WEEKLY FORECAST
7.11.2023 – 7.17.2023
CENTRAL FLORIDA’S BEST FISHING REPORT
It’s a BIG week as we’ve got the run for the red roses this Friday and Saturday… That’s right, bust out your fancy hats and mint julips for the most exciting two days in offshore fishing. Often a circus, usually a controversy, and always over just as quickly as it begins, it’s recreational fishing’s Kentucky Derby — get ready for Red Snapper Season 2023! Like past red snapper seasons, recreational anglers may keep one fish, per person, per day on July 14 and 15. Bear in mind that a rigged and ready venting tool or descending device is now legally required on any vessel attempting to harvest reef fish, as these devices are critical for a healthy release. Good luck out there to all those hoping to put fresh caught snapper on the table this weekend!
WEATHER & CONDITIONS
BITE OPPORTUNITY INDEX
OFFSHORE
INSHORE
SURF
FRESHWATER
WEATHER OVERVIEW: The weather forecast is looking pretty steady from day-to-day this week, as is common with summertime patterns. Every day is gonna be a HOT one (highs in the low 90s) with a decent shot of thunderstorms and wind ~10-11 mph. For those going red for snapper, both Friday and Saturday are projecting for the same offshore conditions with southwest winds of 5-10 knots and 2-3ft seas. Get out early to beat the heat and avoid the storms.
GIVEAWAYS
Landshark Giveaway
Since 1960, Carroll Distributing has been keeping the local shelves stocked and taps flowing for a long list of everybody’s favorite beverages. Now, they are going to be distributing some awesome prizes to Spacefish readers every month. This month, the prize is a 50qt Landshark Cooler. Manufactured by Bison Coolers, this state-of-the-art chilling hardware holds up to 42 cans and 65 pounds of ice!
WEEKLY STRIKE-ZONE GIVEAWAY
Each week, we’ll randomly draw a name from our email subscriber list to award a $20 Strike-Zone Fishing Gift Card. To enter, all you need to do is subscribe to our weekly forecast email (once subscribed, you’re eligible to win EVERY week).
Congrats to this week's winner, Scott Cumber, Port St Lucie
NOTICE: If you are announced as a winner, you must EMAIL US within 5 days to claim your prize (please include your phone number and mailing address), or your prize will be forfeited and added back into the giveaway pool for future winners.
LATEST Reports
East Lake Toho 12-20
Got my boat back last week and went out to East Lake from Lakefront Park and the wind was blowing more than expected so I went across the lake and fished to the left of Boggy Creek ramp along the reeds where it was a little bit calmer. Caught 3 total all weighing about a pound and a half, biggest was 1.68lbs. First one was on a Gamakatsu Willowvibe, 3/8 ounce with a white DOA paddle tail. Others were caught on a Yum Swim n Dinger in watermelon pearl 5 inch and a Zoom Craw stick in watermelon red. Fished about 2 hours then got off the lake before it got too windy, few white caps on way in rough ride.
by Tcracers
Surf Fishing Report – Canaveral Nat’l Seashore
Good morning East Side family, not much to report this week besides continued swell and onshore winds that will be switching directions to offshore for about a day then going right back out of the north. We ventured up to Canaveral National Seashore this week to target Pompano and Whiting, the conditions were far from good but we were able to harvest some nice fish for dinner. Here are a few tips that helped us stay active on the bite.
1. Regularly check your bait. When the current is rough and the swell is high it’s hard for the fish to find your bait, so make sure the bait is on the hook and fresh (we like to tip our hooks with a piece of FishGum incase our bait gets taken or is lost on the cast).
2. Utilize Sputnik sinkers for rough surf, we had to fish 5oz Sputnik sinkers to hold bottom. You can purchase them here at pompanorich.net
3. Don’t be afraid to move or cast into a new zone, sometimes the fish can be 10-20 yards down the beach from you, but you won’t know unless you cast a line there.
All in all it was a good time hitting the beach and fishing away from our typical haunts. The fishing should improve as our conditions improve so keep an eye out for a weather window and go fishing!
by Shasta Sirju
EastSide Surf Fishing
| (321) 872-5814
Pressure Didn’t Faze Bite
There has been a little low pressure rising up from the Caribbean this past week bring us some wet and windy weather but it did seem to faze the bite. We are continuing to boat several species like trout, redfish, snook and black drum making for a great time on the water. The bite has been good on both artificials and live bait like shrimp and finger mullet. The weather looks to be good into the week of Christmas which will just secure the bite even more.
by Capt. Patrick Rood
Spot N Tail Charters
| (386) 566-1394
Headwaters area
Cool water temperature at 60 to 65. Fish staging to pull up on flats and the spawn will be good in January.
Shiner dunking all day artificial more fun in afternoon warmup. Jerk bait spinner baits chatter are fair. Worm fluke and plastic bite good. Dates available — let’s go get a big one!
by haulinbass
Finding Fish & Wind Protection on the Eau Gallie River
KAYAK FISHING REPORT
Happy Monday Spacefish!
I hope everyone is having a great Holiday season so far. What an interesting weekend we just had, the weather warmed up, we had some humidity and cloud cover, but some very strong ENE winds rolled through. This made conditions in the IRL pretty choppy. I ended up getting out both days this weekend, for the first time in a while, which felt really nice. I fished two spots that served as great places to hunker down in the wind, and both spots were productive for me. I am going to break down my Saturday trip in this report, and will go into detail on Sunday’s trip for another time.
Launch Spot
My original intention was to fish Goat Creek in Grant-Valkaria. I have been getting some nice reports by members of our school anglers club about Goat Creek, however with the strong east winds on Saturday I made a late audible and went to one of my favorite haunts, the Eau Gallie River. My game plan was to launch out of Ballard Park and head south along the eastern shoreline of Elbow Creek to catch some wind protection. I was going to go down to the bridge and back, but I ended up catching so many fish in a handful of spots, I did not make it all the way down. I spent my last hour or so playing hide & seek with some Juvie Tarpon, which I could not have been more thrilled about. I have never caught Tarpon in December, and to come across some was awesome.
Trout Stacked Up
One of my favorite times to fish the Eau Gallie River is in the winter because if you have strong North winds you can head west and have wind protection, if you have East or ENE winds you can head South along Elbow Creek. But in addition to wind protection, you also have a lot more Trout in the river-spring time which can make a day of fishing a lot more enjoyable. Trout in the area can easily add 10-15 more catches per outing, especially when the Juvie’s school and stack up. Catching a bunch of little Trout is not going to land one on any brag board, but in the bleak mid-winter I really enjoy just being able to catch a higher number of fish, it just makes every outing feel worthwhile. I found two areas where the Trout were stacked up, one area was just behind Ballard, and the other area was between docks about halfway down Elbpw Creek between Ballard and the US1 bridge. The key is to find a good depth contour and be on the lookout for feeding fish. With it being more windy, and overcast and a little drizzly at times, I took the rod/reel set up I have been using to fish the Vudu Shrimp and switched it out for a hard bait, which is something I don’t fish a lot. Because I am not a hard bait guy per se, I don’t spend much on them, I have 2 Bomber Bait Bonanza that I got from Walmart for like 3 bucks. I have a Holographic/Chartreuse one, and a RedHead/Holographic White body one. I exchanged the weak terminal tackles on these cheap baits with VMC 1/0 Single Inline hooks, and Owner brand stainless steel split rings. I was able to catch roughly 15 small trout fishing this bait around the docks and depth contours, I also caught a Jack Crevalle and a Ladyfish while trolling this bait as well.
Baby Snooklets in the Mangroves
So I ended up catching 2 babies and one “fun sized” 20ish inch Snook. I got absolutely smoked in my 1st 20 minutes or so by a large mangrove mama right behind Ballard. I was using pretty beefed up tackle for winter, I had 15 pound braid, and 30 pound fluorocarbon with a 40 pound bite tippet tied on the end. With the lower water levels in the winter, sometimes these Snook will be way back in the mangroves and it’s accessible to reach them with good skip casting, but harder to get them out and even with the heavier than usual tackle I couldn’t get her out, I got wrapped up and broken off.
But down closer to the Buddha dock I caught 2 smaller ones, and under the next dock south I caught one around 20-22 inches. I included a picture of one of the babies below because it had some really cool markings, something had tried to get it, either a Bull Shark or a Dolphin and it had lived to tell its tale.
*Buddha Dock = Long Dock with a Buddha Statue, across from the Boathouse.
All of the Snook bites came on a Saltwater Assassin SW Shad in Magic Grass. This is a cool colorway, with deep purple and green and a chartreuse tail. I just rigged it on a 3/0 EWG Worm hook. I just picked up a pack of 50 H2O Express brand hooks from Academy Sports last weekend for like 8 bucks. Great value and these hooks are pretty strong too. This bait rigged weightless and weedless may be one of the best skipping presentations I have ever assembled, and it has great action. I love going weightless in the winter time because these baits have a slow and enticing fall rate.
Tarpon is December?!? Merry Christmas!
The pleasant surprise of the trip was finding some Juvenile Tarpon that wanted to play. The first one I caught was a complete surprise. I saw something blow up on the corner of the mangroves just north of the Buddha dock. I skipped the Magic Grass Jerkbait under those mangrove, felt an immediate thump and set the hook. After losing that previous Snook I had the drag tightened up to the max, and was ready for battle. I immediately started back-pedaling towards open water, and with a medium heavy rod, 15 braid to 40 fluorocarbon with a tight drag set on a 4000 Penn Reel I whooped this poor little baby Tarpon in seconds. I actually felt kind of bummed I didn’t even get a jump out of him.
So after that, I went with my Light action rod and threw around a Tsunami 2 inch SaltX Swim Shad with 8 pound braid tied to 15 Fluorocarbon. Within minutes I hooked up with another Juvie between the Buddha dock and the mangroves who displayed some spectacular aerial jumps and moves before spitting the bait, and then in that stretch of mangroves north of the dock with all of the jetskis that sprays you with water if you get too close I hooked up with another baby Tarpon and after a few exciting jumps I got him into the net. I thought this was a really cool picture of the little Tarpon set against the backdrop of fall foliage in the trees.
So one thing I do want to say about these Tarpon is that I never saw any rolling like I would see in the summertime. I hooked them all blind casting. The best advice I can give is be on the lookout for things blasting smaller fry baitfish, as well as be mindful when you are retrieving lures for “Tarpon taps” if you feel like your bait is being tapped then slow down, but also be ready to switch to smaller profile baits.
Conclusion
While this trip lacked brag worthy quality fish, it made up for with quantity and variety. Winter fishing can be slow and tedious especially for those that like to power fish artificial lures. So I will gladly take a trip like this where I caught lots of fish, and caught 5 different species. I think the recent warming trend, cloudy skies and rise of humidity was a welcome change that really fired up the bite. Fingers crossed we get good conditions as we approach Christmas!
Thank you for taking the time to read this report, and make sure to stop in at Kayaks By Bo in Cocoa to do any last minute Christmas shopping. They have good deals running on everything in store. Go check them out!
Stay safe, be happy, may you and your family enjoy a very Merry Christmas. Take care and God bless. Until next time!
by Knox Robinson
Spacefish Prostaff
EFP Snapper Program
We got to fish for red snapper last week as part of the EFP Snapper program. Needless to say everywhere we went we caught a red snapper of large size. These were the first red snapper over the rails. We managed 1 gag in the mix and 1 set of red grouper lips lol. The rest was taken by very large bull sharks.
by Capt. Chris Cameron
Fired Up Charters
| (407) 222-3573
Headwaters Bass Fishing
The water temp is 63 degrees when we started this morning. The canal is blocked just below the cut into the north lake.
Top baits this week for me were the Bass Assassin RSB worms, Jackhammers, Lure Concept Spinnerbaits and the Mike Bucca 6″ Trick Shad in Gizzard Shad color.
I’m fishing the Bass Assassin RSB worms with an 3/8oz weight due to the high winds lately. The fish are in the hydrilla near spawning flats. I’m using a 5/0 VMC Redline EWG hook. I like letting these sink to the bottom and pull it along the bottom fairly slow.
I’m fishing the Green Pumpkin Jackhammers along hydrilla edges in water 5’ or less. I only use a 1/2oz with a Zako trailer to match or a Bass Assassin Whoopa Craw to match. I’m concentrating on the wind blown sides of the grass lines.
The 6″ Mike Bucca Trick Shad in Gizzard Shad color is my go to swimbait this week. I’m fishing these along thick grass edges near deep sharp drops or cuts near main canals. It is a fish catcher and it will work all over Headwaters. Swim these just under the surface for best results. Get on the Bullshad email mailing list so you can get the bait drop info.
I’m fishing a white Lure Concept 1/2oz spinnerbait with no trailer along the same structure I’m fishing my chatterbaits. The wind blown side of the grass seems to be the deal.
If you want to catch a bunch of fish pick up some shiners and free line them in deep water areas.
Call or text me at 304-610-6066 to book a trip of a lifetime. I have some outstanding guides that work for me that have availability as well.
Tight lines!
by Kenny Hass
Catchin' Bass Guide Service
| (772) 494-7400
Good Action in the Lagoon
We’ve had good action in the lagoon. Plenty of trout and a decent snook bite even though they are smaller fish. There are some redfish and black drum being caught in the inlet, shrimp and croakers have been the best baits. The flounder bite has been decent, as well.
Fishing for sheepshead and snapper in the lagoon has been pretty good as well and the pompano have been on the flats too. Nearshore, some pompano and mackerel as well as blues and jacks when we can get out with some blacktips and spinner sharks following the macs and blues and jacks. Looking for some warmer weather this week and strong winds according to the forecast.
The fishing should be pretty decent if you can get out of the wind.
by Capt. Glyn Austin
Going Coastal Charters
| (321) 863-8085
See “What Happens”
Guides often get charter requests where the client doesn’t care what we target. I find it refreshing and always enjoy these trips. It’s not unusual for me to start with a simple jig or spoon and see “what happens” and it gives me a few minutes to assess the clients casting abilities. If the jacks, ladyfish and trout are active, we might stay with this routine. If the constant casting is bothersome for the clients we’ll change up and grab the live shrimp rods and go “old school”, in essence, feeding the fish.
Recently, I received a request to target sheepshead. Not my first request for these tasty striped critters, but the first in a long time. I replied to Dave that his request was perfectly timed and ensured him we’d be able to catch a few and maybe more than a few. Though the bite started slowly as we waited on the tide to get moving, it only took a very short time to catch enough fish for a couple of great meals. I was surprised at Dave’s request to stop catching convict fish and try for tripletail instead.
Off we went, leaving the sheepshead biting hard, to inspect every crab trap buoy and channel marker in our immediate area. We failed a boating any trips, but Dave did get bit a couple of times and he even saw the flash of one of the TTs that bit his live shrimp.
So, in one half day charter, my client learned a whole bunch about targeting two completely different species of excellent table-fare fish. I hope I didn’t teach him too much, I’m really looking forward to fishing with Dave again!
Kim and I scouted the backwater jungles of North Fort Pierce recently. The snook we were hoping for were hiding way back in the mangroves as is typical during high water periods. We did manage several spotted seatrout that were stacked up along one particular mangrove shoreline. They eagerly ate our
Zman four inch Diezel Minnowz in a variety of colors!
by Capt. Mark Wright
Florida East Coast Fishing Adventures
| (321) 302-3474
High Winds & Huge Surf @ Inlet
Good morning, Sebastian Inlet fishing fans. I hope everyone had a good weekend, despite the winds! This is another short report because the high winds and huge surf at the inlet for the last few days have made it difficult to fish some areas — especially the south jetty where it has been wet and wild! This week isn’t going to be much better, until the weekend possibly.
The fishing on both side of the inlet west of the bridge has been hit-or-miss, but there have been fish caught in small numbers. Over the weekend, the water quality and clarity looked great, but was still pretty chilly at 66 degrees. Along the shorelines west of the bridge, north side, there were reports of whiting and sheepshead being caught back in the area of the steel on live and dead shrimp. West of that area, back by the mangroves, anglers were catching small undersized snook on live shrimp and thumper jigs. Everything was too small, but still fun.
On the south side, west of the bridge, there were a couple anglers catching sheepshead on dead shrimp and sand fleas; either tide was good — you just had to find the fish. I did talk to a couple guys who saw some flounder caught back there on live finger mullet. The three fish they saw caught were in the three to four-pound range, with one they heard about in the 10-pound range! I’m hoping that this year will be a better flounder bite, because last year was horrible.
Near the cleaning station on either tide, black drum and sheepshead are possible on live and dead shrimp. At the T-dock, with the cleaner water, Spanish mackerel have shown up on small white jigs. Around the north side in the back of the inlet in the intercoastal, there have been reports of a good pompano bite on shrimp and goofy jigs, along with spotted sea trout on swim baits and live baits, but you can’t keep them until January 1. Good fishing for kayakers and boaters.
That’s all I have for now. We need the weather to calm back down, and it will get better. Reminder: Snook season is now CLOSED until February 1. Have a great week, everyone!
by Wayne "Snookman" Landry
Sebastian Inlet State Park
| (321) 724-5175
This Weeks Report
The fishing has been absolutely on fire lately! The sheepshead bite has been particularly hot, with several catches exceeding 20 inches. As we progress deeper into the season, I expect the action to only intensify.
For those targeting sheepshead, be sure to focus on structure like docks, pilings, and rocky areas. Effective baits include mangrove crabs, sand fleas, and shrimp.
In addition to the exceptional sheepshead fishing, I’ve also been enjoying some fantastic snook action in the area. By working small lures slowly just off the mangroves, we’ve been catching some impressive snook, as well as a few bonus trout.
As we head into the coming week, I’m excited to see the fishing continue to improve. With the sheepshead and snook bites already going strong, it’s shaping up to be an incredible season.
by John Page
JP Kayak Fishing and Tours
| (321) 345-8388
Weekend Report
Get the latest word on the bite with Damon from Spacefish on the Mark Moses Show. We talk local fishing every Friday on the air at 4pm.
by Damon
CAUGHT ON CAMERA
CATCH A BIG SMILE WITH JASIN YOUMANS DMD!
LOCAL EVENTS
FSFA South Chapter Meeting
July 11
The FSFA South Chapter meeting is BACK! Front Street Civic Center, Melbourne (2205 Front Street, in Melbourne, next to the Front Street boat ramps, across from Harry Goode’s). Social time starts at 6:30. Meeting starts at 7:00. Capt. Sonny Richards of Aquaholics Aknotymous talking about fishing offshore Sebastian. Food and drink available for a donation.
Bottom Grind
July 15
FSFA North Chapter Meeting
July 25
The FSFA North Chapter Meeting is at Veterans Memorial Center 400 S. Sykes Creek Parkway, Merritt Island (behind Merritt Square Mall). Capt. Zachery Dillon of Reaper Fishing will be covering offshore tactics for this time of year. Social time starts at 6:30. Meeting starts at 7:00. Food and drink available for a donation.
Demo Day / Boat Show
July 28
This is the ultimate event for anyone who loves boats and wants to see the latest and greatest models. Come and see the newest boats from top manufacturers and meet the experts who make them. You’ll have the opportunity to speak with industry professionals, learn about the latest technology, and see the boats up close.
2023 New Smyrna Outfitters Snook Championship
July 29-30
SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY!
Don’t forget, if you’ve been fishing, we’d love to hear from you!
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