Seatrout invade the ICW

***Seatrout invade the ICW***

**The St. Johns River and area lakes:** The shrimp run seems to have survived the storm and the inches of fresh water it dumped. Conventional wisdom would dictate that most all of the river shrimp would be moving north toward the Atlantic, if not already gone.

But theyre still here. The cast-netters down around Welaka continue to get 5-gallon limits, though it more work and theyre an odd mix of both small and large shrimp. They usually run in similar size classes as they move into and out of the St. Johns River.

They are still being caught around the Shands Bridge as well, though in fewer numbers. It odd, with no reports from Palatka in between, but that about all you can bet on right now.

The bluegill bite along the river and lakes is good, and theyre carrying “thick shoulders as Scott Mc-Ghee at Georgia Boys Fish Camp on Dunn Creek described.

The catfish bite was great all week as well. Some of the guides down on Lake George are starting to target hybrid/stripers in the three spring runs on the west side of the big lake.

Anglers farther north are finding big schools of those 2-pound schooling stripers and can catch dozens when they get on a school. The best way to find them is to locate diving birds.

Oh yeah, a snook was caught south of Green Cove this week. That fella was lost.

If any readers want a gator hunt, a guide on Lake George has one tag left for the year and one day to fill it  Saturday. If youre interested in a discount hunt call Adam at (386) 546-2080.

**The Intracoastal Waterway:** Water temperatures have dropped once again, and fired off a burst of activity in the brackish water. Speckled seatrout are all over the ICW, especially on high, incoming water, but theyve been caught on the opposite tides as well. Everyone catching trout. The majority is undersized, but there are so many, youll get a limit of legal fish. The red-fish are, likewise, small. But the same holds true for sticking with them to glean your keepers.

Most of the guides are starting out the day with at least 12 dozen live shrimp in the well, then switching to jigs and plastic tails when the live bait runs out.

The sheepshead bite seems to be great one day, and poor the next.

There are plenty of black drum under the bridges, The mangrove snapper are getting bigger, hanging on rocks, docks and jetties.

Flounder were the least mentioned fish this week.

The big jack crevalle are still marauding around the bayfront downtown.

**The Atlantic:** A few boats beat out to the ledge this week and a couple of them trolled. One report was of about a dozen small blackfin tuna, a 50-pound wahoo and a couple of small dolphin. The other report was about the same, but with fewer tuna on ice.

The boats that fished the bottom reported good catches of grouper, triggerfish, vermillion snapper and pink porgies, along with the normal catch of hefty amberjack and illegal red snapper.

We heard no reports of smaller boats on the local reefs and wrecks.

The fishing at the county pier has been better than usual, with mostly black drum caught under the pilings, along with some sheepshead. The whiting bite is slow in the surf, as is the pompano bite.

**contriButed PHOTO**

*Toni Kara with a pretty Palm Valley redfish caught earlier in the week with Capt. Leon Dana of Prime Time Charters. The redfish bite has been good, but speckled trout are red hot right now.*

But word is that the pompano are being torn up around Little Talbot Island, and their migration path takes them right down our coast. Our surf temperature matches that north of Jacksonville  73 degrees  so there no reason we shouldnt see a good run of pompano this weekend. I would suspect South Ponte Vedra Beach would be the best bet. Remember that the hurricane tended to dig a deeper trough close in to those red shell beaches, so you may not need much distance to intersect the pompano. Sand fleas are the best bet for bait, with cut fresh clams coming in a close second. Fresh shrimp would be the third choice.

**The weather:** Winds Saturday will be northerly at 10-15 knots with 3-6 foot seas. It should lay down Sunday to 2-4 feet.

**Calendar:** The Ancient City Gamefish Association Pick up the Spots redfish tournament, postponed by Hurricane Matthew, has been rescheduled for Nov. 19. The captain meeting is from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Northeast Florida Marlin Association clubhouse at Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor. Early entry is $25 for adults and $10 for juniors. It goes up to $35 and $15 respectively at the captain meeting/ party. Pre-register at Avid Angler or the Vilano Bait Shack. For more info call Donna Frantz at (904) 814-0515.

Jim Sutton provides a weekly fishing report for The Record. Contact him at [email protected]