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
Wow! That one word would be the best description for the month of May. We were expecting a strong month of Spring fishing and that was exactly what we got. There are plenty of boat and kayak adventures to recount here and we will touch on experiences from all of them.
Domenic caught his lifetime personal best Redfish and Trout and Ron caught one of his biggest Flounder ever. We will talk about the lures that caught all these memorable fish in detail below. They are all available at HCO!
Water temperatures were up to where we want to see them for consistent fishing action. Fish are hitting topwater lures consistently along with just about any type of subsurface soft plastic profile that you prefer.
The only thing that slowed down the fishing were heavy winds that affected anglers at times and a few bouts of torrential rain. Heavy rain can have two negative effects on fishing in our backwaters. The sudden influx of fresh water can sometimes negatively affect the bite of Trout who prefer saltier water, and heavy rains wash sediment into our estuaries, which negatively affects visibility in the water.
Despite these obstacles, May was a fantastic month of fishing.
Tournament Fishing Report
Jeff Lageman joined Domenic, Ron, Troy and Robert for a few days down in Jensen Beach for the DOA Lures Paddlers Tournament. Every participating angler had to fish from a paddle board, kayak or canoe that was human powered. It is hard to beat a fishing adventure with friends in a new area. Another really cool hook up occurred while pre-fishing for the tournament. The guys were fishing just before sunrise at a creek mouth that opened to the main river. Tarpon began actively feeding all around us and Jeff hooked a solid eighty pounder on topwater for a spectacular jump filled fight. The Tarpon eventually won the fight when he broke Jeff’s line.
The tournament itself was very well run by the DOA Lures staff. Founder Mark Nichols is always entertaining, and they fed us some fantastic BBQ at the weigh in. An interesting twist to this tournament is that each angler can only fish with DOA Lures products that are provided to them in a special tackle box at the captain’s meeting.
The tournament awards prizes for first through third place in categories for the biggest Redfish, Snook and Trout. There is also a grand prize slam winner for the angler with the longest combination of all three species. The guys all caught fish nice fish on this trip but could not crack the top three on the leader board against the locals. If you are a kayaker who likes to fish new areas, put this one on your radar for next May. This is a fun and interesting area to fish.
Tactics That Are Working
Let’s talk about the tactics and lures that caught the big fish this month that were noted earlier. Domenic caught a forty-one-inch Redfish which took over as his personal best. He was fishing pretty far down the St. John’s River targeting big Reds that were very comfortable with the higher water salinity provided by the lack of rain early in May. He was in the Beavertail skiff fishing a point with shell bottom using a three-inch NLBN paddle tail. The monster was not the only Redfish he caught in the area. The key was making sure to use a heavy enough jig head to stay in contact with the bottom where the big fish were staged.
Domenic’s personal best Speckled Trout was caught on a kayak trip just one week later. He was using the Chameleon Series of the time tested Mirrolure Mirrodine (17mr) that we have noted here frequently. A twitch, twitch pause retrieve typically gets the job done with this suspending twitch bait. We like a slightly faster retrieve this time of year, but you still want to leave time for that pause.
Ron landed a really special twenty-two-and-a-half-inch Flounder on the Jensen Beach trip. He was fishing Mangrove shoreline with the ZMan Trout Trick – Thick Trick on a ZMan Trout Eye jig head. We have noted this lure in the past as well. It has been a top producer for Ron and Domenic since its release last year. A slow drag with an occasional twitch keeps this lure looking like an easy meal along the bottom. This lure is in our tackle boxes year-round and is a proven producer.
Lessons Learned
While we were fishing the DOA tournament in Jensen Beach we had to deal with considerable wind. We were finding our fish, especially the Snook, tucked in deep pockets under the mangroves. Fishing these target areas thoroughly was the key to finding those fish and it seemed there was one hiding somewhere in each of those deep pockets. The problem we encountered was that the wind was pushing us into the pockets. This spooks the fish and gets your fishing rods fouled up in the trees that were hanging over the water.
To effectively fish this cover we needed a way to stop on the outside edges before we got blown into the pockets. The hard sandy bottom there did not really allow traditional stake out pole deployment and throwing a kayak anchor is both cumbersome and spooks the fish in these quiet pockets. The solution to this problem was the Power-Pole Micro Anchor. All you have to do it hit the down button your remote control and you stop instantly and quietly. The guys that had them were able to fish more effectively and caught more fish in the Mangrove pockets. This accessory is a bit pricey, and can be seen as a luxury by some, but it can really enhance fishing efficiency and effectiveness under the right conditions.