water, Hot Bite
Florida Sportsman member: Slug-O
This is my favorite time of year, the water temperature drops into the 50s-60s and the reds start to school up thick. Low tides and mud flats are a few degrees warmer than the rest of the ICW and I target them there. Moving slow on my push pole, no trolling motor, I can get close to a school and start picking them off.
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Northeast Redfish
Florida Sportsman member: Spongking
Wednesday we got out and went to jetty. Beautiful weather and fish biting. We got one giant red on light inshore setup. He swam away strong too which had me worried after a 15 minute fight.
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Northeast Drummin’
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
I spent a day hitting a number of productive Inlet holes in an attempt to reassess what’s around out there. I haven’t been spending much time in my usual playground. It didn’t take long to figure out that the bull reds and black drum were pretty thick.
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December to Remember
Florida Sportsman member: Slug-O
Aside from the windy afternoons you can’t ask for anything better. The bait situation is just amazing with all the shrimp, mullet and blue crab right now in the valley. Fishing creek mouths, oyster beds, mud flats, and drop offs this time of year will produce big payoffs.
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Palm Valley Report
Florida Sportsman member: Slug-O
Water temperature is still in the high 60′s and will stay there until something big comes along to change that. Trout, reds and flounder are still thick and are feeding on mullet and a second hatch of shrimp in the valley. Best bet is popping corks fishing with 3/0 kale hooks working the last outgoing tide and incoming tide.
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December Tarpon
Florida Sportsman member: Alec_904
However about 30 minutes later my rod tip starts bouncing, I pick it up and i’m on! This one did the same thing as the last, immediately screamed drag and jumped, it proceeded to jump four more times before we got him to the boat.
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Inshore Variety
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
Eventually, we reach a spot where I’m hooking up pretty consistently. Chips getting some action on the Fluke but not near the action I was getting. Eventually, he ties on an X-Rap he happened to have. His was orange and yellow. Before long, we’re either hooking up or getting hit on every cast.
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Valley Report
Florida Sportsman member: Slug-O
The wind will be great the next few days to fish the valley. Water temperature is still from 67 to 70 degrees, last year it was 57! Lots of shrimp, mullet and pogies are still here to be used as bait.
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Fishing the Creeks
Florida Sportsman member: sydngoose
We had one hour of nonstop action- rods bending, fish retrieving, rebaiting, casting, releasing fish, kept a few. Every bait was eaten, all three said presentations. I would subjectively say the live mullet was the most popular choice.
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Family Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: creekgeek
We finished the day in the same spot my dad landed his big fish and my 11 year old, Marina, connected with her best red ever. She wanted to give the rod up as the big fish made several long runs on light tackle and with the help of a strong outgoing tide.
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Northeast Reds and Trout
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
I’ve been on a healthy dose of both species as well as some of the largest sand trout I’ve ever seen. The same places I mentioned above are holding ridiculous numbers of trout. I was actually targeting trout when I realized that the Bull Red presence was so thick in the shallows.
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Northeast Reds
Florida Sportsman member: Spongking
A few nice fish came unglued but all in all a win. Good weather and beat crowd back to ramp by about 20 minutes. Just enough time to clean up boat and get in line to get out of there.
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Fall Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
The slot reds are chewing VERY well right now at both the little and big jetties. The bull reds have emptied out of the river and are officially done spawning. The good news is they are a year round species for us and the inlet is where you’ll be finding them from this point on through early June.
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Fishing with the Wife
Florida Sportsman member: butchbal
After Barb saw what I caught yesterday, she wanted to go out and get a few reds herself.
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Heroes on the Water
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_Madness
One veteran in particular overcame a hurdle with PTSD(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and managed to come out despite some anxiety. Coincidentally, he caught the most bulls and had a great time. Once we broke the ice with that first fish, his demeanor was like that of a kid in a candy store!
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Artificial Bulls
Florida Sportsman member: LightTackleKing
We got roughly 30 reds in about three hours today all on artificial and 10 pound braid and 2500 series reels. Super fun and action packed, Most of the fish came on the new Wahoo inline spinnerbait as well as the Wahoo bucktail and a SureSet Jig with a plastic.
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Scout Camping Trip
Florida Sportsman member: Big Bend Brian
Twenty three of these scouts had never scalloped before so this was going to be really cool to introduce to them a truly unique Florida activity. Nine of the 12 dads had not scalloped before either.
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Flood Tide with the Fly
Florida Sportsman member: Boattronics
Leon was trying to be nice and let me get ahead, missing another two fish! But Leon, patiently behind my fumbles, spotted a fish coming right at him. He made a perfect cast, and I watched this fish slurp the bait right in front of me loud like I’ve never heard before…fish on!
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Hot Weather, Hot Bite
Florida Sportsman member: Slug-O
Water temp is around 88 degrees so keep your bait well pump going or you will have dead bait fast. One of my favorite things to look for on the banks of the ICW is popping shrimp. This is a dead give away there are fish in the area. Work the area well and you will be rewarded.
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Birthday Bulls
Florida Sportsman member: Colonel Angus
It was my birthday yesterday, and we were on a mission for the big bull reds. Got out to little jetties little after 9am. This was our first time targeting these fish, anchored up at the first spot for about 20 minutes with no bite. We watched another boat near us pulled in two big ones, so we decided to move to try another spot. Found a better hump, dropped 3 lines and within a minute I had the first fish on.
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Bull Reds 101
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
Mullet don’t start showing up thick in the river channels until early Fall so it makes sense that mullet are off the menu. The blue crab are often either in shallow water or on the surface making their way to the ocean. Based on that, it also makes sense that the Blue Crab aren’t getting a lot of love either.
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Fishing with the Kids
Florida Sportsman member: rookiemistake
We got 5 rats, one big boy, couple stingrays and cats. They had a great time and pretty good sports when the rain came down on the way in. We were giving it a few minutes before heading in cause the rain was coming and of coarse that’s when the line took off.
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Summertime Fishing in the Northeast
Florida Sportsman member: Slug-O
From fishing knocker rigs in the mouth and bends in creeks to pop n corks over oyster beds trout, reds and flounder can be caught. In the past two weeks we also have had a lot of southeast wind that has dropped the water temp from the normal 90 degrees this time of year to about 83-85.
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Palm Valley Redfish
Florida Sportsman member: Slug-O
In the past week the valley water has dropped almost 10 degrees and that has moved the fish around. Where they were a week ago is empty and fishing there is a waste of time. Bait, last week all I talked about was crab. Well things have changed fast to mullet to shrimp again.
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Northeast Trout Bite
Florida Sportsman member: PTFBrian
Been a ton of fun on the water with decent reds a few dink trout and just a ton of gator trout the past week. Every day out we’ve only got 1-3 fish but at least every trip has resulted in a 22 inch plus trout. I also got my personal best trout so far which went 28 inches and almost 8 pounds.
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Jacksonville Variety
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
Before long, we had our lines in the water. The action was immediate. Right off the bat, we had a nice slot red in the boat. A few minutes later, the jacks started chewing. After the kids caught a few of those, the tarpon started showing up.
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Fishing with the Wife
Florida Sportsman member: slobouf
I netted about 25 finger mullet around Pine Island and decided to post up on the south bank. Lots of life today, bait schools, cruising redfish, crabs, rays, etc… Dead low was around 2pm, got first decent bite at 4pm. Nice sized trout ate a live shrimp on the bottom.
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Jumbo Reds for All
Florida Sportsman member: PTFBrian
We up early Saturday am and headed out to see what we could find and get my dad and 10 yr old son of some bull reds or sharks. Leon did not disappoint within 15 minutes my son was fighting the biggest fish of his life and about 30 after that my dad hooks up with the biggest red I’ve ever seen in person.
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From Generation to Generation
Florida Sportsman member: jonesz28
My father, uncle and grandfather got to come in town from West Virginia and were looking to get on some fish. I did my best looking for some bulls with my boat it was a little rough for the jetties. So we headed into some onshore spots and did pretty well on the fish.
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Personal Best for Both
Florida Sportsman member: Cast&Blast
Make that two new personal best! 45 inches for mine and my buddy Marks just edging mine out at 46 inches. Caught on live mullet in 39 feet of water. Both took some pretty epic runs, so great hearing the drag scream like that!
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A Red Surprise
Florida Sportsman member: Spongking
Out a ways in 40 feet of water the ocean was boiling from 1/4 mile away. Birds were crashing all over it. So we fired over to find it was a monster school of bull reds erupting on bait. We had our big cobia jigs and boom. Not even a chance to close bail and it was fish on.
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Inshore Sharkin’
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
Getting to see one up close was an obsession. One would think that after catching a number of them I would lose interest and even find them to be a nuisance after a while but no way, I love sharks. It’s not about the fight, but more about the pictures and hands on experience after the tussle.
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Backyard Drum
Florida Sportsman member: Let’s Go Amigo
It was really slow for the first hour and then the dinner bell rang. We caught 7 Black Drum. I’m talking up to 18 pounds. All on light tackle, with 7 to 10 year old kids. Not to mention, it was pouring on us. I don’t know about the kids, but I had a blast!
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Northeast Sight Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: Boattronics
He’s throwing a wake, and he’s darting in and out of the mullet, sometimes with his whole back out the water. My good bud Rod is on the bow and I point to his position, Rod leads it with a perfect cast, and wham! fish on!
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Northeast Giant Drum
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
One of the last ones we caught wound up being the largest I’ve seen to date. I don’t know what this joker weighed, but we had serious problems getting this monster off the deck. I had three of the guys hold onto it for a picture and we got big boy back in the water.
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Northeast Jetty Report
Florida Sportsman member: zay
We found the slot reds schooled up pretty thick and ended up getting our limit and released about 7 more till we decided it was time to move to find the sheeps. As we were leaving,we yelled over to the boat next to us that they could get in the “spot” since we didn’t really see them hooking up.
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Filling the Cooler
Florida Sportsman member: Sea Snake
The fishing didn’t disappoint either, me and my buddy worked em over good, catching over 30 nice fish. Most fish under 2 pounds got tossed back, and it took only 22 big fish to fill up this big cooler! Lots of 7 to 8 pounders with one big fish right at 10 or so.
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Flounder for All
Florida Sportsman member: Brickman
We were using fish finder rigs and jig heads with shrimp and mud minnows. My son found a nice flattie next to a dock with his bright pink jig head tipped with a piece of dead shrimp. At that point we put on a few more 1/4 ounce jig heads with the live and dead bait we had hitting docks and working our way south trying creek mouths and oyster beds and they all produced.
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Big Fish in the Northeast
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
The warmer water from the creeks was flushing through the area and seemed like a promising stop. Once the lines were in the water, it didn’t take long at all before hooks were getting cleaned. My crew was having some difficulty getting used to the hook set timing but before long, with a bit of coaching, they started hooking up. One of which, took off like a missile!
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Catching the Bulls
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
The reds and the drum have been chewing but the usual blue crabs have not been producing for us. Believe it or not, we can only seem to get these fish to eat shrimp. We are getting the occasional taker on the crab but the consistent bite has been primarily on shrimp.
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Mixed Bag at the Jetty
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
After the first 40 minutes we were starting to get nervous with an impending skunk looming on the horizon. Next thing I know, my lightest rig gets slammed big time and we get a line tight for the first time all day. A bit of time passes and an over slot Red comes aboard. A few minutes pass and Zay reels one in too.
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Northeast Sight Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: Boattronics
Watching the fish is teaching me a lot about presentation, etc. If you cast a bait in front of them, it will typically spook them. I’ve found that I need to lead the fish by at least 10 to 15 feet. The fish are being extremely lethargic in this cold water we have, and I’ve found the best way to get a fish to eat that was spooked earlier is to just let the bait sit there, even just a twitch and they spook again!
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High Tide in the Marsh
Florida Sportsman member: Spongking
Forum member Spongking made his way deep into the marshes of the northeast and got onto some nice fish!
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Solo Slam
Florida Sportsman member: Bobs Your Uncle
I totaled out at 5 reds, 1 flounder, and 2 Trout. The big fish of the day was a 27 inch red. The flounder was 16 inches and the trout were both 17 inches. I started at 9 o’clock but had to call it a day at 2 o’clock due to the wind.
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Light Tackle Bull and More
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
This fish was Jakes biggest red of his life. It took nearly every bit of line off the spool, what a monster. Not sure on the exact measurement but it looked around 44 inches to me. Jakes buddy managed to get a very nice sheepshead at 8 pounds as well.
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Sliming up the New Boat
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
The reds were on a rampage! We were hooked up for a good hour straight with one Red after the other. Most fish were right at 26 to 27 inches. There were also a few smaller fish around 22 to 23 inches. We got one over slot around 29 inches as well as a few rats.
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Hittin’ the Creeks
Florida Sportsman member: zay
I hit the creeks this past weekend to see how the trout bite was and it was on fire! We found most of the bigger trout early in the morning. I tried to fish deeper water in the icw mid day but only came up with dinks.
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Sheepshead and Drum at the Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
All the fish that we caught were in no deeper than around 10 feet. The deeper structure had nothing whatsoever for us today. I believe the water clarity may have thrown off the bite a bit. The water temp is holding strong at 63 degrees which should be perfect.
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Winter Time Gator
Florida Sportsman member: zay
We also got into a huge school of rat reds that were chewin which was a ton of fun.The highlight of the day was a monster trout that smashed a mirrodine.It measured at 28 inches but the girth on this thing was insane.
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Convicts at the Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
Today we were using medium action spinning tackle. We were dropping carolina rigs consisting of 1 to 1.5 ounce egg weights, 2/0 Owner Mosquito Hooks and 25 pound leader material, fluorocarbon or mono, it doesn’t matter. Bait was the ole trusty fiddler crab.
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Light Tackle, Big Reds
Florida Sportsman member: Bill Duane
My brother, and I caught 5 of these studs on crank baits while fishing for trout in 9 feet of water. quite a handful on light spinning gear.
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Bull Reds on a Beautiful Day
Florida Sportsman member: Angler170.
We were greeted with a beautiful sunrise just before the current began to slow and the fish began to fire off! We started the morning off with a 42 and a 38 inch fish. we then had one break 60 pound leader and another pull the hook. Once the tide began to fall, I moved up river in deeper water where we boated two at 41 inches.
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Shrimp Boat Tarpon
Florida Sportsman member: Cojer
Me and my brother fished the shrimp boat lines, as there was no action on the beach. Only one boat had fish but they were staying in 60 feet of water where the shrimpers had trollied throughout during the day. One fish landed and about 10 jumpers using artificial lures.
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Back on the Water
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
Found a lot of trout going off but couldn’t seem to get them to bite consistently. They were blowing up on the surface in the morning. We got a couple decent fish. We lost a massive one boat side that was pushing 25 plus inches.
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The Maiden Voyage
Florida Sportsman member: Boattronics
Forum member Boattronics got himself a new boat, “Trinity”. He wasted no time sliming it up, with some breeder size redfish! Nice work.
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Giant Drum in the Northeast
Florida Sportsman member: Richardbloom
He finally set the hook then I saw headshakes. He gained about 10 feet of line and the fish never ran so i instantly assumed it was a little guy. All a sudden the fish started screaming but it was going up current not down. After a fairly short fight the beast showed itself and had me panicking. Biggest redfish I’ve ever seen and it was barely hooked. The second she came next to my boat I grabbed her by the gill plate and almost got pulled in trying to lift her.
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Running of the Bulls
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
A couple minutes pass and the first big Red sends a rod into a full arch right in the rod holder. Lines screaming and the second in line goes for it.These guys were pretty inexperienced but they learned quickly after breaking a few big fish off. I gave them a bit of coaching and soon they were landing big fish one after the other!
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St. Augustine Redfish
Florida Sportsman member: billy boy
Took the grandsons to tolomato river for some shore fishing today, It was one of those spectacular days that does not happen very often. We caught 20 redfish, all slot or over in 2 hours on live finger mullet.
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Low Tide Reds
Florida Sportsman member: Maverick
Forum member Maverick put together a sweet video of some shallow water redfish action for all to enjoy. Catching fish on about everything thrown at them and being home before 10am. That sounds like a killer morning!
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Topwater Time in the Northeast
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
The minute that lure hits the water, it was as if the fish was playing catch! It hammers that Skitterwalk so hard it’s entire body is in the air! Never seen anything like this. After an intense battle, he gets the monster boat side and i drop the net under it. This Gator weighed 7.8 pounds and was fat! Feeling pretty good about that bit of redemption, we decide to head in.
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Bulls at the Jetty
Florida Sportsman member: Coydog
But, when we first got there had some quick hits. First was a good sized Black Drum, Samsiam74 estimated at 50 plus pounds. Didn’t get it into the boat, broke the hook off. After redoing the tackle, threw on a new chunk of grab, waited about 15 minutes or so and this guy started to peel off line.
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The Quest Achieved
Florida Sportsman member: Sea Snake
I think I was there maybe 15 minutes, when I felt a subtle tap tap, and by instinct I just easily raised the rod tip up to see if maybe it was just rocks and current or a fishy and as I did this it kinda pulled back so I gave it a little hook set and the fight was on. I could tell she was a good sheep, by the bucking, and couple that with her trying to use the current, well I just took her easy.
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Sheepshead Smackdown
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
We were using medium action spinning rods, 15 pound Spider Ultracast and 25 pound mono leader. I prefer using Carolina Rigs when fishing rocks with decent current. I’ll use the lightest egg weight that I can get away with. Hooks used were Owner short shank sheepshead hooks in 2/0.
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Catching in the Cold
Florida Sportsman member: Jizzo
When the tide slacked we fished a few bridge pilings with no luck. The Little Jetties must have been our 10th spot. As soon as the tide started coming back in we started getting bites. I love low tide fishing. It just seems more natural to me.
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High Tide Reds
Florida Sportsman member: Spongking
After few more shots it was my turn. We switched places at the helm and I moved us into a small cove and while I was explaining the bottom contour I tossed an 1/8th ounce jig head and a live shrimp. 1 flick and it was off. A nice fish.
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Fired Up Reds in the Northeast
Florida Sportsman member: Maverick
Got to take advantage of the good weather today and chased some reds. Caught them on just about everything we threw at them. Paddle tails, jerk baits, flies, anything, They were hungry! Probably caught 10 or more fish today. All sight fished outta skinny water.
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Pre-Spawn Gator Trout
Florida Sportsman member: T-shirt Bob
Got about 15 keepers between 2 to 4 pounds before I hooked this big gal which had some wide shoulders but didn’t appear to have roe yet. She tipped a tad over 7 pounds on the boga grip. A MirrOlure Paul Brown floating by a dock piling was just too much for her to resist.
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Inlet Drum Recon
Florida Sportsman member: Morocco_madness
If these guys are here, any day now we should start seeing wav