Wahoo, cobia are hot if you can get to them

*Wahoo, cobia are hot if you can get to them*

*JIM SUTTON FISHING REPORT*

The St. Johns River and area lakes: Let talk bluegills for a minute. There are basically two great times to fish them. One is quality. One is quantity.

May is the month they and most of their panfish cousins spawn, and the action can be scary when you get on a bed of them.

But December is the month of the copperhead. These are what the bruiser bluegills are called. Some of the more local bream busters may call them “shirt-stainers, because theyre so big you cant hold them in the palm of your hand, so you smash him against your chest while you dig out the hook. The telltale splotch of blood and slime on your t-shirt is much more a badge of honor than a fashion faux pas on the St. Johns River.

So the big bluegills are out in force. Youll catch them both up near the shoreline vegetation and out on the sandbars in the river. On the lily pads, youll likely catch more Copperheads and the bonus fish is catfish. On the sandbars, youll catch bluegill, catfish and redbellies. Shellcracker are also out there, but they have more particular environmental and dietary requirements.

A sandbar channel cat (pictured on 2B) ate a thumbnail-sized piece of shrimp on a No. 6 (forged) hook. The leader parted just as the net got under him.

Bass fishing is so-so, because theyre on the move. The yellowmouth trout and croakers are in the channels, especially from Green Cove Springs north. Oddly, some mangrove snapper are still being caught, along with some big redfish,

The Intracoastal Waterway: With all the warm weather we continue to have, youve got to assume the fish think it still October, and chase them accordingly.

The temperatures dropped just a little last week and came back up this week. Speckled sea trout appeared and are disappearing with the temperature swings  and no, I dont know where they go to wait it out.

We usually can count on a fall run of nice flounder in early November, but theyre just now showing up. There were several reports of fish from 5 to 7 pounds. The Guana Dam was apparently ground zero when the full moon swelled the tides there early this week and pushed the flounder up toward the dam.

Sheepshead continue to be the best bet as far as their numbers and size go. But Id guess that the average angler will feed 10 fish a fiddler crab for every one he or she hooks. And those are the good ones.

Big black drum are in the deeper cuts in the creeks, especially where they intersect oyster bars. But the bridge pilings are likely the best bet for these fish. Stout tackle is advised because of the size of the fish and the strength of the tides under the bridges.

You can catch about all the bluefish and jacks a sane man would want right now. Itll only get crazier when the water temperatures drop again.

**The Atlantic:** Despite the short windows of opportunity in which to make the run to deep water, the rewards have been pretty amazing. The wahoo bite is on fire out toward the ledge. Dolphin are small and in short numbers. The tuna bite is good, but most anglers are pulling big lures at high speeds to find the wahoo, and the tuna are afraid of, rather than interested in, foot-long black and purple lures. Small baits, and ballyhoo are what they want. Sailfish want the same, and the bite has been much better than it ought to be in December.

Those bottom fishing folk out there are doing well on the usual suspects.

The big bite has been the huge run of cobia in as close as 60 feet and out to 100 feet of water.

Surf fishing is a moving target, red-hot one spot and awful not far away. Fresh bait is your best friend. One angler fishing North Beach with clams and blue crab knuckles iced 23 pompano and about the same number of big whiting Tuesday (he owns a commercial license).

**contriButed PHOTO:**

*Carl Pecora holds up a Dunn Creek channel cat caught last week. The fish weighed 17.5 pounds.*

**Calendar:** The Ancient City Gamefish Association meets Dec. 17 at the clubhouse at the St. Augustine Shrine Club on Brainard Street. The Christmas social begins at 5 p.m. with food served at 6 p.m. Santa and the missus will show up around 7 p.m. for the kids. Bring a bottle of your favorite spirit for the Basket of Cheer raffle.

*As always, prospective members are invited.*

**The weather:** Friday will be the best bet to get offshore, if youre feeling too ill to get to work. I usually call in sick with eye trouble. That way I dont have to lie to the boss because, in truth, I just cant see coming to work.

Saturday winds will be out of the southwest at 10 to 15 knots with 3 to 5 foot seas. It about the same Sunday.

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