Now here’s my report:

Inshore: Water temps are in the mid to upper eighties. But, just like us, fish gotta eat. Reds are biting best on the falling tide and flounder on the incoming tide. If you can catch the right tide in the early morning so much the better. We even had a tarpon rolling and balling bait right behind the boat today in the ICW.

Near Shore: To carry on, a few tarpon sightings and catches have been reported. Spanish macks have been biting along the beaches out to 40 feet. Sharks fishing is on.

Offshore: Kings are in deeper water 18 miles out. Some mahi and maybe a few sails are around as well. Live bait, ballyhoo or cigar minnows are the baits of choice.

Upcoming: I would guess it is a safe bet the more hot weather is in store, but it looks like we have a brief “cooling spell” coming over the nest few days…only in the upper 80′s. Fish early and fish deep for best results.

Until Next Time….

LET’S GO FISHING!!!

Capt. Richard Bennett
Rod-Man Charters
P: 910.799.6120

East Lake Toho has still being holding steady with action in the early morning hours getting very limited top water action, but the redeye shad and white spinner bait have been picking off the bass steadily. When the day heats up, the big ticket has been senko type baits and flukes, worked in and around topped out grasses scattered around the main lake. The 6 to 10 foot range has been the areas that have seemed to hold more bass, and the better quality bass out here.

West Lake Toho has been fishing a lot like East Lake Toho. One big out here though is locating moving water after the rains. These areas will not only hold some good sized bass, but will also hold some good numbers as well. Northern end of the lake seems to be one of the better areas for producing bass as well as a few areas of offshore grasses.

Lake X, as I like to refer to it, is a part of the Kissimmee chain and has been a great place to fish. Bass in the early morning hours have been pretty active on senko type baits and flukes, with a few being caught on the redeye shad. Speed craws and trick worms have also been catching a good amount of bass out here as well. Topped out hydrilla has been the hot spot to be when the sun is up and the heat of the day is in full swing.

Butler Chain is still doing good as well. Our usual dock pattern has gone to the way side as the bass have moved offshore. Most of our fishing has been out in mid lake areas where grasses are just below the surface. Steel shad have been good in these areas as well as the flukes. Flukes were rigged with a small bullet weight and crawled thru the grasses to catch the bass. The hits were not aggressive but the bass were solid. Slow and steady pace will boat bass out here for you even in the heat of the day.

Capt. Tim Fey
Florida Bass Fishing Guides
P: 321-303-9207

Stripers are in their summer pattern and should remain deep till the water cools. Last year the pattern held till mid-October. Look in water depths of at least 40-50 feet deep. The fish have been in the bigger creeks and coves from mid-lake to the dam. There are still some fish further up, but the herring die quickly in the upper lake. The best bite for me has been in the 70-90 feet deep water. Fish may be suspended in the trees or on the bottom between trees. A good sonar is very important now. A good GPS with detailed topography helps locate channels, flats, points, humps and other bottom contours.

Fish a live herring on a Carolina jig at the depth where you mark the fish on your graph. When it gets real hot in August and the fish don’t want to eat, try “power reeling” by reeling the bait slowly up through the fish. Then lower it back below with a jigging spoon or butterfly jig if you don’t want to use herring. A soft plastic fluke on a drop shot rig is another option if the fish are on the bottom. If they come up, throw a top water plug and work it fast.

Capt. Preston Harden
Bucktail Guide Service
P: 706-255-5622

Fishing this week is very good with fish on strong summer pattern of schooling every morning. It takes some boat riding around the lake to find feeding fish but we have been able to catch a bunch every morning this week. We are catching a lot of little ones but are able to get some nice keepers for the ice chest also. Best bite has been from 6:00 am to 9:00 am. but with some looking you can atay on fish for most of the morning hours.

Fish are feeding on this years shad hatch and the bait is tiny so a rooster tail or clear tiny torpedoe should work. We catch all our schooling fish on the “Floatin Thing” that I make. Its a great time to get young people on the lake to catch some surface feeding sand bass.

Have fun fishing.

Capt. Tim Wike
Reelin Ray Roberts Guide Service
P: 940-387-4250

In mid July, I headed over to Bimini with some friends and fellow members of the Miami Sport Fishing Club. The trip was memorable to say the least. After clearing customs we headed off to find a healthy supply of bait for the day. We found the bait but had a tough time netting them due to the shallow water were they were found. Once we netted our bait we headed to our first spot were we caught a bunch of flag yellow tail and a couple of nice kings. Our second spot yielded some more flags and kings up to 40#. Late in the day we decided to try our luck deep dropping for yellow-eye snapper and were catching some real nice ones when the tunas moved in. After all was said and done, we had boated a nice yellowfin and lost another. After cleaning up it was time to head home again.

The day after returning from Bimini, I was fishing with James and his pals from Ft. Lauderdale. These guys fish with me often and it is always fun to see them poke fun at each other. We anchored on a shallow wreck hoping to catch yellowtail or mutton snapper. The yellowtails weren’t as large or plentiful as they’ve been for us on past trips. The good news is that we still had fun catching some large jacks and other species. The highlight of the evening was when one of the guys hooked into a large fish that turned out to be an estimated 50# goliath grouper. The fish was promptly released and will hopefully grow to breed.

My next trip was with Emanuel, his grandfather who were looking to try there hand at some Miami bottom fishing. The trip was short lived when the two friends they brought along began to feel queasy. Both Emanuel and his grandpa decided it would be better to head in and re-schedule.

A few days later I was again fishing with the Miami Sport Fishing Club and this time we were in Key West trying our hand at bottom fishing and/or wreck fishing. During our time in Conch Republic we never saw winds of less than 25 mph. Our first day kept us bait fishing and inshore. On our second day we decided to abandon the reef fishing and hit the gulf wrecks in search of permit, cobia, goliaths, etc. We were not disappointed going through about 60 blue crabs and countless pinfish in one day. The day was action packed and we ended with about seven cobia, several permit, and two goliaths. Since we were fishing light tackle we did loose quite a few permit to the wreck. All in all this was a great trip and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

After Key West it was time to head out of town with my family for a little rest and relaxation. We had a great time and actually wanted to extend our trip but duty called as I had a trip scheduled that I had to be back for.

The next day I was fishing with Greg, Jennifer and Brandon. Both of them have fished Miami before during the spring but never during the summer. The morning began by catching a healthy supply bait in Government Cut. I then decided that our best bet would be to head South between Triumph reef and Pacific light. The seas were a bit choppy making our long run a bit bumpy but the crew was up to it. Once we set up it didn’t take long. We caught bonitos, sharks, muttons, red grouper, kingfish, amberjack, and yellow jacks just to name a few. The highlight of the day came when Brandon caught his first ever sailfish. Mom and dad had both caught sails before and watching their son catch his made them very proud. After a few pictures and a successful release it was time to head back. On the way back to the dock Greg mentioned that he had counted 12 different species over the course of the day. Now he can’t wait to get back down here next spring.

After, a couple of trips rescheduled due to high winds I got a call from Oscar who was looking to do some tarpon fishing a some family that was visiting from our of the country. After getting some reports and checking tides, I decided that our best bet was to fish one of the local bridges. I knew the fish were stacked up on this bridge but the small shrimp found this time of the year make it tough. After trying one spot and re-anchoring we hooked and landed a nice fish. High fives were exchanged and pictures taken prior to the release. A couple of tries later we hooked into another fish which took advantage of the angler by getting around one of the pilings. We tried a couple more spots before heading back.

Capt. Orlando Muniz
Nomad Fishing Charters
P: 786-266-0171

It took us three stops to fill up the BOX. We had the trout coming in the boat everycast several times when three different inconsiderate people (that don’t have a clue) motor right over the fish shutting down the bite. HOW HARD IS IT TO TURN YOUR BIG MOTOR OFF AND TROLL IN???????????? PLEASE USE YOUR BRAIN.

Whew, OK so besides dealing with that everyone had a great time slinging in 14-19 inch trout. Double tantem Chubs did all The damage as there is never a need to dirty your hands or boat with livebait!!!!!!! LOL.

It was great Fishing with you guys again and I look forward to your return in a couple weeks.

Emerald green waters with NO OIL IN SIGHT.

Capt. Marty LaCoste
Absolute Fishing Charters, LLC
P: 985-856-4477

Our boats have been out everyday on both morning and afternoon trips. Freshly changed, quality live bluebacks on a downline are working best.

Fish your bluebacks 30 to 40 feet deep over a 35 to 80 foot bottom in the mouths of creeks and just off the main channel. There are fish starting to show up in decent numbers out over the main river channel, but we are a couple of weeks or so away from this pattern. Leadcore is producing a few daily. We are seeing some great top water fishing on a Spro Dawg and on a Spook on points and humps after the sun gets up high. I haven’t seen this good a late morning, summertime top water bite since years 2001 – 2002.

Overall, the striper fishing is strong on Lake Lanier if you are on active fish.

Good Fishing.

Capt. Shane Watson
Shane Watson Guide Service Inc.
P: 770-889-5549

Each day seems to be a different approach. One day they will hit shiners and the next day they won’t hardly touch them. Find running water when we get a good shower the night before the water seems to cool down a couple degrees and the bite will be strong the next morning. On artificial top water such as flukes and zara spooks in the early morning for about an hour the move into cover such as lily pads and hydrilla. Fish worms and sinkos in watermelon and gord green slow and deliberate to get bit.

Lake Toho and Lake Kissimmee are the best on the chain because of the water levels in the middle part of the chain are low.

Great Fishing!

Capt. Pete Matson
A#1 Bass Guide Service
P: 800-707-5463

Went boating on lil’ WHIPA today and set out the crab pots, been tasting some good ol’boiled crabs. Decided while I was out to take a couple of fish weapons with me and the brill net. After putting out crab pots, went over and found one factory working and with one throw the net started swimming off with the pogey’s (oh yea). So off to do lil fishing, wanted to fish some new spots, went to old reef by mouth of Fort Bayou.
As I approached the reef I could smell fish and could see several boils on top. Throwed the anchor and it was on, as soon as the pogey hit the water BAM! For about 2 hours I sat there and reeled in fish as fast as humanly possible; specks, white trout, and some drag ripping gafftops. Most of the specks were 12 1/2 to 13 1/2 in. Just kept a few and left them biting.

On way back, decided to stop try one more lil spot. Old discharge pier close to ramp and soon as my free lined pogey got up next to the pier BAM! Red fish, caught three, one was tagged and was the only one to make the 18in cut the other two were just a lil under size, but a blast on the light spin weapon.

Boy, tell ya they keep this oil shut down might open up lil bit more water. But if not man the Bay is alive and well! We did reel well in Bay last year especially Aug. and Sept. Sure would love to get in a snapper trip!!!!!!!!
Come on down South Mississippi and step aboard the WHIPASNPAPA! That’s all you have to do.

Ready to fish; tired of fighting with those people that SAY they gone make it right; bs from the bp; so if you need a cut especially for the kids,

call us an LETS GO GET UM!!!!!!!!!!

That’s what we do best

Capt. Robert McDaniel
Whipasnapa Charters
P: 228-229-6978

Soft plastics rigged on the Fin-tech Nuckle Ball jig and the Title Shot are getting great results.June Bug in the 6″ to 10 1/2″ curl tail worm and good. The Gold Shad Lizard is still hot, over 5000 sold since the Georgia Top Six visited Eufaula several weeks ago.

The Emerald Strike Droopy Eyeker is getting the Bass’ attention in deeper water. The fish are holding around tree piles and structure in 18 to 22 feet. They do not want to see anything moving fast in this heat. The big lipped Droopy Eyeker will stay in the strike zone on a very slow roll.

Night fishing for bass is picking up since the days are so hot. The results are seeing bigger bass being taken. Dark lures and baits are the best bet as the fish are seeing silhouettes against the night sky.

Crappie are doing a little bit at night around the causeway and bridges. You need plenty of repellant.

Cats are really on fire now, especially at the dam with the water running. The sizes are getting bigger with reports of 20 pound plus not uncommon.

Capt. Sam Williams
Hawk’s Fishing & Hunting Guide Service
P: 334-687-6266