Here is this weekend's Big Bend fishing report

Dog days. No doubt they’re here. 90+ degrees peak day high, afternoon showers, hopeful then thankful.

So many times we watch storms build overhead while drifting flats for trout, red’s or whatever will eat a shrimp under a bright Orange popper cork. They get closer and closer, boats run for the hill.

For many of us that spend way more time on the water than work, we’re accustom to this and look forward to what’s about to go down. As clouds build and grow they get closer to shore. It’s the extreme heat difference between land and water that triggers a cloud dump water, just like an eye with dust.

That cool rush of air, broken water surface from quick winds, we know it won’t be long till the storms pass and the fishing gets even better. Not to mention the temp drop makes it all worth the try for those tasty fish.

Freshwater is a lot different. You see those clouds build to the East or West while looking into the direction of the sun, you’ll want to keep an eye on ‘em.

Lake Talquin for example is lined with trees. Afternoons out there are known for summer storms. Again welcomed, after a super hot day. Trees prevent keeping an eye on weather in the distance. Knowing your surroundings is key. How far you are from cover, safe path, time to get there without panic.

Wherever you choose to enjoy your last days of summer vacay, be sure to prepare for these dog days of summer. Lotion up, drink lots of water, watch for storms and enjoy!

Until next week, be safe have fun and ALWAYS wear a life jacket while boating.

Cliff (JR) Mundinger

APALACHEE BAY

Otto Hough (Facebook @myhometownfishing) says,” Hot is more than an understatement when talking about the skinny water temps and air temps that are currently being experienced across the waters of the Big Bend. Fortunately, anglers fishing the true early morning hours enjoyed success chasing trout/reds, tripletail and red snapper over the closing days of the summer snapper season. The afternoon bites have been far slower.

Going into these next three days, offshore fishing, with red snapper, gag and red grouper closed, catching will be pretty much limited to Greater Amberjack (season opened August 1st), cobia, Mahi-Mahi, black grouper, porgys and Key West grunts. In the skinny water, trout/reds, tripletail and flounder are all have been feeding in their respective summertime feeding patterns.

Over the weekend, early morning high tides will be occurring prior to safelight, falling out into the late morning hours. Expect the post full moon tidal flows to be strong. If the NWS Marine Forecast holds true, seas ought to be pretty darn smooth into next week. An aggravation if an avid fan of topwater plugging like my buddy John Wiliams and me, will be a preponderance of floating grasses with the tides. It's that point in the summer to work those Texas rigged five inch jerk jerk shads down in the water column when targeting trout. Give those reds an opportunity to slam a gold AquaDream spoon worked over and on the fringes of any submerged oyster bar holding actively feeding mullet schools.

The waters around Alligator and Turkey Point Spits have been producing some fine early morning trout and reds. A little outside, Dog Island Reef has been giving up nice trout over the shallower spotty bottom areas on the rising tide. The bigger trout are liking a lively pinfish under a Cajun Thunder or Equalizer. Don't be surprised by a tussle with more than one species of shark that frequent the reef during the rising tide. Also, take time to check the crab bouys for the tripletail as they are here in good numbers this summer.

Shifting gears from the finned species to shellfish, aka scallops. Scalloping has been great for folks enjoying family outings chasing the tasty bivalves this past week. The same success rates of quick boat limits should hold true this weekend. Water clarity is slap dab awesome. Lots of scallops to be found east of the Lighthouse. Remember, ten gallons of whole scallops per boat!

Wherever the boat may go, make sure to file a float plan with someone on shore. Plus, have all on board wear an auto-inflatable PFD and do NOT, under any circumstances allow anyone be a bow rider when the boat is underway! Serious, if not deadly accidents happen all to quickly. That prop is unforgiving! Go have fun! Boat safely! Just FISH!!

INLAND

Hot, both the air and water temps! Bass dined in the overnight hours on the past full moon. Jigger fishing in Iamonia paid off well for old school anglers working a jigger pole at night before sunrise the past few days. After the sun got up in the morning sky this week, midday bass were attacking frogs worked over the fringe pads lining the deeper open portions of the lake. Large paddletail worms were producing well too when worked across the pads.

Bream anglers found some classic Lake Iamonia bohunkers bedding this past weekend. The old timers were feeding 'em a steady diet of bonnet worms.

ST GEORGE ISLAND

Captain Russ Knapp (850-653-5072) reports, “Weather forecast for this weekend looks pretty good at this time (Wednesday evening) with seas one foot or less and winds 5 to 10 knots from the W/SW. However, there is a 40 to 50 % chance of rain and it may well be in the form of a vicious fast-moving squall so you do need to pay attention at all time.

Tides at the Cut this weekend are not bad at all with early morning 1.9 highs, followed by mid-day .9 lows and closed out with a dinnertime 2.0 high.

In the bay, Capt. Dan Fortunas (850 980 0101) reports there are Speckled Trout on the flats which will be interested in your popping cork rigged with a Gulp or DOA but you need to fish early or late as things shutdown when the temperature is hitting those big numbers. Nice Redfish are being caught in the Cut and West Pass in the deeper water drifting a live bait or finger mullet with the best bite again early and late.

Off the beach and on most any structure close to the beach good numbers of cooler worthy Whiting are lurking and would love for you to offer them a bit of fresh shrimp or "fishbite" fished on a 1' circle hook. There are a lot of fairly large patches of water lily type plants floating around the bay so be sure to keep a close eye out for a tripletail as you cruise past.

Offshore, Capt. Clint Taylor ( 850 370 6631) is pleased to report that both Amberjack and Triggerfish are now in season, with the AJ season running August 1 to August 25 and Triggers open to the end of the year . Capt. Clint says look for the Triggers on live bottom and fish with small bits of squid on a 4' or 5' hook , while if you're looking for AJ (aka reef donkeys) fish big live baits on big wrecks and reefs half way up in the water column.

Capt. Jeremy Willoughby (850 323 0769 ) is bringing in nice boxes of Mangrove Snapper fishing live bottom in 40 to 50 feet of water. Capt. Jeremy says fish a half cigar minnow in a small number 2' hook and be sure to bring the chum to get the Mangrove's up away from the now out of season till the fall Red Snapper.

Tip of the week --- Both Capt. Clint and Capt.. Jeremy still have a few open dates in August, so if you want some great fishing and some great eating give one of them a call and book your adventure.

KEATON BEACH

Captain Pat McGriff of one more cast charters, ([email protected]) says, “Trout fishing has been remarkably good in spite of the Hot weather. Billy Pillow and I had our limit (Billy mostly) Wednesday, in just three hours starting at 12:30 and quitting at 3:25 p.m. with our limit of trout to 21 inches and two reds throwing back one too many of both. (one trout over 21” with a 20” fish already in the cooler) Yes, all of our fish ate live pinfish under Back Bay Thunders in 3.8 to 5.0 feet of water. High tide was 3:45 p.m. and the water was stained with about a foot of visibility where we fished. The catfish were still mixed in with the trout and reds but not nearly as bothersome as last week.

MEXICO BEACH

Captain Kevin Lanier of (KC Sportfishing Charters 850-933-8804) says, “Fishing slowed some this week with the full moon. Plenty of fish on the Simrad machine but it was tough to get them to bite. This week was our annual Mexico Beach Artificial Reef association King Mackerel Tournament. Largest Fish caught was a 46 pound King and a 48 pound Wahoo. There was a Red Snapper 50/50 side pot with the largest Red Snapper weighing 28 pounds.

Recreational Red Snapper fishing ends at close of business on July 31st. F The Federal Charter Red Snapper ends at 1159 pm August 24th

The Water temperature is 86 so look in deeper water for bigger Red Snapper

Wahoo are still around and fishing has been really good. Fast troll large plugs in 100 to 300 feet of water along ledges and structure

Fishing should continue to improve as we move away from the full moon.

KAYAK REPORT

Salt Strong Coach Matt Lanier, ([email protected] 850 408 2910) tells us, ”Snapper Season has finished for us here in the gulf, and we closed it with a bang! But now we are back to targeting our favorite inshore species.The heat has been brutal this past week, and is looking to be over 100 come Monday after a weekend scattered with rain showers. The way you look for fish can be affected by the rain and the heat so make sure you are doing everything you can to set yourself up for success.

With the warmer weather and higher temperatures, the fish have been holding a bit further from the shore in search of cooler waters and better salinity, so for now it’s probably best to stay focused on those outside edges of the flats.

Pay attention to the weather and local radar to stay on top of the impending weather to determine the best shot at getting on the water. We can often get a good bite after the rain showers but be sure to keep safety in mind first!

The trout are on the flats and potholes in the 4-6 foot range, about a half mile or more off the shore in more comfortable waters with good salinity. They tend to sit further from shore in the summertime, on the ledges of the flats where the waters are a bit cooler. The larger number of trout are harder to find with the rain runoff and warmer temps, but covering flats at proper depth will produce a limit. When targeting the trout, be sure to use jig heads heavy enough to get you down in the deeper part of the water column, where those fish are at. Typically, a 3/16th or 1/4th oz will do fine in most areas, but a favorite to call in the fish on tough days will always be a popping cork with a paddletail or shrimp imitation about 24 inches or so underneath.

Redfish are moving further off the shoreline onto the flats, cruising in cooler waters with broken bottom. As it may be best to look in the 2-3 foot range in most cases, the redfish will also often return to the shorelines with the incoming tide. On those hot days, as the sun gets higher in the sky, they will generally move back out a bit deeper and sit in the potholes on the flats, in search of comfortable waters and favorable conditions. On those hot and calm days, a soft jerk shad has been producing for those finicky and hot fish, but when the water is moving good a paddletail is a solid producer.

If the winds allow, you can start the mornings with a topwater plug of choice to entice those massive blowups just after sunrise. Productive lures we have been using are the Skitter Walk, Moonwalker, One-Knocker or any other walk-the-dog style topwater. With the floating grass we have been getting, it can often be helpful to go with a single inline hook choice to keep that pesky grass off those treble hooks.

Once the sun is up, your lure choice should generally move to something subsurface. As the higher the sun gets, the fish are less likely to feed on a topwater, so switching to a paddletail or a jerk shad, spoon, or even a hard, suspending twitch bait has been productive, but the most important thing will be to find the bait and current.

One important thing is with these warmer temperatures… the earlier the better. Your best bite will typically come before it gets too hot outside. Be sure to keep moving if you aren’t finding feeding fish. With the warmer temperatures, the fish will be spread out, on the move and we need to be doing the same to find their preferred feeding zones. Try not to spend too much time in one area if you aren’t getting the bites you are looking for. The next Florida Redfish Series Pro Go Live event will be on August 19th, and will be a three redfish combined slot length, and a bonus big red, and trout jackpot! Boaters and kayakers alike are welcome to participate in this event so be sure to mark your calendar for some fun ripping lips! For more info about this event or others, be sure to check out flredfishseries.com

If you find yourself on the water and fishing in a spot where you haven’t gotten a bite for the last 15 minutes… it’s time to move. Keep looking for the 90/10 zone where those fish are holding. Don’t waste time in unproductive areas. The fish are moving and so should you!

To get the kids on some fish quickly, a live shrimp, or GULP!, under a popping cork around creek mouths, and even grass lines is a solid producer of fish. And the best part is you never know what you’ll catch because everything eats shrimp… EVEN ME!

If you plan on the water, please be sure to check the weather! The storms we get this time of year can roll in quickly, so stay aware, and always make sure you check (and double check) your gear and the weather. Most importantly… STAY SAFE & HAVE FUN!

LAKE SEMINOLE

Captain Paul Tyre says, “The Bass fishing on Lake Seminole has been very good through the month of July the topwater bite has been EXPLOSIVE! As we move through August the top water bite should continue especially early and late. Buzzbaits are a very good choice this time of year fished along the main lake grass lines.

The Crappie fishing has been as hot as the weather! The Crappie are schooling up in their summer deep water areas. And are being caught on minnows and Jigs.For a exciting Lake Seminole Fishing Adventure for Bass and or Crappie email us @[email protected] or follow us on Instagram @capt.paultyrefishing and Facebook @capt.paultyrefishing.