…the flip side to the windy July has been our excellent inshore, nearshore and backwater fishing. I’ve been so busy this summer I’ve really neglected the camera, but I still have more photos than I know what to do with.
When we can get out the inlet – the big spanish fishing is excellent on the nearshore wrecks and live bottoms chumming with live bait. The flounder fishing remains STRONG. I’ve also taken a lot of kids out for spanish and blues and then enjoyed some excellent fishing for big sharks – actually, probably the best big shark fishing in a couple of years as we’ve enjoyed some really nice conditions for it.
The real gem has been the excellent red drum and flounder fishing in both the shallow marshes and around the docks. The flounder fishing has been the real surprise – most days we’ve been landing 6-8 keepers with many smaller fish and reds in the same areas. The fishing in the marsh for reds, using topwaters and other artificials, is getting better every day – this week I’ve found many big schools of fish and we’ve caught many good fish between 20 and 32″. It’s only going to get better the later we get into august!
Found several nice schools of fish with Bo and Larry – he had a lot of blow ups and landed some really nice upper-slot fish. Dock fishing was slow today, unfortunately.
Typical dock drum – the over-slots are a bit hard to land in the structure….
Brian and Joe had a great day – we did a number on the flounder around the intercostal docks getting about 5 keepers (one close to 5lbs) and many smaller fish and a half-dozen nice drum – we also went looking for some bonnetheads and while we only had a couple of bites, Joe landed a really nice one that bottomed out my 15lb boga (BTW – look at his mouth, all those marks are from eating whole bluecrabs…talk about tough!) – not bad for a really windy day!
A great example of a nice nearshore day with the Scruggs group – they wanted me to talk a pic at the end of the day with a few of their fish. We had a great time with the big spanish (also lost a 20lb+ king) on light rods and boated several nice flounder. I also want to point out the 2nd gent on the left – Smitty has the energy of a man half his age (he’s 86) and a veteran of Iwo Jima and Siapan (and a hunter with some incredible stories). What an honor to meet a man who has given our country so much!
