Rain, rain, rain. This week the afternoon summer time storms have lived up to their reputation. Fortunately, the water levels have come up slightly and the redfish have been very active! This week almost any mangrove shoreline with small finger mullet had consistent action, from good numbers of redfish and the occasional sea trout.

Deep dropping has been on fire this past week! The crew from Walden Custom Builders put on a clinic. But make no mistake, even though it was a team effort, these are Kyle’s Tiles!

Summer weather patterns are finally here with a lot of heat, calm seas and afternoon rain showers. The nearshore bite has been good with plenty of bonito, mackerel, sharks and tarpon. The big kingfish are on the beaches as well. The bait is still scattered but should get more consistent as the summer progresses.

This week was outstanding if you like catching a lot of fish and a few big bass to boot. Headwaters is producing great numbers of fish in scattered Hydrilla on swimbaits with silver underspin swimbait jigs in 1/4oz. The best colors are shad or shiner imitation colors because that is the primary forage in these lakes. Punching continues to be the way to go if you want big fish after the sun gets up in the sky late morning. On cloudy days stick to the black and blue colored Bass Assassin Skunk Ape and on sunny days go with the Fugly, Gravedigger or Okeechobee Craw. We got 1 over 10lbs on a devils horse in 5ft of water fishing really slow and picked up a bunch of quality fish on the Zman Poppin Shad in the Mud Minnow color.

The one consistent fish that we have been able to count on is the speckled trout in the Indian River lagoon. These fish are holding around mullet pods. Just about anywhere that you find mullet throughout the Banana and Indian River Lagoon system you will have a shot at some good trout action on Rapala Skitterwalks and Saltwater Assassin 5- inch long soft plastic jerk baits.

I only got out on the water two times last week. Once again, my time has been spent fishing and learning the 3 Forks watershed area. I know the new Headwaters is not far away, but the long dusty road keeps me away.

What an awesome week we had, the kingfish showed up in waves, finally! There were some really nice sized fish mixed in as well. In that mix are some sails and the best fish ever, mahi mahi! Why a 10lb mahi gets more likes than a 40lb king is beyond my thought process. Bottom fishing is doing well with AJs and a few gags mixed in there. The strategy is big baits equal big fish. Croakers are doing the trick and bunker have made an appearance too. A few throws of the net and you’re good to go. But don’t worry, Zach said they eat the frozen just fine lol.

In the river around Satellite Beach, sea trout, reds and mangrove snapper are biting on live shrimp. Meanwhile, beach anglers are catching tarpon, whiting and still getting a few of those elusive keeper-sized pompano.

This week the tarpon fishing has been on fire and should continue to be great throughout the next two months. We are starting to get tarpon in the 80 to +100 pound range in the river with some 60 and 70 pounders mixed in. Beach tarpon have been in the baitfish schools and can be seen feeding on the surface.

Bluegill spawning season is in full swing, which means it’s time for the bass to get their revenge and raid their nests for an easy meal! Locate areas with sandy bottom near deep water to find their beds. Target bass on the edge of their beds with a 1/2oz swim jig by bringing it through the water column, and just be ready for that big bite!

This week I focused most of my fishing inshore due to the heavy winds and inconsistent weather patterns. Tarpon are one species that can thrive in areas with very low oxygen content; as a matter of fact, they prefer it at times. Residential canals with little to no flow are always a good “go to.”

As we hit the high temperatures of summer, the fishing has been pretty heating up in the surf, too! The whiting and croakers have been pretty consistent early mornings until around early mid day. When the suns at its peak, the bite will lull a bit, but tends to pick back up in the evenings.