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Flood tide? What is it and what’s the big deal? Well it’s probably one of the most sought after tides a shallow water angler will target redfish this time of year. Nothing is more exciting to a shallow water anglers than sight fishing “backing redfish” or “tailing redfish!”

During late summer and early fall the full moons and new moons bring in extra higher tides that flood spartina grass flats that are usually dry or have minimal water. The average depth of water we fish is no more than knee high with shin high being best. That opens up opportunities to be poled by one of our experience guides or you can get out and wade firm bottom.

There are two main ways we target flood tide redfish, on fly or spin with soft plastics. Our preferred way is to fly fish for them and really gives our fly anglers some of the best sight fishing opportunities. For our non fly casters we have just as much fun poling you in range to pick off these redfish with soft plastic lures.

Capt Cullen Traverso is one of our top shallow water fly guides who specializes in flood tides is seen here releasing a redfish caught on fly.

Dates are limited so be sure to book soon!

Capt. Chris Herrera

386-503-6338

August is a great month to hit the beach and target the usual suspect’s tarpon, kingfish,sharks and jacks. Look for shrimp boats to dump their by catch and get ready to hook into various species of sharks using 7/0 Daiichi circle hooks and a minimum of 80lb. test leaders. Once the sharks get their fill look for the tarpon to move in to finish off what the sharks didn’t. A tarpon’s favorite meal seems to be the trout dumped by the shrimp boats, float one in the mix of chum and hold on. Best set up for tarpon is a 6/0 live bait hook with 80-100lb. 6ft. leader. 

Look for Schools of jacks pushing water on calm days in 30-55ft. of water, a well place fly or live bait is a sure hook up as jacks are ferocious eaters. Make sure you don’t use inshore tackle because these are not your typical inshore jacks. Ocean running jacks push weights up to 40lbs. so gear up properly or be prepared to get spooled. Inshore Jacks can be found cruising the ICW at first light heading north busting bait. These fish move at a fast paste so keep that motor running and keep up. 

The inshore bite continues at first light tossing your favorite topwater lure along grass banks at high tide or along sandbar edges at low tide. During low tides look for schools of reds to gather in the deepest parts of the flat possibly mixed in with the mullet, a live mud minnow on a Daiichi 2/0 circle hook and bb split shot will get the job done. Live bait fisherman can also target redfish around oyster beds and grass edges using a live shrimp and popping cork to get their attention.

ICW banks are holding some nice trout when the current is moving and bait is present. Free lining a live shrimp is hard to beat but for the artificial fisherman a Z-man Paddle Tail and Slayer 1/8 ounce jig head jigged off the bottom will put specks in the boat. 

August is a great month to hit the beach and target the usual suspect’s tarpon, kingfish,sharks and jacks. Look for shrimp boats to dump their by catch and get ready to hook into various species of sharks using 7/0 Daiichi circle hooks and a minimum of 80lb. test leaders. Once the sharks get their fill look for the tarpon to move in to finish off what the sharks didn’t. A tarpon’s favorite meal seems to be the trout dumped by the shrimp boats, float one in the mix of chum and hold on. Best set up for tarpon is a 6/0 live bait hook with 80-100lb. 6ft. leader. 

Look for Schools of jacks pushing water on calm days in 30-55ft. of water, a well place fly or live bait is a sure hook up as jacks are ferocious eaters. Make sure you don’t use inshore tackle because these are not your typical inshore jacks. Ocean running jacks push weights up to 40lbs. so gear up properly or be prepared to get spooled. Inshore Jacks can be found cruising the ICW at first light heading north busting bait. These fish move at a fast paste so keep that motor running and keep up. 

The inshore bite continues at first light tossing your favorite topwater lure along grass banks at high tide or along sandbar edges at low tide. During low tides look for schools of reds to gather in the deepest parts of the flat possibly mixed in with the mullet, a live mud minnow on a Daiichi 2/0 circle hook and bb split shot will get the job done. Live bait fisherman can also target redfish around oyster beds and grass edges using a live shrimp and popping cork to get their attention.

ICW banks are holding some nice trout when the current is moving and bait is present. Free lining a live shrimp is hard to beat but for the artificial fisherman a Z-man Paddle Tail and Slayer 1/8 ounce jig head jigged off the bottom will put specks in the boat. 

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.

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. 

It’s that time of year again the tides are low, shrimp and baitfish are coming into the intracoastal and flats. The redfish, snook and trout are hungry! This time of year the redfish seem to go shallower than any other time of the year, so for us fly and light tackle fisherman it’s the most exiting time of year. On a negative low tide the fish will go so shallow, they will be backing or crawling looking for small crabs, shrimp, and baitfish along the bank. This is the perfect opportunity for throwing small flys or small artificial lures for a super exiting take. 

Poling in only a few inches of water you have to be very quite, because crawling redfish or snook can be on edge and are very aware of they’re surroundings, and the hells bay professional is the perfect tool for the job. For the fly fisherman shrimp or crab flys tied on a size 4-2 with lightly weighted bead chain or lead eyes. This time of year my favorite colors are tan and black and purple. A 6-8 weight fly rod with 15-20lb tippet and an accurate cast will do the trick.

 Now for the light tackle people, a small light weight shrimp lure or a small paddle tail hooked on a 1/8oz jig head or rigging hooked is the go to. A 7’4” medium, fast action spinning rod with a 3000 size reel 10lb braided line and a 15-20lb fluorocarbon leader is my setup of choice. The snook and trout will wander up on the flats occasionally giving you a shot, but for the most part stay in a little bit deeper water. So throwing weighted clousers or baitfish patterns and for spinning gear a 3” paddle tail rigged on a 3/16-1/4oz jig heads can be an effective way to target them.

Capt. Caleb Blackburn

Forward to the 7 minute mark to hear the North East Florida region report.

Sheepshead fishing has been great over the past few weeks, these guys can be a lot of fun and when found in good numbers make for steady action. Lately I have been finding sheepshead around deeper structure rock piles, docks, bridges and even steep drop off’s around the ICW. The rig that I have found to be the most effective lately is a fish finder rig. Depending on how fast the tide is moving in the area that you are fishing will dictate what size weight you will need to fish, but I have found that a 1/2oz has been a good all around size. Putting to much weight will effect how you feel bites and can make them tricky to catch. I have found because of how small sheepshead’s mouths are and how they eat that a smaller strong hook like a size 1 works best.

Sheepshead head feed on mostly crustaceans such as small crabs, shrimp, barnacles, oysters etc. Fiddler crabs and mangrove crabs are great baits for sheepshead because they are hardy and stay on a hook well. Sheepshead can be a little tricky to hook sometimes, I have found that when I feel a bite that slowly lifting my rod until i feel the weight of the fish on my line before setting the hook is a good method for hooking them.

Capt. Caleb Blackburn