Big specks at Orange Lake spot

*Big specks at Orange Lake spot*

*JIM SUTTON*

**The St. Johns River and area lakes:** Orange Lake continues to be the hotspot for speckled perch this week. Lots of big specks are being caught. The bite on Lake Santa Fe is good as well, but the fish are considerably smaller. It’s always kind of mystifying why. Lake Lochloosa is giving up predominately small specks right now. But fish and wildlife biologists who surveyed and tagged Lochloosa fish a few weeks ago reported record-size specks in good numbers — predicting a banner year for big specks in Lochloosa.

At any rate, water temperatures remain a little warm for any kind of spawn, though the fish being caught are showing the first signs of roe. So the best is definitely yet to come.

The bluegill and catfish bite all over the river is excellent. They’re holding off the edges of sandbars in the St. Johns and the smaller creeks. A particularly hot spot has been just south of the railroad trestle down from Palatka.

But you should be able to catch a nice stringer of fish just about anywhere you can find a hump on the bottom and some kind of tidal flow — in or out — above it.

The bass fishing down in Lake George took a real turn for the better over the past week. Those fishing wild shiners along the vegetation on either side of the big lake are catching bass.

Guide Adam Delaney got a real surprise this week catching a 10- and 12-pounder in the river south of the lake. The big fish showed very little swelling from roe. She might be 14 pounds by spring. And he’s got her address…

The Intracoastal Waterway: The weather’s been awful most of the week. And, though things may change, you can basically look forward to catching tons of undersized redfish, trout and baby bluefish.

The guides are putting enough legal fish in the boat — including flounder, whiting and pompano — to get by. But a lot of culling is going on.

Seems the larger reds are staying out of the river and lurking back in the shallow flats, especially down around Devil’s Elbow.

It’s a good bet that sheepshead and black drum are biting, but we did not hear any reports of action this week. That’s likely due to a dearth of anglers, not fish.

**The Atlantic:** There were no reports of offshore trolling this week. Bottom fishermen were scoring on the usual suspects — a few grouper, and limits of vermillion snapper, porgies and triggerfish. Amberjack in now closed for both recreational and commercial anglers.

If you can get out, the cobia bite from 80 to 120 feet of water is probably still excellent. But the way they move around, it will be impossible to tell unless you can get out and see for yourselves.

Surf fishing is good, but you have to be able to move. One likely spot will hold whiting and pompano and another, just like it, will not.

A lot of the fish have been holding up on the outside bars — tough to get to without the longer rods. And fresh bait has made a big difference, especially for the pompano. Blue crab knuckles and live sand fleas catch not only more fish, but also bigger ones — especially in the case of the whiting.

**The weather:** Northeast winds will blow at 15 knots or better offshore through Saturday, with seas forecast up to 6 feet. Sunday looks a little better with 2-4 foot waves predicted. Next week would be a good one to take off. It looks beautiful, with highs pushing the 80s, and lighter winds.

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