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1-11 July It's Hot! Make a Plan and stick to it.
Capt. Jim Conant
July 11, 2015
Matlacha - Saltwater Fishing Report
1-11 July 2015
It's Hot and the fish think so too! Make a plan and stick to it!
My last couple of trips seem to have almost been identical other than where we were at on the tides. I've been out catching my bait for the day a half hour in front of the sun coming up and trying to pick up my clients early enough that the fish are still biting before the water warms back up over the 90's. The tides have been good for afternoon and evening fishing but no so good for morning fishing when it is the coolest. One of last week's trips we were out with overcast skies and seeing small little rain clouds. My friend Sam and I were catching snook and I had just caught a 22" Red then lost a monster Snook a minute later. The tide was at the top on incoming and a slight wind from the West North West, excellent conditions and a great spot. Soon after losing the snook we kept eyeing the clouds behind us when we started seeing fish jumping all over Matlacha Pass and not all were mullet. Then we were seeing light rain coming that was going to miss us by a couple hundred yards. Another minute passes and again looking behind us we see a huge gust of wind coming across the water about half a mile behind us. So I go and secure everything and prepare. About 15 yards behind the boat the water was swirling and all I could think was this is going to suck literally. That wind gust turned into a water spout just before it hit my boat, all I could do was grab my hat that was sucking off my head, then my rods that were lifting up then the boat with both of my power poles anchored down started spinning. I look up and see a nice donut hole in this little black rain cloud. As soon as it started it stopped when the funnel hit the mangroves. After that was over me and Sam looked at each other and said "nobody is going to believe this story!" We are both military Veterans and will call B.S. on stories quickly. After the funnel subsided the huge deluge was coming, we were in 1.5 ft of water and oyster bars galore for a half mile. We were able to just beat the downpour by 50 or so yards.
For the last several weeks the water started out at about 87.5 first thing in the morning and by 10-10:30 it warms to 90- 90.9 by noon it's over 92 and the fish have all but shut down except for the catfish, this also has coincided with the top of high tide normally the lower hi tide of the day and not a high enough tide that the fish can get up into the mangrove shade. As I take my clients out of the morning we move straight to catching Reds before the tide stops and before the water reaches 89. I've been getting them on several before moving areas to target different species. The tides on the lower incoming tides have only been a 3-6 inch difference in variation which translates to not a lot of moving water to work with.
I've been doing the best when I make a plan of action the night or two before, taking into effect the wind, tide and current direction. I only alter the plan if when I am moving to the next area and there is another angler fishing relatively close to where I wanted to be. I would definitely prefer to be fishing of the evening with better moving water but most customers have other plans for that part of the day and don't want to be dodging the afternoon and evening showers.
Lastly, can we get a lot more courteous out there? I am out last week chumming for bait and there were two other boats in the area all of us gave each other ample space 75 yards or so. I've been chumming and catching bait for my clients for a while now when a boat sees me hauling in bait and yells across to me "Doing any good?" me: "Yep" Him: "well I'm going to pull right up beside you" Me: "no you're not!" he proceeded to do so with his outboard scared my bait away and he was within 10 ft. after scowling at him one of the guys on his boat said we should back off. So he back off another 10 ft. At this time I gather my gear put it up pull up power poles and asked him if he was on bait yet? Yep! SO I powered up and left the area. Common Courtesy People! If it's catching bait and you see people catching don't power up next to them stay way off and gently come in no closer than 75 yards or more. If the person waves you to come in then you can encroach upon them. I have friends on the water and if I'm not waved in or I wave them in DON'T ENCROACH! Same goes for fishing.
If you're ready to go fishing give me a call to plan your trip so we can try and catch the tides right. As I do cater to the Veteran community, if you're a Veteran with proof I have the best prices around and I guarantee it. I'm also on Facebook at Jimbo's Charters.
Captain Jim
239-671-4692
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