Greetings from Tru Luvin Fishing and Hagan Coastal Outfitters. This blog provides you with a front row seat to what Domenic and Ron are seeing on the water in Northeast Florida from our kayaks, as we chase inshore saltwater species, primarily using artificial lures. From time to time, we will include bonus reports from tournaments and fishing trips around the region as we travel. We want to keep you informed of what is biting, what lures are working for us and what gear has been helping us get on the fish.
Overall Fishing Report
February was interesting month for inshore fishing. We had several stretches of bitter cold winter weather with hard freeze temperatures into the low to mid-twenties for morning lows. We also had stretches of record heat with temperatures in the upper eighties. This made it tough on the fish to figure out if they should still be in their lethargic Winter behavior patterns or if Spring was on our doorstep and they should start spending more energy looking for food. When we did have moderations in temperature, we had particularly windy conditions which made throwing lures to fish with accurate casts a challenge. With that being said, we were able to make it out on the water to catch some fish from both the boat and the kayaks. For month’s like this past February, it is all about windows. Windows are those opportunities that open when wind, weather and angler availability all come together to make for an enjoyable trip. There were not many of those last month. Sometimes you just have to tough it out in difficult conditions, with the right gear, and make it work. March and our outstanding Spring fishing in Northeast Florida is now on our doorstep. March is historically a great month on the water when our fishing really heats up.
Tactics That Are Working
This was a month of contrasting tactics for us. We fished the Hobie kayaks early in February and had to use our Winter tactics. Water temperatures were in the low fifties and the fish were lethargic. We tried to take advantage of shallow water later in the day when the sun was out to warm up the mud flats in the back of the creeks. We utilized small profile baits and shrimp imitation lures to entice strikes from slow moving Reds. Later in the month, when we had record high temperatures, we transitioned to warmer weather tactics such as small profile twitch baits. You can vary the speed with these to fish them a little slower and that is the key in cooler water temperatures.
Lessons Learned
A lesson on a tactic we employed this month was using the strong February winds to our advantage. We like to throw artificial lures but doing it in high winds is a challenge. Not only will the wind affect your lure placement on casts, it also picks up your fishing line and blows it making for awkward lure retrieves and presentations to the fish underwater. We were successful by “staking out” or anchoring our kayaks upwind of our target zones. This allowed us to have the wind at our backs and make long casts with the wind to the fish before they could be alerted to our presence. This is a good tactic to use when you have to deploy it, but it is more limiting as far as fishing multiple spots of interest on the water. We prefer to fish untethered, but this will allow you to fish on windy days that some may not consider fishable when you need to get out and scratch that fishing itch.
Tackle and Equipment
On the tackle front, Domenic and Ron both successfully used Ned rigs on those cold early February days in shallow water. This is a small and light mushroom style jighead with a smaller profile soft plastic lure. These are designed to stand up straight and be moved very little in the water. Just an occasional short drag or twitch every now and then get’s the attention of the fish. We are partial to the ZMan line of Ned specifics baits. We also used the smaller profile ZMan Prawn Starz shrimp lures in the 2.5 and 3 inch size with success. When the weather warmed up a little, we had a great trip utilizing Mirrolure 17mr twitch baits fished a bit slower than we might in the warmer weather months. A subtle twitch, twitch pause retrieve got the job done. All these lures are available at Hagan Coastal Outfitters.
Upcoming Tournament
We are excited to be working hard behind the scenes on the inaugural Hagan Coastal Outfitters Marsh Madness kayak fishing tournament. This is a tournament that is being put together by kayak fisherman for kayak fisherman in the spirit of family friendly kayak tournaments we have seen in our area in the past. We hope you will join us in making this a s uccess and an annual event that brings our kayak fishing community together. Most importantly, this is a charity tournament benefiting First Coast Women’s Services. They help women in difficult circumstances surrounding pregnancies and have offices in Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties. We are proud to support them in their mission.
Hagan Coastal Outfitters has all the industry connections and sponsors to help make this a great community event. This will be a triple fish challenge with prizes for the top 3 Redfish, Trout and Flounder. There will be a slam division as well with a combined total of the best fish in each category. A special “Spots” prize will also be awarded for the Redfish with the most spots on one side. The format will be a catch, photo and release tournament with sportsmanship and ecological stewardship at the forefront. An impressive list of prizes has already been released and the tournament shirts and captain’s bags will be great. The Captain’s Meeting is Friday March 27th with fishing starting the next morning at first light on Saturday March 28th. We hope you will join us for the fun!