Member since: January 22, 2018
Capt. Jim is a professional saltwater fishing guide based out of Rockledge, Florida.
The near coastal waters are full of great fighting species for this week’s fishing report. Snook are schooling along the beaches and when you find a group of them you are sure to get into some great rod-bending action. I’ve been netting pogies to use for bait all week.
It’s time to play tug of war with the beach donkeys! Cold water upwellings this week are moving fish all around the Space Coast near shore waters. Shark, Jack, tarpon, kingfish and Cobia are all possible catches for anglers right now. I’ve been slow trolling with live pogies to get these various fish to eat.
It’s been another great week of catching a variety of species including tarpon, sharks, Jack, and king mackerel in the near coastal waters outside Port Canaveral. Live bait have been the best way to get all of these species to bite. I’ve primarily been using pogies, pilchards, and croakers on a 7/0 VMC circle hook to get these fish to bite
Tarpon, snook, trout, redish, sailcats, ladyfish, mangrove snapper… Heck, it’s a great week to catch all of these species! The “mixed bag” fishing action we’ve been having this week has been a lot of fun for our charter clients. You just never know what is going to jump on your live bait or lure next.
Full-sized tarpon have invaded our local lagoon waters over the past few weeks. Look for these fish rolling on the surface gulping air or crashing schools of pilchards and mullet near dredge holes and bridge pilings. Free-line a live mullet, pilchard, pogie, or ladyfish in the area where this action is taking place and you should get a reaction from the tarpon fairly quickly.
The snook action is really good this week. Lots of 20 to 28-inch fish are holding under mangrove roots and docks throughout the Indian and Banana Rivers. Live shrimp, fingerling mullet, silver perch, or croakers will get them to strike. Look for areas with clean water along the shoreline, then find the baitfish and you should find snook.
King mackerel action is good on the reefs and wrecks in the 60 to 90-foot zones. Live pogies slow trolled on a wire stinger rig are the best way to get these fish to bite. The waters on these reefs aren’t the cleanest right now because of the tropical depression that went through over the weekend, so a brightly colored kingfish duster will usually help you get more bites.
The offshore cobia bite has been surprisingly good over the past week. Captain Justin has been out there catching multiple fish per trip. Some of these cobia are legal to keep and some of them are just under the slot limit. We expect this to continue for the next couple of weeks.
The snook bite is pretty good at the inlets this week. Live pogies, pilchards, greenies and majorra are the top live baits to try for them. Along the beaches, shark, tarpon, jack and king mackerel are striking slow trolled live baits. For the tarpon and jack, 60 to 80 pound test leaders and a VMC 7/0 circle hook work best. For the kings and sharks you will need to add a short piece of wire to this rig.
The snook bite on the lagoon is good this week. Live majorra, fingerling mullet, and shrimp seem to be the top three live baits to get them to bite…
“If you want to!”
Red Snapper soon is just around the corner with dates soon to be announced…
Capt. Jim Ross says he catches mangrove snapper like this one with light leaders and small hooks, which will get you more bites on the mangroves than standard bottom tackle.
Beating the storm, hitting that black drum bite!
The black drum bite is still booming in the Lagoon!
Big barracuda caught with Capt. Jim Ross
