December backcountry-Jacksonville

A few more awesome redfish from this week. Over 30 per trip.

Fishing in the backcountry saltwater estuaries continues to provide non stop action for spotted sea trout and redfish. Both species are schooled up in impressive numbers here in Northeast Florida. I had the chance to spend a few hours on the water guiding some longtime friends the past 2 trips.
My buddy Mike and son Noah had the chance to experience some shallow water sight fishing for redfish. We found a big group of upper and over slot fish.

Kelly Stacy, son Todd and his friend Mike had a blast catching trout and reds on lures last week. We actually left the trout biting to move to another area to target redfish.

Redfish and Trout...everywhere!

Redfish and trout are schooled up in big numbers in the backwater creeks here in northeast florida. Last weeks passing of hurricane Sandy produced high winds and exceptionally high flood tides. I was fortunate to have Jake and his dad, Lee on my boat. Both guys were able to sight fish on spinning tackle and most impressively, fly rods for tailing redfish in the marsh.

Bob and Steve caught over 30 redfish in the creeks on the lower tides earlier this week.

The water and weather are staring to cool down allowing for perfect conditions for catching redfish in the creek systems here in North Florida.
The last 2 trips we sight fished for upper and over slot redfish.
There are still good numbers of large
Bull redfish in the St Johns River.

Two boats to choose from: The 18 foot flats boat is outfitted exclusively for backwater and inland fishing. It is equipped to fish two or three anglers comfortably, or 2 adults and 2 children.

The 22 foot bay boat is outfitted for inland, inlet and near shore fishing. It is equipped for up to 4 or 5 anglers. It has a bimini top that is stowed and can be deployed if needed.

Hot Summertime Action!!

Fishing has been outstanding for big speckled trout the last 2 months. The spring and summer months are great for fishing top water plugs and lipped diving crank baits in deep drop offs along the St Johns River. I have had the most success using "walk the dog" style lures such as a Zara Spook and Skitter Walk plugs in the early morning low and late afternoon low light situations. Experiencing the explosive strike of a big 8 pound gator trout is an awesome sight! 

The St Johns river is loaded with small shad and mullet, so it’s important to “match the hatch” when selecting a sub surface lure. The Swim n Image made by Heddon and Bombers Long A lipped diver lures have been deadly for trout.

The Cobia fishing along the beach has been really good when the sea's are calm. Sight casting bucktail jigs and live Menhaden around the migrating Manta Ray's right along the beach has produced good numbers of this hard fighting, great tasting fish.
Here is a picture of a 70 pounder we sight fished last month:

The summer fishing here in Northeast Florida offers more variety of species than any other time of year.

Capt. Ron Schurr
(904) 707-8328
www.fishingnorthflorida.com