ICW and St. Johns fishing red hot

**ICW and St. Johns fishing red hot**

*JIM SUTTON*

Happy Thanksgiving, and you can add the local fishing to your list of things to be thankful for. It hitting on all cylinders right now.

**The St. Johns River and area lakes:** Wide open is the best way to describe the bite. The slowest is the bass fishing. The fastest is the bluegill fishing.

The bass are beginning to school up with the falling water temperatures. The bigger specimens are solitary and moving constantly finding their comfort zones.

Here a story if any of you bass anglers want to try your luck. The FWC guys have been on Lake Lochloosa sampling fish populations, which usually means shocking them. The biologists were talking with Lori, the proprietress of Lochloosa Harbor Fish Camp. They mentioned that the lake had one of the best populations of really big bass theyve seen in a while. Very few anglers on that lake fish bass. Everyone looking for the speckled perch, which seem to bite year-round there. The guys said all the fish they sampled were down deep and were exceptionally healthy, meaning fat. Now, that lake isnt much over 8 feet in its deepest parts, but with very little real structure. So is anyone who wanted work some deep-running crankbaits or Texas-rigged worms out in the middle of the lake, might run into some of those big bass the biologists uncovered.

The bluegill bite is on just about everywhere. And these are uncommonly big specimens  called copperheads by the locals. A lot of these fish are an inch-and-a-half thick at the shoulders. And it doesnt seem to matter whether you toss crickets, wigglers cut crab or shrimp at them; theyll eat it.

The first speckled perch have moved into shallow water. Those cleaning them say theyre partially roed-up. Theyre being caught under docks, on top of downed trees and even up in the lily pads  not in great numbers, but theyre nice fish for the most part. A couple of them topping 2 pounds were weighed this week.

And the catfish bite is red-hot, though no one really paying much attention to them right now. One speck fisherman was surprised by a 15-pound channel cat when it ate his minnow this week. He got it in the boat.

Oh yeah, and the shrimp keep on running in the river from Green Cove Springs north to the hot spot, Doctors Inlet. Shrimp mash is almost impossible to get because none of the shops want to buy a load and get stuck with it. But lots of people are asking … and that lets you know theyre catching shrimp.

The Intracoastal Waterway: Lot of fish are being caught of every species possible this time of year. And lots of them are small, especially the speckled seatrout and rat reds. But most everyone able to get a limit of legal reds (not trout). One guide said he caught 10 reds in an outing this week and two were keepers. Mangrove snapper are still around, but should not be and probably wont be by the weekend. The water temperatures are dropping fast. Captain Leon Dana reported low temps up in Palm Valley of 57 degrees at daybreak, rising only to 61 by midday. It five or six degrees warmer around the inlets.

What has surprised several captains in the ICW this week was the number of really nice pompano. Theyve move halfway up to Pine Island, but Airport Creek is supposed to be full of them. Live shrimp on eighth-ounce jig heads are doing most of the damage.

The sheepshead bite seems to be topping out. Elaine at Vilano Bait Shack said she saw a catch of 36 fish up to 6 pounds. Limit is 15 per person.

There are still lots of black drum under the bridges, and the bluefish are showing up again. Dont be surprised (which I guess it always is) to see a good run of Spanish mackerel coming in the inlet.

**The Atlantic:** There were some fishable days this week, which were way overdue. A few boats headed out to the ledge and found lots of blackfin tuna, along with a few dolphin and scattered wahoo. One captain said that a lot of boats are going past the tuna and suggests putting baits out in 120 feet and trolling east till you hit the sweet spot.

***ContriButed PHOTO :***

*Peyton Gregory, visiting from Atlanta, caught this 5.5-pound flounder with a shrimp. Gregory was fishing with Captain Rob Bennett on Wednesday north of the State Road 206 Bridge. Flounder has been tough to come by in the Intracoastal Waterway recently.*

The bottom fishing is good, though the grouper bite is off. There are still plenty of vermilion snapper, mangrove snapper (and yes, they should be gone by now, too), pink porgies and triggerfish.

I did not hear a specific report from the local reefs and wrecks this week, but everyone “heard of both big amberjack and some cobia caught out there.

The whiting bite at the county pier was off and on this week. But dont tie yourself down right now. Fish the beach and move around till you find sloughs or pretty water. The pompano bite is extraordinary when youre on them. The biggest tip is to fish daylight and dusk. Eighty percent of the fish are being caught then. And blue crab knuckles are outfishing live sand fleas right now. Clams are the third choice, with fresh shrimp picking up the rear.

**The weather:** While 10-15-knot winds and 2-4-feet seas dont sound like much, they beat the snot out of what weve had for the past several weekends. Bigger boats may try the deep water and the smaller ones may be able to get out the local bottom. It should be worth the trip.

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