High water now, high seas coming 10-1-15

**FISHING REPORT**

High water now, high seas coming

JIM SUTTON

**THE ST. JOHNS RIVER AND AREA LAKES**

Of course, the big mystery revolves around shrimping. Are they gone? Are they hiding out? Is this a lull in the action, or an end to the season?

As near as I can tell, the shrimping is just about nil north or Palatka, and not much better farther south. That is, until you get just south of Welaka, says Lake George guide Adam Delaney. Theyre there one day and not the next. And when they are there, it taking a couple of hours to fill a five-gallon bucket with true 25-count shrimp. What usually happens in late September and early October is the shrimp swap ends of the river. They dont run in one big bunch and leave the same way in a season. Several runs of shrimp enter the river at Mayport and move south, gaining size as they go. At the same time, the big ones south begin their trip back north. So, this time of year we should be seeing a mix of sizes in the nets, but certainly with a nice proportion of big ones. That not the case right now.

We have had a ton of rain at the river this month, and that has likely lowered the salinity level of the St. Johns considerably. That may be pushing the river shrimp north  where they dont seem to be at all. Also, since freshwater suspends above saltwater, youd think the shrimp would all be deep, especially around Mile Marker 18 in Green Cove Springs  which they dont seem to be at all, either. All this is a convoluted way of saying that I dont know anyone who has the answer.

But the big speckled perch bite is still on in Lake Lochloosa. More correctly it a big bite of speckled perch. Most anglers are catching near-limits, but culling lots of smaller fish. The bass bite on the lake has been really hot all week as well. The extra-high water has to have something to do with it, but anglers pitching the grass lines with crawfish-imitators are doing very well. The same thing is occuring in Lake George.

On that big lake, there is also a excellent bite of bluegill and shellcracker. The main damage is being done with cane poles, small bobbers and crickets, fished around the cane grass points.

The catfish bite is good as well. And if you can catch some live river shrimp and pitch them around just about any structure, youll catch bass in the river right now.

**THE INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY**

It all about water right now. It high and the tides are screaming in and out. Fishing the tops of the tides has pretty much been a waste of time. But when the bottom starts falling out, the redfish, trout and flounder are biting well  though not as well as the jacks and bluefish.

The inlet is stuffed with tarpon, both big and small, gorging on the biggest schools of finger mullet most of the guides agree theyve ever seen. The downside is youll see plenty of tarpon busting up bait and sucking gulps of air, but getting them to bite is another thing altogether. Theyre simply full of finger mullet. They havent seen “hungry in a while.

Catch of the week goes to Captain Robert Johnson who boated a 20-plus pound Goliath grouper on 12-pound test while fishing the ICW. He said it was holding on a piling; my guess is somewhere along the bayfront.

How high has the water been? The ICW breached the bulkhead at the Vilano boat ramp. If you had a skinny water boat, you actually did not need to use the ramp at all  just unload in the parking lot at high tide. Capt. Dennis Goldstein said that schools of finger mullet were swimming under the concrete pavilion there next to the ramp. The big tides seemed to have woken up the sheepshead, which are biting hard under bridge and dock pilings, especially around the inlets.

All the activity mentioned in the St. Augustine Inlet is ditto down south at Matanzas Inlet as well. It something to see.

**THE ATLANTIC**

Oddly, some of the charter fleet was able to get out Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The wind never really did what the weatherman said. It was all bottom fishing. The only thing new were reports of the big African pompano out on the ledge. The boats also caught the usual suspects  lots of illegal red snapper, triggerfish, amberjack, mangrove and mutton snapper, porgies and beeliners. Surf fishing has been generally poor for those looking for whiting. The better bet is to go with live or cut finger mullet. There have been some nice reports of slot reds, a few flounder and some big speckled seatrout in the surf. And one red replaces a bunch of small whiting when it gets around suppertime.

**THE WEATHER**

The forecast Friday through Sunday is for northerly winds at 15 knots or so, getting a little better as we near Sunday. But dont count on anything out there with the big storm off the coast. Even as far as it could miss us under the current track, some forecasts are calling for up to nine-foot seas to the northwest of it. This will be the surfers weekend, not the fishermen.

CALENDAR

The Ancient City Game Fish Association is hosting the “Pink Up The Spots redfish tournament October 10 at the Vilano Beach boat ramp. All proceeds will be donated to Pink Up The Pace, and used for early detection of breast cancer. This is an angler tournament for the largest redfish. There is a guaranteed first place prize of $500. Registration is from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Vilano boat ramp. There will be a raffle, sponsor giveaways, fiddler crab races and other actives. Registration is $35 per angler. Weigh-in is 3-5 p.m. Oct. 10. For more information, call Rick Mackey at 904-501-2032 or go to the Ancient City Game Fish Association Facebook page.

Jim Sutton provides a weekly fishing report for The Record. Reach him at jim.sutton@stau ° gustine.com