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CONTINUED - but techniques will change
as their patterns change. Schools will break up after the full moon
in June and they will be traveling both north and south along the
beaches. You may find them loosely schooled, as small pods and singles.
Along the beaches, be ready to make a snap cast with a live crab,
a DOA Baitbuster, DOA Swimming Mullet or 65M MirrOlure. You can
also drift with a spread of live baitfish such as pinfish, pilchards
or threadfins. This technique can be very productive, although it
is not nearly as exciting as sight fishing. You can also fish the
sandbars surrounding most of the passes along our coast. The best
way to fish these is to anchor with a float on your anchor, which
you can disconnect from quickly. You can determine their pattern
of travel by watching them for a while and try to be where they
are going to cross. This is a good fly fishing situation and they
can also be fished with lures or live bait on the bars.
I spend a lot of time targeting juvenile tarpon in the 10 to 30-pound
class in upper Charlotte Harbor during July. I always fish lures
or flies for these smaller fish and my most productive lure is a
pearl DOA TerrorEyz. When fly fishing, I am most productive with
a white bunny fly fished on an Orvis Depth Charge fly line. These
fish are concentrated in canals that are 10-15 feet deep. Although
they are rolling on the surface, I catch most of my fish near the
bottom. Large tarpon will also move up into upper Charlotte Harbor
during July and feed heavily. On a calm morning you may see them
rolling on the surface. You can also look for bird activity, which
may indicate tarpon feeding on ladyfish or other baitfish. The same
situation will occur in areas of Tampa Bay during July.
Catch and release snook action should be hot during July. They will
be found in the surf, in the passes and around docks and bridges
close to passes. I like to fish the strong outgoing tides that occur
during the full and new moon weeks during July. Fishing around docks
and bridges from late afternoon until dusk or after dark can be
excellent when you have a strong tide. I like to use top water plugs,
such as the MirrOlure Top Dog, Jr., DOA's and CAL or Cotee jigs
with a variety of plastic tails. When fly fishing, I would use a
popper on a floating fly line or a Clouser, Deceiver or an Enrico
Puglisi fly on an intermediate fly line.
Snook will feed on larger baits during July, so size your lures
and flies accordingly. If you prefer live bait, white bait (pilchards)
will be hard to beat. In the surf, they can be sight-fished with
a jig or DOA lure on spinning tackle. When fly fishing for snook
in the surf, I would use an intermediate or sink-tip fly line with
one of the same flies that I would use around the docks and bridges.
Make sure that you use heavy enough line, so that you can land snook
quickly at this time of the year. If you fight a snook for too long
in warm water, it may not recover. Land and release them as quickly
as possible so that they are not overly stressed. Make sure they
are fully revived before you allow them to swim off.
Reds may be found on the flats and
around docks during July. There may be some schooling activity by
the end of the month, so be alert for large areas of nervous water
or wakes pushing in shallow water. I like to use jigs with a variety
of plastic tails, including jerk worms such as the Exude R/T slug,
on the flats or around docks.
Since tides are higher during July, you may find reds higher on
the flats along mangrove shorelines and the tops of bars. Top water
plugs on spinning tackle or poppers on fly tackle are a good way
to locate schooling reds if you think they may be in an area. A
gold spoon is also a good choice to cover water to locate redfish
when you have a lot of water. If you prefer live bait, a live shrimp,
pinfish or pilchard suspended under a popping cork will be hard
to beat.
Trout will be most active during low light conditions early and
late in the day. MirrOlure Top Dog, Jrs. and shallow running DOA
Baitbusters are two of my favorite "gator" trout lures.
Fly anglers should do well with poppers or baitfish patterns, such
as Enrico Puglisi's Peanut Butter. If you are a live baiter, a grunt
suspended under a popping cork is a proven technique for catching
"gator" trout.
The water on the flats will be coolest just before dawn in the morning
or in the evening after it has rained, which should be the most
productive time to fish. I once fished an Indian River flat with
Capt. Mark Nichols of DOA Fishing Lures during July and experienced
great action just before daylight. The flat was alive with activity
when we started to fish and as it got lighter the activity slowed
significantly. I release all trout over 20" on my boat, since
they are usually females and will be full of roe during July.
Bonito (little tunny) may be found
in the coastal gulf waters and are great fish to catch on light
spinning or fly tackle. Look for breaking fish or bird activity
to locate them and cast a jig on spinning tackle or a Clouser fly
on an intermediate fly line. Another productive fly is the Crease
fly, which is a flat popper that imitates an injured baitfish. Tripletail
may also be found in the coastal gulf waters or in bays around buoys,
channel markers and crab trap floats. They are suckers for a live
or DOA shrimp. Dark Clouser flies and shrimp fly patterns have worked
well for me when fished on an intermediate fly line.
If you just want to bend a rod, jack crevalle and ladyfish should
be plentiful in the passes and deep grass flats close to the passes.
A jig on light spinning tackle or a Clouser fly on an intermediate
line should produce great catch and release action with these hard
fighting fish. Large jacks in the 10 to 20-pound class may be found
roaming the beaches or in the bay and will require heavier spin
and fly tackle. A top water plug on medium spinning tackle or a
fly popper fished on a 9-weight or heavier fly rod will trigger
vicious strikes.
Like many other months in Florida, there are many options during
July. However, the best action will be during peak tidal flows early
and late in the day. Watch out for those afternoon showers, which
can have deadly lightning in them. As always, remember to limit
your kill; don't kill your limit!
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
www.snookfin-addict.com or www.flyfishingflorida.net
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