It looks like offshore fishing will begin to deteriorate Saturday afternoon and could be nasty by Sunday. The forecast is calling for southeast winds at 2 to 4 feet, building to 4 to 6 feet by Saturday night. So the best bet would be to fish freshwater lakes and the St. Johns River. Lake Lochloosa continues to be the best water for bream and shellcrackers in the area.
SAL****ER
Inshore north of the St. Johns River: There is some good fishing at the St. Mary's Inlet for redfish, especially on the North Jetty. Remember that you'll need a Georgia fishing license there unless you plan to stay safely to the south of the rocks. Those big breeder reds are down deep in the hole. But slot-sized reds are holding on jetty rocks above them, along with some black drum.
Inshore south of the St. Johns River: There haven't been a lot of good reports from the Intracoastal Waterway. The Guana River was giving up nice speckled sea trout on high water. If you can put together a high tide with a dusk or dawn trip, it might pay off.
St. Johns River mouth and vicinity: The Inlet at Mayport has been very quiet. Some anglers are finding trout under the bridges. The flounder seem to have slacked off. Redfish are scattered.
Offshore Fernandina Beach: Kingfish are thin but better than in areas to the south. A few fish in the mid-30s were caught in a tournament last week. But most of the anglers traveled a long way to find them or worked bottom numbers in close, hoping for a few good fish. The bottom-fishing is good.
Offshore Mayport: The party boats have continued to blister red snapper. The catches were augmented by beeliners - of which a limit is now five fish rather than 10. Kingfish are gone. Bonita, barracuda and jacks are filling in for them. There was a serious cobia run this week, with dozens of big rays making their way south along the beaches.
Offshore St. Augustine: Kingfish are gone, but a run of cobia surprised and delighted anglers working the beaches. Most of the boats were limiting out on cobia. The cobia seemed to be heading south and were caught south of Matanzas Inlet early this week.
Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier had a couple of kingfish last week. Other than that, it's been pretty slow, with a few whiting, drum and yellowmouth trout biting periodically around the tides. The St. Johns County Pier was slow. The Flagler Beach Pier reopened after a long closure for repairs. Anglers got black drum and whiting.
