Well folks the heat is on! The temps are staying pretty warm to hot for the last few weeks, but the coolest place to be is on the water; fishing of course! There has been no shortage of bait in the last few weeks and with all the bait the fish have followed and the fishing has been very good most days!
You know me let’s start with one I love to fish for; the Cobia! There has been a good number of Cobia around this season, I have seen one almost everyday I’ve been looking for them and there are some big ones around. My clients put four (keepers) Cobia in the boat this last week and I got to catch one myself this last week too. The two big Cobia in the last week was a 66.5 pounder and my 52.4 pound, the really cool part of my Cobia is I caught it on a medium action rod and a Penn Battle 3000 spinning reel with fifth-teen pound Spiderwire braid. What a fight; I did not ever think I was going to get that Cobia in, after a thirty minute fight I put the heat on the fish and got it to the boat!
I look this time of year for Cobia around inlets, shoals and bait schools; near shore/offshore reefs and ledges are also a good place to look too. With the water being so clear it has been easier to see those brown logs in the water. We are throwing big jigs, swim baits and live bait to the Cobia. Color really does not seem to matter, brighter the better; Blue Water Candy makes some very nice Cobia jigs, check them out at our local tackle shops! When I’m not sight casting for them, we are fishing around inlets, shoals and near shore artificial reefs. I float fish, bottom fish and kite fish in these areas with live menhaden, blues and mullet as bait. Yes sometimes I do chum, but the Sharks and Rays can sometimes drive you crazy it you chum a lot!
Casting and trolling for Spanish mackerel has been very good lately. I’m seeing Spanish and Blues all up & down the beaches in fifth-teen to forty-five foot of water as well as around all the local inlets. There has been a few very nice Spanish in the three to six pound ranger caught around the area too. Spanish mackerel have very good eye sight and to the catch the bigger ones you really should try a fluorocarbon leader, you would be surprised how this can make a difference sometimes!
I’ve had the best luck with deeper spoons on number one planners, yes I’m seeing a few on the top line but the best has been deeper. Clark-spoons in sizes 00 and 0 are doing the trick in colors silver, gold and pink flash. The Spanish hitting the top baits are hitting Blue Water Candy’s Spanish Daisy chains in colors pink, blue and silver; the great thing about this rig is you can pull it off lighter tackle outfits. When the Spanish are jumping I’m casting spoons in sizes one to three inches long with a fast retrieve and keeping my rod tip low to the water to keep the spoon just under the surface.
With this nice hot air around the Flounder are finally showing up in better numbers, there is still a lot of smaller ones inshore, but the bigger ones are showing every day! Most of the Flounder fishing I’m doing is just off the beach and around the inlets, with the new fifth-teen inch rule you just have got to pick through them to get the keepers. I’ve caught Flounder on both live and artificial baits lately, what I have seen is more numbers on live bait, but more keepers on artificial baits. Mud minnows on light Carolina rigs with #one L42 Eagle Claw hooks are catching the numbers of Flounder, Berkley Gulp Jerkshads in five & six inch sizes are getting the most keeper Flounder. Tip of the day: In most cases bigger bait will catch you bigger Flounder, but you will catch less numbers of Flounder by going with bigger bait.
Redfishing for me has slowed a bit, but the bigger fish are starting to show up around the inlets and near shore live/hard bottoms. I have had no real good numbers yet, just some spread out fish here and there while we are Cobia fishing. Bigger scented grubs like six and seven inch Jerkshads are a good bet for catching ocean Reds on artificial baits, live mullets or menhaden are good on the live bait side of things.
Fishing Gear I use:
Reels Penn Fierce and Battle spinning in sizes 2000, 3000 & 4000 sizes. Cobia Fishing reels: Penn Battle 5000, 6000 & 7000, Penn 320LD. Line: Spiderwire Ultra-cast and Berkley Fireline braid in 8, 10 and 15 pound. Cobia Line: 30 pound Berkley Big Game Mono. Rods: Fenwick HMG GS 70M-MF, Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy. Cobia Rods: Ugly Stik Tiger Lite Jigging series in 50-100 class spinning and casting. Leader material: Cobia; Berkley Big Game mono & Fluorocarbon in eighty to one hundred pound. Stren Fluorocarbon leader material in Tannic and Gunsmoke tints; tannic for river and stained waters, gunsmoke for clear water applications.
*Hey everybody likes a deal on tackle right?!?! This weekend at Tex’s Tackle it’s the Penn Summer Kick-off Sale! Lots of good deals, here are just a few; Berkley’s new Pro Spec Premium Monofilament line will be on sale for one (1) cent a yard. If you like to King Mackerel fish or troll offshore this is the line for you; super supple, thin diameter and excellent knot & impact strength! Berkley Big Game on sale for one cent, Spiderwire Invisi-braid ½ off! Also deals on Reels and Rods too! I’ll be there on Friday to answer any questions you may have about any Penn products come by and say hello, I look forward to seeing you!
**Are you on Facebook? Check out my page Capt. Jot Owens/Jot It Down Fishing Charters LLC for lots of good info on local fishing, fishing tips, detailed reports, Photos and tackle giveaways; yes free stuff! Just Fan (like) the page on I’ll have monthly random drawings of Fans for free tackle!
Hey thanks for reading and good fishing to ya,
Capt. Jot Owens
Penn Tackle Elite Staff
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139