Your #1 FULL TIME WEST COAST OF FLORIDA SALTWATER CHARTER FLATS FISHING CONNECTION!!! |
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July 2008 |
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July 2008 The West Central Florida fishing report is brought to you by ANGLING ADVENTURES CHARTER FISHING GUIDE SERVICE Fly fishing and light tackle fishing on the beautiful Inshore Flats and Backwaters of Florida’s Nature Coast. http://www.angling-adventures.net
Hello again, I’m Captain Steven Soults and this is the local Inshore Flats and backcountry fishing report for Florida’s Nature Coast. Today was going to start things off with talk about one of the most sought after game fish in my area, the Spotted Sea Trout. I get numerous email questions everyday asking where can I find and catch Spotted Sea Trout in your area and how???? Well today I’ll try to focus on some of the more frequent questions and move from there. Where can I catch Sea Trout? Sea Trout live depending on the time of year in different depths of water, for example, not to jump ahead of myself, this time of year with rising water temperatures around 84 degrees, we have been finding good numbers of fish over 20+ inches and bigger on the deeper flats (say 10 to 12 miles offshore of Hernando Beach). Another asked question, what should I be looking for (structure wise) or what type of bottom? The most important answer is: If you find structure, you find fish!! This holds true with Sea Trout fishing along with many other types of fishing, except in this particular type of fishing what you want to be looking for is good concentrations of sea grass with little sand patches here and there. What you want to be doing is locating these sand patches and make a good presentation by throwing your bait past it and slowly bouncing a jig or soft plastic bait of your choice right over the patch. What you will be finding out is that these Sea Trout use these to their advantage as ambush points among many other types of fish and has been proving to be very productive lately accounting for many Sea Trout over 20+ inches and bigger. Another frequently asked question. What are you using for bait and where can I get it? I specialize and believe that in most situations artificial bait will out-fish live bait 10 to 1. With so many artificial baits being introduced on the market it is very hard for someone starting out to have an idea where to start. Today were going to try to point you in the right direction and get you introduced into artificial baits (Plastic Jerk baits) for starters, which I use 95% of the time on my charters. Keep in mind that I get the opportunity to test the majority of soft plastic baits on the market and I don’t recommend a product unless I have had the opportunity to test it over a long period of time and see its positive results. Through my trials I have found and believe that the BASS ASSASSIN soft plastic bait company (www.bassassassin.com) is at the top of their game when it comes to soft plastic bait imitations. The 3 most important questions I get are? What color, size and where can I get it? I always like to use a bait that is readily available by simply going to my local Walmart Store, where they have a great selection of soft plastic baits in a variety of colors and sizes, which becomes very important when the water clarity changes along with water temperature. Through the year I will find myself alternating through only about 5 to 6 colors that are top producers, so keep checking back to see what the top producing color is working best as the year goes on. As an artificial lure specialist, I believe that the bigger the bait the bigger the fish. This has been the case on recent Charters where the bait size and color of choice has been the Bass Assassin 5 inch Dark Green w/ red spots soft plastic jerk bait known as Watermelon Red coupled to a 1/4 oz. Red jig head of your choice. Lately, we have been having a great deal of success drift fishing the deeper grass flats in the water depths of 8-12 feet (tide depending) while dragging a sea anchor to slow the boats drift if the wind is blowing us to fast to present our baits properly(to reach the bottom). Tackle wise we have been using a simple Quantum Inshore PTS 20 saltwater series reel spooled with 20lb Power Pro braided line coupled to a 2 foot piece of 20lb fluorocarbon leader all connected to a 7’ one piece graphite rod in the 6-12lb range of your choice. I prefer and recommend a fast action rod for this type of fishing. As you will find this type setup will pretty much tackle even the mightiest of game fish that you will encounter on the flats and won’t leave your wrists hurting from casting after the day is done. One more thing I wanted to discuss until next time. Light tackle shark fishing with live bait (Pinfish) is at its best right now and will be here for only a short time longer, so don’t let this opportunity pass you by, where you can put your skills using light tackle against some of the best light tackle action that you will encounter on the flats all year!!!! Don’t forget!!! Please check out my great online fishing website which is loaded full of fishing related info along with a GREAT CAPTAIN’S PROGRAM (for a limited time only) for any size cast nets through LEE FISHER NETS!! Click under Cast Net Basics!!
If you have any questions or would like to book a trip to experience INSHORE FLATS FISHING AT ITS BEST please call Angling Adventures Charter Fishing Guide Service with Captain Steven Soults at (352) 686-0853 or you can try the cell at (352) 238-9339
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