July Planner, 2009 - 07/01/09

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BAY SCALLOP SEASON OPENS
on Wednesday~ July 1, 2009. It will span a 10-week period until September 10. See this week’s article on this website entitled “SCALLOPING IN ST. JOE BAY, 2009” for further information.

(To the right is a 15.5# trippletail held by Capt. Fred Erickson (850-229-2710, Presnell's Bayside Marina). It was caught on 06-19-02 by Butch Davis, with Capn' Fred being the guide. The location was a tideline in Apalachicola Bay using live shrimp. As mentioned below, trippletail fishing in Apalachicola Bay is one choice for inshore fishermen who want to get away from scallopers.)

*** RED SNAPPER SEASON CLOSES ON AUGUST 14 ***
If you have been following our weekly HOTBITES, you know the results of local tournaments, and are aware that offshore charter boats are bringing in exceptional boxes of bottom fish. With favorable weather continuing, we expect this fishing to be very good in the Port St. Joe/Mexico Beach area.   However, one part of it will stop on August 14, in both state and federal waters.

OFFSHORE
Brent Romiti of our BWO staff prepared some first-class offshore tips during the month of June. These tips are still current, and will provide you good what-where-how information. Read these notes in the June Planner, and also in the 06-03, 06-10, and 06-17 HOTBITES.

NEARSHORE
Captain Mitch Coleman (850-896-4930, Floridaze Adventures ) specializes in nearshore fishing. He writes as follows this week.

“July is great nearshore fishing along our ‘forgotten coast’, the water temps will be in the high eighties and everything is biting.”

“The kings and spanish are thick on the structures near shore. The "car bodies" are a great example, and trolling surface dusters is effective. If the bite gets slow, switch to a deep lip plug like the Mann’s Stretch 30's, or a downrigger deployed live bait~ getting the bait deeper. Always keep a spinning rig ready in case a cobia or mahi-mahi follows the mackerel to the boat. We rig it with a "spro" 1 oz, or 1/2 oz jig tipped with a "gulp" strip for scent.”

“The snapper bite is good on the same structures as the kings. I keep my eye on the bottom machine as I troll over structure. If the bottom fish are suspended over it, we pull in the trolling rigs and drop bottom rigs. Keep in mind that the larger snapper are not always on the bottom. They may be as far as 100 feet away from the structure. We will drop a jig or Carolina rigged dead bait to bottom, and reel up until we find the snapper. In addition, we also cast a jig as far from the boat as possible and let it fall through the water column. When it is vertical, we reel up and do it again. The key is to cover the entire water column and all around the structure, not just on top of it.”

“Tight lines,   capt mitch”

FAR OFFSHORE
In last weeks HOTBITE, 06-24-2009, Captain Dewey Blaylock (850-527-5498, dblaylock@sunsetcoastalgrill.com) asked a question we want to draw your attention to one more time: “Billfishing from Port St. Joe ~Why Not?” If you have not looked at this article, give it a read. If you are equipped for it, a little further out can make a big difference.

INSHORE
With all that is being said about scalloping, and with the good boxes of inshore fish being caught (such as the one Captain Allen Duke brought in last week, see the HOTBITE), Inshore fishermen in St. Joe Bay might complain~ “What about us?!” Here are some suggestions.   

First, very few scallopers will start out before first light (or even before 9 AM). Hit your hot spots early. This is often the very best time to fish anyhow. Since there are scallops to clean, scallopers usually give you time to fish them again in the late afternoon, but the water will be clouded and stirred up.
Second, the further you get north of Black’s Island, the less likely you are to compete with scallopers. St. Joe Point has been very hot at times in June, and you are not likely to see scallopers there.
Third, there is some great fishing in Apalachicola Bay, with the oyster bars, tripletail, and tarpon challenges. For readers who may not know, Apalachicola Bay is renowned for salty oysters, but dose not support scallops.   
In addition, night fishing, flounder gigging, and crabbing become popular this time of the year.   

During July and August, there will be plenty of trout and redfish around, but they will be harder to find. Soon after first light, topwater fishing close in is not likely to be productive. The water in the Bay is warm, and the fish will search for cooler places in the water column. Expect Spanish and other predators to be stalking glass minnows and LYs along the peninsula.   

BRIDGES AND SEAWALL (Jetty Park)
CRABBING IS HOT! Kim Lewis of our BWO staff, and her 6-year-old son Bradley, trapped 19 nice bluecrabs last week near the Highland View Bridge. This became a fine family feast! See the above picture. Notice I said bridges, not bridge. We have a big bridge at Highland View with a boat launch area and facilities. We also have several small bridges in the area that make good sites for crabbing, floundering, catching bait, and fishing.

Crabbing has not been as good the few of years, perhaps related to droughts. However, things appear to be back to a sweet normal this year, to the delight of our crabbers. There are people who seldom fish that love to crab. So, this is good news for the crabbers!

It seems to come in spurts, but we continue to hear of good catches of fish from these locations. Redfish, flounder, crokers, ladyfish, sheepshead, and other species have been caught in the last two weeks. Again, this time of year, early and late are likely your best bets.

FRESHWATER FISHING NOTES:
Catfish fishing is HOT in the Apalachicola River. Generally, freshwater fishing begins to slow this time of the year due to higher water temperatures. Local anglers in the Lake Wimico area say only a few bass and bream are being caught, but the catfish fishing has been exceptional. We have an end cap at Bluewater devoted to catfish fishing items, such as manufactured stink and blood baits. This is serious fishery for many locals. Delicious, traditional meals are brought to their tables by the freshwater catfish fishery.   

Bream fishing in our immediate area, the old timers say, is not comparable to the Junes and Julys of the past. Their hunch is that the grass structure destroyed by the drought and backwash of salt water needs time to rebuild. This grass structure is the home of small grass shrimp, which is a now a diminished part of the food chain.

Howard’s Creek is part of the Apalachicola River water shed area, and Carol Anderson of our staff updates us weekly on water conditions and What’s Hot. Presently the water clarity is poor, and bream-fishing success depends on locating the bream beds.

Carol suggests that trial and error bottom fishing with crickets and earthworms is the best way to locate bream beds, with conditions being as they are. She loves to fly fish early and late, while rolling bright colored flies beneath limbs that over hang the water. During the month of July, Carol expects the water will remain cloudy as long as occasional but heavy rainstorms continue to blow through.

For bass, Carol thinks your best bet is the deeper holes where feeder creeks flow into larger streams. We will have more to say about bass fishing in this months HOTBITES.   

Compiled by your fishing friends at Bluewater.