Conditions Static @ the Inlet

Chad Bailey poses with his snook before tossing it back. Credsit: Matthew Peterson

Good morning all my fishing friends! Hope everyone had a great weekend, and has a great and safe 4th of July! Here is your fishing report. As of Sunday, nothing has changed at the inlet except that the water has cleaned up some more, AND has stayed that way! We had a nice swell come in Wednesday to Friday for the surfers from left over weather from TS Cindy who was well offshore, but the swell did not mess up the water at all! Another thing I noticed when I was down is that the north jetty is LOADED with small greenies and there seems to be some spanish mackerel around. The water temperature also has leveled out to 84 degrees, which is what it should be for this time of year, and this week the weather is calling for SSE winds 5-10 mph, so that shouldn’t be a problem to dirty the water up again. Also that will help keep the water temperatures good. Other than that, the report is going to be a rinse and repeat of last week. So here we go!!

North Jetty

Over here the fishing as been pretty slow for the most part due to the amount of dirty fresh water that has wrapped around the jetty and went north in the surf along the beach due to the wind direction, and the fact that we have a MASSIVE sandbar on the beach side of the jetty that goes from the beach all the way out to almost the end of the jetty which keeps the water pretty shallow. There have been a few spanish mackerel caught on the high tide on small jigs and live greenies, but not many. Mangrove snapper are there between the pilings and along the rocks sometimes when the water cleans up a bit on the high tide. But as before, they are mostly too small to keep. At the tip on the outgoing there are still some “catch and release” snook being caught on live baits, along with jack crevalle and blue runners. Catfish, stingrays pick up the slack due to the dirty water present.

South Jetty

Over here the water has been much dirtier on both tides. Incoming from the silt and sand due to the stiff big SSE winds we had, out going from that washing back out of that water on the beginning, then the black “runoff” water from all the rains we had. There have been some fish caught at the tip on outgoing, but mostly catfish, stingrays and jack crevalle. Some catch and release snook have been caught on live baits on both tides, but most are smaller fish.

Catwalks

Both catwalks remain closed.

Surf Area (both sides)

If you can find some clean water there is a possibility of some whiting, pompano black drum to be caught on live sand fleas or fresh cut shrimp. All this week you will be having low water most of the morning so the fish will be farther out. Look for schools of bait fish, and if you find some, there just might be some spanish mackerel, tarpon, catch and release snook and redfish around them. Fish medium sized swim baits, jigs or any live bait for a possible hookup. I fished the north beach around the inlet last ween and there were some small tarpon around, but was only able to get one hookup.

T-Dock Area

Back here it has been a little better as the water is somewhat cleaner and tere are more small baitfish around. Spsnish mackerel, blue runners and jack crevalle can be caught on small jigs and live greenies. Around the dock pilings the small mangrove snapper are still around, but most are still under the legal 10 inch minimum to be kept. Lane and mutton snappers have ben present as well, but just a few, and just like the mangroves, they have been too small to keep. Muttons have to be 18 inches and the lane’s have to be only 8 inches. Also there are those pesky puffers that are always biting on cut baits. The snappers have been caught on live and dead greenies.

Well folks, that’s all I have for this week. Not much, but it’s something to keep us going! The weather is supposed to be good all week rain wise and wind wise, so grab your gear and get out to your favorite spot and catch something hopefully. Remember, it’s going to be really hot too, so stay hydrated. Good luck. Snookman.
Good luck. Snookman.