Outdoors: Fast movers also great on the plate
Tired of lackluster fish fights, lethargic bites, and ho-hum runs? Then go after the fast movers that are available in our area now. They would be the Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and jack crevalle. Two of them, the mackerel and blues, are also great on the plate.
Spanish mackerel
Spanish mackerel are easy to catch. They cook up white, flaky and slightly strong. To catch some just find a place where birds are feeding on bits of baitfish and it’s a good bet Spanish mackerel are causing the frenzy. These areas could be local beaches, open bay waters, or the long bridges over Apalachicola and Ochlocknee bay and the bridge to St. George Island.
Fishing piers are exceptionally good places to catch them. Some of the best are the Mexico Beach Fishing Pier and the piers in Panama City Beach.
Lures for Spanish mackerel are easy to select, as there are just three types that will work 99 percent of the time. Use a darting metal jig like the SideWinder or Gotcha, a silver spoon such as the Luhr-Jensen Krocodile in 5/8-ounce size, or a ½-ounce Clarke Spoon. Sidewinders and Gotchas should be cast out, allowed to sink a couple of feet, and then retrieved rapidly with a hard, jerking motion. The lure will dart side to side, a motion mackerel just can’t resist.
With spoons like the Krocodile, cast it out as far as possible and let it sink all the way to the bottom. Then retrieve it super-quick. Turn the handle just as fast as your pudgy paws will crank. The spoon will eventually rise to the surface and pop out of the water. Immediately give it slack and let it sink to the bottom again. The strike should come as it sinks. Be alert.
Clarke Spoons are designed to be trolled. You might need a light trolling weight to keep it in the water. Drag it along pretty fast. Experiment with the speed. If you want to cast a Clarke Spoon, use a water-filled plastic bubble (a bubble rig) to provide enough weight to cast.
There are other lures that will catch Spanish mackerel, dozens of them, but all variations of these three. The limit in Florida is very generous. You may keep 15 per day, but they must be at least 12-inches long to the fork of the tail but kept in whole condition. Gutting is OK. Mackerel should be eaten fresh. They don't freeze well. Immediately put them on ice for best flavor. Grilled or broiled, they are a tasty treat from the sea.
Bluefish
Methods for bluefish are similar to those used for mackerel, with the added advantage of being able to use cut bait. Bait fishermen should use a long-shank hook (4/O-7/O size). The long shank makes unhooking fish easier. In the surf and from piers or bridges anchor the bait to the bottom with a pyramid or bank sinker. Egg sinkers work in calm water or from a boat, but roll around in heavy surf. Make sure the line passes easily through the eye/hole in the weight. This type of rig (called a fish-finder) enables you to feel even the slightest bite.
If one lure were to be chosen to catch bluefish, it would also be a silver spoon. They are responsible for more bluefish catches than any other artificial. A local favorite is the Krocodile spoon in 5/8- to 1-ounce sizes. Other productive spoons are the Gator, KastMaster, Clark, and Hopkins No-Equal. You don't need to retrieve them as fast as for mackerel, but it should be at a fast pace with an occasional jerk or two.
Surface plugs work well for blues too. Water conditions should be flat or a slight chop so the bluefish can locate and attack the surface plug. The Heddon Zara Spook in white with red head is an excellent producer. Drill out the eyes of the lure and allow it to fill with water for extra casting distance. The Zara Spook will float and zig-zag on the surface in a "Walk-the-Dog" pattern even when filled with water. It's an action bluefish can't resist. Another way to get added distance is to drill the plug, add some copper-covered BBs, and seal up the hole. Not only will the lure cast farther, it will rattle too. Popping or chugging plugs should be jerked really hard to make a loud “plop.” This sound imitates that made by a bluefish as it hits a baitfish on the surface. Other blues will then come around to see who got lucky and, hopefully, strike at your lure.
To find the blues, again look for birds wheeling and diving at the surface. That action indicates bluefish are feeding on schools of mullet or other baitfish, and the birds are again eating small pieces of those forage fish that float to the top.
Another way to locate the bluefish is to look for actual baitfish breaking the surface as they try to escape the blue jaws of death.
Bluefish feed both day and night, so time isn't as much a factor in catching them as is tide. Incoming or high seems to be the most productive time on the beach.
With cut bait, anchor a chunk of mullet, ladyfish or ballyhoo on the bottom when the top-water action slows. Use a large piece of bait, since you want to spread as much scent into the water as possible. Small pieces of cut bait seldom work well.
Bluefish must be at least 12 inches long from the tip of the nose to the fork of the tail. You may keep up to 10 fish daily, but they also must be kept in a whole condition (heads and tails intact) until landed ashore so their length can be verified. You may gut (and ice) the fish to keep them fresh. They are an oily fish and do not freeze well.
Handled properly when first caught, bluefish are great on the plate. Some anglers prefer to bleed their bluefish when first caught. This helps if the fish are to be cooked whole. Fishermen who fillet their blues need not bother with bleeding. Just cut out the blood line (the red part) when the fish is cleaned. (Tip: scale the fish immediatly and the scales almost come off in your hand.)
Blues are excellent when grilled, smoked, and fried. A fine recipe is to put scaled fillets skin side down in a pan, coat the fish with a layer of French’s Honey Mustard, sprinkle some crushed up crunchy cereal on the fillets (Corn Chex, Corn Flakes, etc.) and bake at 350 degrees until done. Another is to cover fillets or whole scaled fish with slices of onion and tomato. Wrap in foil and broil until done.
Jack Crevalle
Jack crevalle, jacks for short, are the "Gangstas of the flats." They roam around looking for trouble. Not very good on a plate, they are targeted for one thing...their fight. A 5-pound jack will wreak havoc with all but the strongest of fishing gear. They run in short, powerful bursts, seldom going more than 10 yards at a time. Bigger fish will often take all your line and even parts of your reel and rod. Jacks will strike the same lures as used for blues and mackerel, often destroying them in the process. The best thing you can do with a jack is to release it unharmed to grow bigger and meaner. Next best thing? Feed it to your cats and plants.
Tackle
All three species have teeth. You must fish with a leader. Use either a light wire (No. 2 brown tone) or 30-pound fluorocarbon. You’ll get more bites with the fluorocarbon, but also a few cut-offs. It’s the cost of doing business.
Equipment for catching all these species isn't a bank breaker. Rods 7 1/2-feet long or more are fine, especially if you’re going to be fishing from a pier, bridge or beach where you need to make long casts with relatively light lures. Graphite rods are lighter, but fiberglass rods are easier to cast and cheaper.
High-speed reels make it easier to catch them. Spanish mackerel swim like bullets and will often ignore a slow-moving lure. Also, reels must be strong enough to handle fish that sometimes will run 30-40 yards. Generally, moderately priced reels like the Shimano Stradic, Penn Spinfisher or Tsunami Shield will do.
Lines testing in the 10-15 pound test range will work well for the average mackerel, bluefish of jack crevalle. If you know there are bigger fish roaming, upgrade accordingly.
Gulf County bay scallop season opens Friday
Starting Friday, Aug. 17, state waters off Gulf County, including St. Joseph Bay, will open to bay scallop harvest. This area will remain open through Sept. 30 and includes all state waters from the Mexico Beach Canal in Bay County through the westernmost point of St. Vincent Island in Franklin County. See below for more on other areas open to harvest.
The bay scallop population in Gulf County’s St. Joseph Bay appears to be improving, but is not yet fully recovered from the impacts of a fall 2015 red tide event. Ongoing restoration efforts will continue through the season. In order to maximize the success of these efforts, swimming, boating, fishing and scalloping in the restoration area marked with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) buoys south of Black’s Island are prohibited during and after the scallop season.
For information on bay scallop regulations including daily bag limits, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on “Saltwater Fishing,” “Recreational Regulations” and “Bay Scallops.”
This week's fishing report
Fishing Report
St. George Island
Captain Russ Knapp on St. George Island (knappsgi@hotmail.com) said: "In the bay Captain Randy Peart reports trout and redfish in the Bob Sykes Cut. Drift the rising tide with live bait or fresh killed shrimp. The flats behind Little St. George and St. George are holding both trout and redfish. Try a Rapala Skitter Walk in Chartreuse or a MirrOlure She Dog in any bright color. White trout and whiting are roaming the beaches. Use a small piece of fresh shrimp in a #1 circle hook. If tarpon are your dream they are in the passes and along the beach. Try slow-trolling a live mullet on a 7/0 circle hook or a jointed Long A Bomber. Fishing around the bridges with fiddler crabs or shrimp should produce nice sheepshead. In state water (up to 9 miles) Capt Jeremy Willoughby is catching cobia and kings using a flat line over live bottom with a Spanish sardine on it. The kings also have a taste for a trolled Long A Bomber. Don't forget to bring the chum for the mangrove snapper. If big water is your game (past 9 miles) Captain Clint Taylor says the tuna are hot at 30-plus miles. Yet again bring the chum to get them up and use a Spanish sardine on a flat line. Gag and red grouper are around, as are amberjack. Big live baits are going to work the best. The weather has been very changeable with serious squalls blowing up from nothing so be careful.
Apalachee Bay
Capt. Dave Lear of Tallahassee said: “Is Mother Nature ever going to give us a break? Intense thunder storms in spots continue to dump large amounts of rain and the subsequent run-off into the bay is not helping the salinity levels at all. There are still fish around to catch, but the catch per unit effort isn’t too great right now. Redfish continue to be the easier target since they are more tolerant of higher water temperatures and brackish conditions. The water clarity is poor, however, so they have to find your offerings. Live finger mullet, mud minnows or shrimp will all entice the scent-oriented drum. Anglers choosing an artificial approach would be advised to add noise or scent to increase the odds. Rattles, chuggers (like a popping cork or cup-faced lures) and Pro-Cure Bait Gels added to plastic shrimp, shad tails or jigs often makes the difference. This is a good time to fish a spinner-bait clothes pin rig as well. The vibration from the blade helps the fish hone in on the lures. A weedless gold or pink Aqua Dream spoon is another proven redfish attractor, but it needs to be worked slowly for the greatest effect.
"Trout continue to be hit and miss. Some fish are still in the shallows and back-country. Floating grass is still a problem, though, so use swim bait or worm hooks to conceal the hook point so the lure snakes through the floating salad. Rock grass patches, sandy pot holes and flooded oyster bars all continue to be good places to prospect for inshore trout. Or you can go deep, as in out towards the refuge buoy line and dredge the bottom slowly with 1/2-ounce DOA shrimp or Sureketch touts. The outer edges of the party sandbar off the river channel or the West Flats can be productive, especially on a falling tide as the bait sweeps off the shallows. There were some good tripletail reports this past week, although a few big ones managed to get away. Use medium tackle and inspect any structure, permanent or floating, to see if any of these strange-looking critters are lying in ambush. Live or fake shrimp, minnows and even strips of squid will fool these hard-fighting yet tasty nomads. Still tarpon, sharks, jacks and big black drum around. The fast-movers are also still hammering the bait balls in the near-shore depths."
"Winds are expected to be tolerable again from the south and southwest this weekend. Moderate high tides thanks to the quarter moon phase will flood right around daylight before falling out by mid-afternoon. The corresponding solunar feeding windows will occur the first couple hours after the morning high has crested and another two-hour window after the tide bottoms out in the afternoon.
Otto Hough at Myhometownfishing.com (otto@myhometownfishing.com) said: Freshwater, lots of freshwater. With the rivers draining the swamps of an overabundance of rainwaters into Apalachee Bay, the dark tannin stains are stretching from Spring Creek all the way east to well beyond Rock Island. In short, dark to darker is the prevailing water color. To locate the trout, going to have to slide out to deeper and somewhat clearer waters possessing a higher salinity level to locate 'em. Presently, the best waters are well outside the St. Mark Refuge buoy line. Also, waters over the shallower spotty bottoms of Ochlocknee Shoals have been giving up some good summertime size trout on slow suspending or sinking lures along with jigs tipped with an imitation shrimp dabbed with some Pro-Cure. While on the Shoals, floating a lively pinfish about 30 inches of so below an Equalizer or Cajun Thunder will elicit the attention of a number of predator species besides just a hungry trout or two.
“The Spanish are prevalent around the active bait fish pods. Farther west, the waters over Turkey Point Spit are some of the best to be found presently locally. The shallow spotty bottom waters over Dog Island Reef have also been holding a goodly number of trout, albeit no real big ones. As a plus, there are some dang fine tarpon roaming the shallows of the Turkey Point Spit as they track and feast on the mullet schools and LY bait pods.
"For the weekend ahead, high tides will be happening the first part of the morning just after sunrise, falling out into early to mid-afternoon. Given this weekend is sandwiched between the moons, tidal flows aren't going to be altogether strong. Generally, marine conditions will be of the typical summertime variety with light seas, breezes and the chance of those seemingly ever present pop-up showers and thunderboomers. A big key to getting some trout is finding the clearer waters over spotty bottoms, crank up the casting. If not casting, get a live shrimp or live pinfish offering out there to entice a participant or two to join the fishing excursion. The reds aren't as particular about the clarity and salinity as the finicky trout. Creek mouth holes and oyster bar cuts are still giving up reds to a live shrimp on a jig head or a cut pinfish tail worked deep in the water column.
"Outside, as in outside the 9 Mile Limit in Federal waters the gags in 40 to 50 feet of water have begun taking a real liking to slow trolled lures like the MirrOlure 111MR and Mann's Stretch 30 pulled about 150 to 200 feet behind the boat. Generally, a trolling speed of 4.5 to 4.7 knots will garner attention. Over live bottom as well as the artificial reefs, the gags are liking live bait offerings, though not in an overly aggressive manner. Freelining a live pinfish will generate action with one or more of the kings that have been cruising the outside fringes of Ochlocknee Shoals towards Marker 24. But remember, these waters are State waters, closed to gags for now. No gags allowed till September 1st when the four county State waters will again reopen for the enjoyment of many, especially the small boat anglers.
"With the ever present chance of pop-up summertime boomers in the NWS marine forecast for the weekend ahead, always keep an eye to the sky or on that smartphone radar. Nothing is much worse than being stuck in one of these boomers when lightning is popping all around. Losing a game of "dodge" lightning is not good thing. No "do-overs" in that game, so boat wisely while having the PFDs handy if not wearing an auto-inflatable."
Keaton Beach
Captain Pat McGriff of One More Cast Guide Service (www.onemorecast.net, onemorecast@gtcom.net (850) 584-9145) reported: "Trout have been more cooperative this side of the dark stain, as I sent Jimmy Douglas down to waters below Yates and he managed a limit for he and his partner down from Homerville, Ga. last week using Assassins under Cajuns. With that info under my belt Billy Pillow and I fished in the stained water up north of Warrior, for over 4 hours Friday, only to have our baits die of exhaustion until I finally moved back down this side of Adams Beach and lo and behold on 6 baits we caught four trout and 2 houndfish before the rain front ran us back to Keaton.
Steinhatchee
Kristin Skipper at Sea Hag Marina in Steinhatchee (352-498-3008) sent photos of trout limits, slot and upper-slot redfish, cobia, and scallops. Another good week at Steinhatchee.
Freshwater
Otto Hough at Myhometownfishing.com (otto@myhometownfishing.com) said: "All the freshwater pouring into Apalachee Bay would be an awesomely welcome sight in Jackson. Even with the above average rainfall totals for the month of August at the normally dry Tallahassee Airport, the skies over Lake Jackson haven't exactly been inundating the lake with new water. Generally speaking, the rains that have fallen have served to maintain the lake level with maybe a marginal amount of increase to the overall depth in the lake. Without wishing too much wet stuff on those already feeling soaked in parts of the county, it still sure would be a nice to see more rain over Jackson. Fingers crossed for what is beginning to shape up as the need for a weather miracle to occur over the lake. Not exactly sure what that would be, but hope is always present.