Fishing Report: August 8th, 2020

Summer is here, and that means some exiting things are happening in palm coast that you don’t want to miss. It’s shrimping season, and you might ask what does that have to do with fishing? Well these shrimp boats fish all night long then in the morning have full nets of not only shrimp but lots of small baitfish that we call “by catch”. Once sorted through all of the by catch is dumped back into the water behind the boat and that’s when all the fish begin to feed in one giant frenzy!
With this being said it’s a great time of year to target species like tarpon, multiple species of sharks, and big powerful jack crevalle.

A fun sized tarpon of about 65lbs.

The flounder bite has been on here in palm coast also. A low out going tide is my favorite time to target flounder in creek holes. The low out going water usually pushes them into the holes where it makes it  easiest to target them. A shrimp, mud minnow or an artificial paddle tail or shrimp on a jig head is my favorite way to target them. Patients is key with flounder though working it very slow on the bottom waiting for that thump to happen. Then when you do get a bite don’t be to quick to set the hook or you could pull the bait away.

John with a nice palm coast flounder.

Last but definitely not least, the summer month mean some very big tides “flood tides” to be exact. That means flooded grass and happy tailing redfish. So if you are a fly fishing or light tackle enthusiast this is your time to try your hand at some flood tide tailers. Creeping and tailing through the grass these hungry redfish search these flooded spartina grass flats for small crabs to feed on. Having a shallow water technical poling skiff like the hells bay professional is key to poling into range of these reds.

Tailing redfish photo taken by Thomas Freund

Palm Coast Fishing