Fishing

Summertime fishing can be tough. Fish are sluggish during the heat of the day and the most productive hours come and go quickly in the morning or just before sunset. Some species, like speckled trout, stage a quick morning bite and then are gone from an angler’s radar, while others, like pompano, occur mainly in dribs and drabs while the sun is high in the sky.

The weather has been nothing short of great over the past couple of weeks. The humidity has been low and the winds mostly light. If you then take these ingredients and mix them with a good stock of fish, you are about to make something good.

The final key ingredient is the bait needed to catch fish, pogies. It is a widely accepted fact live bait fishing with pogies is the most effective way to catch kings as well as many other species. The problem we have often faced in years past is the lack of pogies.

Summer is in full swing and the fish are well aware. The fishing over the past couple of weeks has been excellent, particularly for king mackerel, but as the heat has continued, the fish are beginning to push back offshore to deeper, cooler water. The king mackerel bite was nothing short of spectacular at the 65-foot hole and Shark Hole all last week.

Inshore fishing continues in its hot-water summer pattern, meaning fish are being caught, although not much is happening in the heat of the day. The best bets now are early morning speckled trout, feisty pompano in the suds or flounder inside.

Speckled trout are staging runs, mostly before noon or around sunset. They can be caught from the piers, around the bridges and jetties or near the creek mouths. The best bait for the specks is live shrimp, which you can gather with your cast net from shore in many places. You can also catch finger mullet for use on the trout.