July 2011

The summer heat has definitely arrived and the trout bite has arrived with it. Look for the large schools of finger mullet that have moved into the lagoon system to be holding large numbers of trout with them in the early mornings.You can target these fish with topwater plugs,soft plastics and as well with live bait. As the sun gets higher in the sky move to a little deeper water along the edges of the flats and bars to target these fish. The red fish have started their summer time patterns look for them breaking up from the large schools and pushing up on shorelines and around bars looking for easy meals. This time of year i like to throw aqua dream spoons and top water plugs to find them and switch over to a soft plastic for something more settle. These fish can also be caught on live bait such as live finger mullet,shrimp and pin fish are some good choices. I have started to notice the snook bite is starting to come back around after the freeze a year ago just remember these fish got hit really hard so handle with care to keep our population thriving. The flounder bite is really good right now almost every trip out my clients have boated a flatty. This time of year they are not huge but have had some twenty inch fish in the boat. The tarpon are moving in thicker as the month go's on and should be in full affect by the end of the month. Look for them rolling and chasing bait early in the morning around channel edges and deep passes. Capt Patrick Rood www.spotntailcharters.com