Inshore/nearshore report Jacksonville area waters
Capt. Bob Cosby
October 7, 2008
Jacksonville - Saltwater Fishing Report
It's October and bull red time is here! The spawners have returned to area inlets and river channels from their offshore haunts once again. These fish will eat crab, as well as live and cut bait fished deep. Often their air bladder is inflated when you finally get them up, and it's difficult for them to get back to the bottom. Keep a "venting" tool on board, and use it if necessary. Also, use heavy tackle to get them in quickly to avoid over-fatiguing them.
Nice speckled trout are in the river and can be caught on live shrimp, top-water and diving plugs, as well as jigs. Flounder too are a good target this time of year as they gorge on migrating mullet. Croakers and yellow mouth trout are in deep and rocky areas of the river. They will hit bait or jigs fished deep. Some croakers are large.
A recent charter caught some nice 2 to 5 lb bluefish under birds at the St. Augustine inlet using top-water plugs. They put up a good fight, like to jump, and are not bad eating. Ladyfish and jacks are often mixed in with the blues.
Black tip and spinner sharks are thick behind the dragging shrimp boats. These are great game fish and fight like small mako sharks, which are a recognized IGFA game fish. The tarpon seem to still be up the river and around the bridges. It's hard to get through the sharks to find one behind a shrimp boat!
In the surf you might find reds, drum, flounder, whiting, and pompano. Sometimes sharks can be seen in knee-deep water chasing mullet schools.
School has started and the water is not as crowded, so now is a good time to book a charter!
Tight lines!
CAPT Bob Cosby
http://www.captainbobsfishingcharters.com
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