Greetings from Tru Luvin Fishing and Hagan Coastal Outfitters. This blog provides you with a front row seat to what we are seeing on the water from our kayaks, as we chase inshore saltwater species, primarily using artificial lures. We will include occasional bonus reports from fishing trips around the state. 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
Florida inshore fishing is traditionally known to have summer slumps as the water and air heat up leading to stormy afternoons and evenings. Despite very warm air and water temperatures, we are happy to report that Northeast Florida is not in the slump zone yet. Fishing was outstanding throughout June. The month started with an incredible Trout trip in post cool front conditions and ended with a strong bite from slot and over-slot Redfish.
Multiple trips in different estuaries produced consistently strong results in all tidal conditions throughout the month of June. The key for us has been tactical flexibility. First light is that magical half hour just before sunrise when we normally throw topwater lures this time of year, however; those first light tactics paid off surprisingly well later in the day. Bait schools are everywhere in our marshes right now. Whether it was schools of mullet nosing along the surface or showers of shrimp jumping out of the water in the shallows, these visuals provided us with important clues on where to look for predatory gamefish and what lure profiles to use. Let’s take a closer look at the details.
Tactics That Are Working
We noted earlier that tactical flexibility was key in June. We still recommend the first few hours around sunrise as the best time of the day to throw topwater lures. We did this with success during these golden hours and picked off some really nice Trout and Redfish. We were pleasantly surprised by having topwater success later in the day in full sunlight. Every now and then, you find areas that are just an oyster minefield below the surface and the only real option to fish an area, without losing a lot of tackle, is to fish up top over the oysters and other structure. We ran into this circumstance twice in June and both encounters led to multiple slot mid-day Redfish. So, when you see fish activity in an area that is really only accessible via topwater lures due to subsurface obstructions, don’t be afraid to break that topwater back out at mid-day, even in direct sunlight. It can really pay off at times. The Heddon Spook Jr., in either the “Bone” or “Chartreuse” color patterns, were our top producing topwater lures during June. This lure really excels in calm and light wind conditions and really calls the fish in.
Lessons Learned
It can really pay off to pay attention to detailed weather forecasts. As May transitioned into June, we had our last real cool front of the year. After the storms on the leading edge of the cold front passed, the Barometric Pressure steadily dropped. This ignited a Trout bite that was really special. Trout were crushing the Mirrolure Mirrodine 17 MR. It was one of those rare but fun trips where we got into a trout bite that was either a caught fish or a strike on almost every cast. A lot of really nice quality Trout were caught including the pictured 28+ inch Gator Trout. This fish was full of roe, and we really need to take good care of these breeder fish to ensure they are released healthy. This includes wetting your hands before the touching the fish, using rubber nets to land them and making sure you fully revive them in the water before releasing them. This is especially crucial in the hot summer months where the water is both warmer and lower in saturated oxygen levels. Although that was undoubtably our last cool front of the season, similar effects can be found before and after tropical weather systems and we will likely have multiple opportunities to fish around them as hurricane season progresses.
Tackle & Equipment
We noted earlier that purposefully observing the bait activity in our marshes, to “match the hatch”, has been an important component to our success. Shrimp are still a primary dining option for Redfish and Flounder in the shallows of our creeks The ZMan PrawnstarZ shrimp is a newer lure that has only been out on the market for about a year. I can’t overstate how effective this lure has been for us, trip in and trip out, throughout June. We have both caught our biggest over-slot Redfish on this lure during June and we have caught scores of slot Redfish and Flounder on this lure throughout the month as well. We are using the 3.5-inch version of the lure with Domenic finding his best success on Purple tipped color selections while Ron has had the most success on gold and natural color options. Fishing this lure is fun and simple. Just cast it into the zone where you believe the fish are and slowly lift your rod tip to bring the lure off the bottom and let it move with the current. I like to add a few small twitches at the top of my lifting of the rod tip. That is all you need to do to effectively retrieve this lure. The more you let it move with the current naturally, and sink on its own, the more strikes you will get. A fast retrieve will cost you strikes and fish. This is a finesse bait.
Kayak Fishing 101
We were fortunate enough to have Hagan Coastal Outfitters host a Kayak Fishing 101 seminar on June 28th, at the San Jose Boulevard location during their summer kick off BBQ party. We were honored to present the seminar to a large group of attentive attendees. We had a great time talking kayak fishing with the group and we appreciate everyone who came out to listen.