    
Capt. Mike Winn
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 | | Posted on Thursday, September 05, 2002 - 4:51 pm: | |
Subject: Cedar Key Report
BIG BEND
Finally, water temperatures are starting to go down instead of up. This is not going unnoticed by inshore species. Trout are starting to come around and redfish catches have been outstanding despite heavy boat traffic over the long weekend. Look for decreasing water temps to give grouper a kick in the tail and start to move them to rock piles within sight of land. This weekend’s weather is still up in the air as far as I am concerned. Tropical depression Edouard may be Tropical Storm Edouard again by Saturday after spending Friday in gulf waters. The forecast is for southeast wind 10 to 15 knots and seas two to four feet, but I think we just have to wait and see what happens.
With the shorter days, and water temperatures slowly dropping, grouper are starting to chase trolled plugs over near rock piles in water less than 35 feet deep. Mann’s Stretch 25’s and 30’s are by far the fisherman’s favorite lures, but the fish sometimes seem to prefer a Rebel Jawbreaker, Magnum Rapala, or Cisco Kid. Try a variety of sizes and colors until you hit upon on that works best. Don’t be surprised if you pick up oversize Spanish, kings or cobia while trolling for gags. Black-and-gold, black-and-silver, and orange are all good colors to start out with. Use the darker colors during overcast conditions and the brighter lures on sunny days with clear water. If you are fishing water over 25-feet deep, you may want to use a two-to four-ounce trolling weight six- to seven-feet in front of your plug. Most planers cannot be used with lipped plugs. Red grouper, while not known for chasing plugs, have been responding well to live pinfish and cut bait in water from 40- to 60-feet deep. While most fish are under the 20-inch minimum, fat reds to 15-pounds have been boated this week. The best grouper catches are coming from water 40 to 50 feet deep.
With the arrival of cooler water temperatures nearing the low 80’s, comes improved fishing for Spanish, kingfish, and trout. While large Spanish macks in greater numbers are beginning to show inshore and offshore, two- to four-pound bluefish seem to outnumber mackerel. Trollers will want to work deep grass or bait pods with Clarke or Kingspoons and hair jigs. Don’t be afraid to troll too fast. Start out at around five-knots and work your way up to seven until you find a speed that works for you. I like to keep at least one bait fairly close to the boat, less than 50-feet. When on person hooks up, have someone reel in the other spoon or jig as fast as possible. This will often result in a double hookup. Of course trolling is out of the question if there is too much grass floating around. In this case try anchoring up with a chum bag or drifting as casting jigs or free lining live or cut bait. Spro bucktail jigs are tops right now. Try ¼ to ¾ ounce jigs in white, green/white, or blue mackerel.
Although trout fishing is on the mend, redfish are still the best bet inshore. Everyone has their favorite bait, but live pinfish are tops right now. Large schools of oversize are being found around islands from Homosassa to Suwannee and most places in between. The word is one-hour before high tide is producing the best catches.
Cobia are still around and willing to take a live pinfish or jig. If you don’t mind wrestling with a few sharks, and you are the patient type, you should be able to pull a keeper off channel markers or out of deep water with grass flats nearby.
Good fishing, see you next week!
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