Summer is here! We’re in the dog days of summer. Hot humid days, afternoon popup thunderstorms can be typical. Ample amounts of rain last week while mudding water in short run should be a help to our fishery. Lots of small summer trout (12″ or so) showing on the sandbars. Capt. Wild Bill says it’s reputed that summer trout hit harder than seatrout. Maybe so we had plenty of hard hits with fish you knew had to be larger. Large amounts of rain in a short period of time can push bait and the predator fish out to saltier water. In a few tide cycles conditions returned normal as slit and mud particles settled and rain water dissipated. Wind and rain last week made conditions difficult to fish. When conditions are rough the only alternative is to fish lee shores. Pick the most likely spot and fish the water in front of you. Rough conditions limit choices. Pitching a plastic might sound a little difficult on a rough day but not so. Remember you’re fishing a lee shore. You’re out of wind or practically out of the wind. Pitching can change your presentation. Fish that were reluctant might bite. When wind and tide are opposing, working against each other the result can be a miserable drift. You’re fishing protected water and little if anything is happening. It likely there fish are there it’s a matter of getting them to bite. Seatrout are predator fish. Pitching a soft plastic might trigger bite that otherwise would be hard to generate. As conditions began to improve on Saturday and Sunday so did the bite. Action reported near the beach fronts with seatrout, redfish, whiting and flounder. Capt. Vern on Monday of this week caught some nice seatrout fishing close to the sound. Fish early to try an beat the heat! Bonnethead sharks are plentiful particularly where crabs shrimp and muddy bottoms are presents as well as along sandbars. If you associate bonnetheads with mud you wont go wrong.
Another sign of summer is ladyfish. This is fast aggressive fish that can provide lots of fun on light tackle. The present Georgia state record is only 5 pounds. There are plenty of fish out there that will exceed that number. When seatrout aren’t biting its likely ladyfish or bluefish will show up. Ladyfish seems to be a more impervious to summer heat. Seatrout will tend to bite best early or when conditions are cloudy. Ladyfish while not often kept for food can make excellent bait for tarpon and sharks. Ladyfish will take a variety of baits as well as artificials or a fly. For best action target areas with current and close to the sounds. The big eyes on ladyfish gives them excellent eye sight. Sometime its possible to catch this fish even in muddy conditions. Once you locate a school of ladyfish hold on! Anticipate frequent jumps, aggressive head shaking and strong fights. Some fishermen say catching a ladyfish is a sign of good luck to come! Ladyfish are in!
Hope of help! Good fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan