Fly fishing results have been outstanding lately, with some fly anglers outfishing their spin fishing friends.  I’ll tell you, it takes some energy to fly cast for four straight hours, and not many can cast that long.  Most take a break and use the spinning rig to get a breather.

 

Sea Deucers, Clousers and Deceivers in various colors all seemed to work equally as well in white, white/chartreuse and greenback imitations.  White with peacock and some silver flash does an excellent job of imitating most of our inshore baitfish.  Clousers (the flyfishing version of a jig with lead, dumb-bell eyes were used in the deeper water to get down to where the fish were.  The Sea Deucers and Deceivers aren’t weighted and are easier to cast and used in the shallower water.  Right now, the water in St. Joseph Sound is very clear, especially on the east side, so stealth is paramount. 

 

When the water condition is super-calm, I take off the Cajun Thunder or Old Bayside Paradise Popper and fish the shrimp imitations very slowly along the tops of the grass.  I’m getting bigger fish on the ½ oz. size shrimp than on the ¼ oz. ones.  If I’m fishing the open flats, the glow color is the best, but when fishing the mangrove edges and cuts, the measles color seems to be the ticket.  For reds, try to skip the shrimp as close to the mangroves (or better yet under) as you can and slowly work it back out on the bottom.

 

Snook are still on the beaches, and I’ve found it best to get out of the boat and walk along casting parallel to the sand.  Too far out and they won’t see it.  Fly anglers using all white flies are scoring most of the fish.  Take note of the size of the baitfish you see and trim the length of the fly to the size of the baitfish.  I always carry a scissors for this purpose.  White, plastic jerkbaits (Zoom White Ice is my favorite) are taking most snook if you’re fishing spinning rigs.  Fish these unweighted on a 4/0 wide gap, offset worm hook and twitch and pause.  Earlier is better.

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

 

Trout action in St. Joseph Sound has really seemed to rebound from the red tide outbreak and fish kills we had last year.  It’s not quite back to what it was prior to the red tide, but gets close week by week.  Drifting the flats with the tide and wind has resulted in catches of 30-50 per half day trip.  Along with the trout, large bluefish are giving my anglers plenty of drag screaming action.

 

I’ve started using the Old Bayside Shadlyns under the Cajun Thunder floats and have been impressed with the results.  I’m using them on a 1/16 oz. Old Bayside Heavy hook for a slow sinking motion after popping the float.  With the lighter weight, it stays in the strike zone and off the bottom for a longer time resulting in more hookups.

 

On the beaches, the snook are still willing participants at first light.  They are much more difficult to catch later in the morning when the sun gets higher.  The Zoom White Ice plastic jerkbaits are their favorite lure, fished on a very light jighead or no weight at all.  We’ve been throwing the lures right onto the sand and reeling them in to the first swash channel.  After clearing the first channel, reel in and cast again.  The beaches adjacent to the passes seem to be the best.  This action usually lasts most of the summer.

 

Early morning topwater fishing is about as good as it gets.  From 6:15 a.m. until about 7:30 a.m. is as long as it lasts, though.  Floating grass has made it more difficult to fish this way but not impossible.  This past week the Mirrolure 5M750 (one of my most reliable topwaters) has been the go to lure.  Tarpon are all over the St. Joseph Sound if you are interested in having a go at them.  They don’t appear to be unusually large, but are there in great numbers.

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

 

Anglers onboard the Maverick had some great trout fishing this week, although the conditions were anything but ideal on most days.  Since most of my anglers were non-anglers or very inexperienced, I chose to introduce them to some early morning topwater trout fishing, then switched to subsurface after the sun got higher.  Again, the glow shrimp in the 1/2 oz. size under a Cajun Thunder float was the trout’s favorite lure.  The body of the 1/2 oz. is a bit larger than the 1/4 oz. model that I usually use and might have been the reason for the larger trout this week.  Clear with gold fleck also produced later in the mornings.

 

It’s always a blast for me to get anglers their first-ever fish on a topwater lure.  The Chug Bug is about the best for novices, as it’s fairly easy to work as compared to one of the walking the dog type of lures.  The chrome and black were working early, and the chartreuse/chrome later on.  The largest trout of the week was measured and released and was 23”.  That’s a nice trout in anyone’s book, especially on a topwater lure.

 

We mostly stayed on the mainland side of St. Joseph Sound where the water was very clear.  The water inside Three Rooker Bar was very cloudy, so we didn’t fish there very much.  Snook are on the outside of the Bar but have been difficult to fool on lures, and some days it’s just too lumpy to fish the beach from a boat.  Some anglers don’t mind getting off the boat to fish the beaches, but some just don’t want to do it that way. 

 

Thanks to all the local anglers who called in last Saturday to Captain Mel Berman’s radio fishing show on 970 AM.  It was my first time on this award winning/top rated show and was my first time meeting Captain Mel, who is a legend in the area. 

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

 

I had a great mix of anglers onboard the Maverick last week, from 6 years old to mid-70’s, and skill levels from non-angler to experienced.  This is what makes the job interesting and fun, the variety of people you meet. 

 

Most half day anglers were catching from 20 to 30 fish in four hours, which was great for them.  Traditionally, summer doesn’t produce the numbers that spring and fall do, but the action has been steady.

 

Snook are out on the beaches, especially the ones adjacent to a pass.  Yesterday, I took my wife out on the boat for a cruise, anchored up on the north shore of Three Rooker, and also broke out two rods I took along just in case.  In wading the shore, I sighted about thirty snook in pods of five or more.  They weren’t interested in what I had.  It was just too late in the day for them.  On the beaches, it’s an early morning, low light thing.

 

Early morning topwater lure fishing is great if you can get to the areas by first light.  There’s nothing more exciting than a fish busting a topwater and upping the heart rate.  Hookups are more difficult with these lures, but most anglers don’t seem to mind.  Some outsized trout were caught in areas that have thick beds of turtle grass.  I fish some areas that others overlook and pass by on their way out to where they think they should fish.  If anglers would just put more time into finding good grassy areas, they would catch many more fish.  I use a Cajun Thunder float and DOA shrimp to prospect new areas to fish.  You can fish large amounts of water very quickly with this rig. 

 

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

 

I must have had a bull’s-eye painted on my boat yesterday when fishing St. Joseph Sound.  On two different occasions, I had a pontoon boat roar past me not 15 yards away while I was drift fishing an expansive flat.  In looking around, there wasn’t another boat within three miles of me.  Forgive them for they know not what they do, eh?

 

Now to the fishing….  The trout fishing has been steady, but certainly not what you’d expect at this time of year.  Most of the larger trout were taken north of the Anclote River, but the bigger numbers were taken to the south.  Some days the wind prevented me from getting over to the barrier islands to get to the snook.  The middle of St. Joseph Sound can get really lumpy when the wind blows, making for an uncomfortable/wet ride.  So, I had to fish areas that I don’t normally fish.  Redfish, too, have been a little slow, with most taken under docks and on mangrove shorelines when you can find some that haven’t been hammered by all the boats.  Earlier is definitely better.

 

Trout were eating up DOA glow, clear/gold fleck and measles shrimp.  One seemed to be just as good as the other.  All were fished under floats, and four to five feet of water seemed to be holding most of the fish.  Redfish were taking rootbeer/chartreuse tailed jigs, one of my favorite colors for them.  For trout, if you find the good expanses of turtle grass, you’ll find fish. 

 

As the water and air temperatures continue to climb into summer, fishing will be an early morning activity.  Usually, it’s just about over by 11:00 a.m., when it gets too hot for the fish and too hot for the anglers also.

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

 

Bait fish are all over St. Joseph Sound, which usually means tough sledding for us lure anglers.  Not so!  I’ve never seen the numbers of bait in the Sound in all the years I’ve been fishing this area.  Clouds of bait can be found in most locales.

 

On a recent trip with a fellow guide, we were targeting snook in the passes and the barrier islands.  After sneaking into the east side of one of the islands, we saw large schools of snook, many of them very large, in water no more than 1 to 2 feet deep.  That’s the good news.  The bad news was that no matter what we threw at them, no takers or follows.  My view is that with the large numbers of bait, they were full!!!  We tried everything from topwaters to flies and nothing.

 

So, plan B…..  We went to the passes on a moving tide, fully expecting to hook up.  Well, we couldn’t seem to get our lures down to the snook, which are on or near the bottom.  The Spanish, bluefish and ladyfish would take our offerings before we could get down the bottom.  Frustration loomed!!! 

 

So, plan C….  We moved onto the east side of the Sound and soon were treated to fantastic trout action on chrome spoons and any type of jig we’d throw.  On another trip, early morning topwater action was heart stopping.  Chrome and black Chug Bugs were the lure of choice, as well as any of the walking the dog type of lures.  If you’re targeting trout, look for areas with good turtle grass and you’ll find trout and redfish.  Just drift with the tide/wind and you’ll have success.   

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

 

My fishing report for the Tarpon Springs area is below:

 

I surely don’t remember any other year with such wind conditions.  It seems that all guides are lamenting the high wind conditions that have plagued us this year.  At least in my case, I’ve had to postpone and cancel many trips because of it. 

 

When you can get out to the barrier islands, the fishing has been consistent, but not great.  Thank you red tide!  Although the trout fishing has picked up, it’s surely not like it was over a year ago.  Lately, we’ve had catches of up to 40 trout on half day trips, with some well over 20”.

 

Although we don’t have the snook population that areas to the south of us have, they have started to appear in the passes between the barrier islands and the adjacent beaches.  For you live baiters, get an outgoing tide and drift through with a pinfish on a circle hook.  For the lure anglers, any lure that’s white or pearl will be the ticket.  Make sure you get to the bottom, as that’s where they are.  Fly anglers would do well to get out of the boat and walk the beach passes with white Clousers or Deceivers.  Cast within three feet of the sand on the beaches early, and you should have success.

 

There are still other species that can tug your string, like bluefish, Spanish mackerel, ladyfish and others.  Just recently we’ve been catching good numbers of juvenile black sea bass and grouper on the flats.  Not very big, but a good tussle on light spinning and fly tackle.  On one trip last week with a couple from Liverpool, England, they caught seven different species of fish in a four hour trip, a record on the Maverick.  The previous record was five!

 

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

 

Here’s my fishing report for the week of May 12^th:

 

This was an excellent week with anglers onboard the Maverick from England. They really enjoy our fishing opportunities over here, and marvel at how inexpensive things are, including gas!  They’ve been paying over $7 a gallon for decades.  I guess we take what we’ve got for granted.

 

Now to the fishing.  The trout action, which had been spotty, really picked up.  I’ve always thought that your eyes and ears are the most important things on the water to your success.  After not much success on a recent trip, I noticed the size of the bait I encountered on St. Joseph Sound.  It was quite a bit smaller than what I gave to my anglers to throw.  I never use a chrome spoon (have no idea why), but dug into my tackle box (way too big!) and brought out a small Krocodile spoon the size of the minnows I’d been seeing by the boat.  Instant success!  They caught fish after fish on a lure that I never use.  I did take the treble hook off the Krocodile spoon and replaced it with a single hook to minimize damage to the fish, and would recommend this to anyone using this particular lure.  The Clarke spoons in the #0 and #00 worked as well.  The Clarke’s come with a single hook.

 

Although I’ve been on the water countless times, I learn something every trip.  You just have to be open to change and changing. 

 

The snook are out on the beaches to participate in their annual spawn.  Early morning on the beaches can be very productive.  If you want to beach fish, find one that’s adjacent to a pass, as I find they’re much more productive.  I like an outgoing tide in the passes, which seems to flush the bait off the flats to them.  As the sun comes up, drift the passes with most anything.  One of my favorites is the DOA glow shrimp just drifting with the tide.  Try to keep contact with the lure to detect the strike.  The Storm Swimmin’ Shad in pearl color is also a sure fire lure.  Another great beach lure is the Bass Assassin jerkbait in the Crystal color, which is like the salt and pepper color but with some light blue in it. 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

Here’s my fishing report for May 2^nd.

 

 

Snook seem to be making their way out to the barrier islands, passes and beaches.  Since I only use artificials, I bump shad type jigs along the bottom in the passes to find them.  On the beaches, I usually use anything that imitates the small baitfish that are found in or around the surf.  Most people, when fishing the beaches for snook, cast too far away from the shoreline.  Snook are within two to five feet and looking towards shore.  If you cast too far out, your lure/bait is behind them, and they never see it. 

 

On the flats, outsized trout are hitting topwaters early in the morning as the light comes up.  This is a blast with Chug Bugs and other lures.  The bite is usually over about 8 o’clock or thereabouts.  But, it’s sure nice while it lasts.  Almost any flat will do that has good grass on it.  The bigger trout can usually be found in the skinniest water, but on topwater lures any size is just plain fun.

 

We’ve been catching some bluefish up to five pounds that put up quite a fight on light tackle.  One fish the other day took the angler about fifteen minutes to get to the boat.  Small silver spoons reeled very quickly were doing the trick.

 

Spanish mackerel are thick near the passes and very willing participants. Again, small spoons and jigs will catch them.  If you want, anchor up in a likely spot near a pass and put out a chum block which will attract not only Spanish but other species as well.  Just cast back into the slick and hold on.

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

Below is my fishing report for April 22, 2006:

 

Bait Schools Everywhere!

 

St. Joseph Sound is chocked full of bait of all types, and I’m surprised the fishing has been as good as it has been this week.  With all the bait choices, fooling the fish into striking lures can usually be quite a challenge.  Even the marina where I launch has clouds of bait.

 

Very large Spanish mackerel are near the passes and on the adjacent flats.  These are the largest I’ve ever seen in the area, and are a blast on light spinning tackle and fly rods.  The problem in catching them on flies is moving the flies fast enough to draw a strike.  If it’s not moving very quickly, they get too good a look at it and shy away.  It’s best to put the fly rod under your arm and strip the line with both hands to get the necessary speed.  If you’re not into fly fishing, a quickly reeled #00 or #0 Clark spoon will do the trick, and it’s always good to put on a small piece of wire to prevent cut offs.  Spanish are great table fare if eaten the same day, as they don’t freeze very well.  When thawed the fillets can be reduced to mush.

 

Early mornings, the largest fish on the flats can be caught on topwater lures, which is always a favorite of my anglers.  Trout from 18-25 inches are readily hitting Chug Bugs in just about any color, as well as double propeller Mirrolures and the walking type lures.  Of course, the topwater bite goes away fairly quickly when the sun gets up, but it sure is exciting while it lasts.  If you’re not keeping fish, it’s best to pinch the barbs to reduce damage, and also to ease backing the hooks out of fingers, etc.

 

I haven’t seen any tarpon coming through the Sound yet, but it shouldn’t be very long before they are seen in pods of four or more.  Getting shots at them can be a challenge, as they seem very wary in the shallows.  The best bet is to see which direction they’re headed, motor in a wide arc around them and try to intercept them.  I usually throw Bomber Long A plugs and plastics at them.

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

My fishing report for 4/14/06 is below:

 

Despite the wind of late, the fishing has been very good, but not as good as this time last year.  The red tide took care of that!  But, we’ve been having some great days with spotted sea trout, silver trout, redfish, flounder, bluefish and Spanish mackerel.

 

Most species have moved into the shallows from the deeper haunts that were to their liking recently.  Up until now, I had been finding most fish in 7-9 feet, but now they seem to like the shallows.  Large schools of bait are all over St. Joseph Sound, which is both good and bad.  Of course, the good thing is that the predators follow the schools of bait.  The bad thing is that with this abundance of bait, they have a very easy time finding forage.  That makes tempting them with a lure a challenge.

 

The favorite lures of late have been the DOA glow shrimp, the Baby Bass soft plastics on light jig heads, and the Tsunami swim baits.  We haven’t been fishing many top water lures, but this will change as the water continues to warm.  Top water is a very exciting way to fish for all the inshore species.  I rely on the prop bait top water lures, as most of my anglers just don’t have the experience with the “walking the dog” ones. 

 

Fishing is just getting better day by day.  Next month will signal the snook to get out to the beaches and passes to do their annual spawn.  Although they are out of season and should be released unharmed, they are fairly easy targets.

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

Here’s my fishing report for 3/17/06:

 

A week of high winds hampered fishing somewhat, but not totally.  Like most anglers on the water, I tucked in behind islands in St. Joseph Sound to get in the lee of the islands.  This isn’t an ideal condition, but it allowed my anglers to have good days on the water.  I couldn’t get to the locations I had been finding good numbers of fish.  It would have been a cold, wet, uncomfortable ride, which most anglers don’t enjoy.  Me neither!

 

We had good numbers of fish despite the conditions.  The venerable glow DOA shrimp was the leader of the pack, with green jig bodies not too far behind.  The fish seem to be in tight packs near potholes on the flats.  With early morning low tides, we had to wait for the water to rise so we could fish many areas.  When it came up, they were definitely in a feeding mode.

 

Fly anglers were catching as many as the light spinning anglers.  Once again, the chartreuse and white Clouser was the ticket.  Large schools of glass minnows were sighted on each flat, and the Clouser imitates a glass minnow to perfection.  It’s no wonder why it’s the most widely used fly in Florida.  Every predatory fish on the flats eats glass minnows.

 

With the warming Gulf waters, the fishing will only get better.  Get out and enjoy what we, sometimes, take for granted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

 

My fishing report for 3/6/06 is below:

 

I had a nice mix of foreign and U.S. anglers last week, which always makes for an interesting group of trips.  Evidently, sport fishing isn’t as big in other areas of the world.  The foreign anglers sure enjoy our area and its angling possibilities.

 

Although I found the fish in deeper water, fly anglers had great catches of sea trout, bluefish, small grouper and even black sea bass on the flats of St. Joseph’s Sound.  A white and chartreuse Clouser was, again, the go to fly.  I’m going to have to stock up on them, because the bluefish are really tough on any type of lure, especially flies and soft plastics.  They are great fighters and very willing participants.

 

Last week, the fish wanted darker colored plastic jig bodies, but this past week, nothing but white.  Go figure!  The Zoom White Ice led the popularity parade for me, followed closely by the Bass Assassin Salt and Pepper.  I just got back from buying five bags of each of them.  Fished in anywhere from six to seven feet, the fish were plentiful, but not nearly as big as last year’s crop.  The largest trout were topping out at about 17 to 18 inches. 

 

Another front is due tonight, and high winds are predicted along with it.  It won’t be too long before the few fronts that do come through will be coming from the south and southwest instead of the north and northwest.  Can’t wait for the change.

 

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

Here is my latest fishing report:2-28-06

 

All of my trips last week were delayed by foggy conditions.  One was to leave at 700 a.m., and we didn’t get underway until about 1100 a.m.  I saw many boats go out into the fog with no running lights, a sure way to meet with disaster.  In periods of restricted visibility, you are required to have your running lights on.  It protects you, as well as other vessels. 

 

I always seem to do well in foggy conditions for some reason, especially with the Deadly Combination rig with a glow shrimp on the business end.  Last week was no exception, even though I couldn’t fish areas I normally do.  Trout were very abundant around spoil islands in about 4 feet of water.  Most were in the 15-20 inch slot, with very few shorts. 

 

Fish were also caught as deep as six feet on jigs with darker bodies like the Exude bream and root beer colors.  The bays on the east sides of the barrier islands were producing great catches.  But, you had to move frequently to find the pods of fish.  They seemed to be bunched in tight schools and, when you drifted off the school, nothing. 

 

It’s almost March, and that usually means the start of warming waters and great fishing.  My log from last March indicated that half day anglers were scoring great catches on the flats of St. Joseph’s Sound, with some trout up to 30 inches.  Hopefully, this year will be a repeat.

 

 

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com

 

 

Here is my fishing report for 2/21/06:

The latest cold front dropped the gulf water temperature into the high 50’s, which meant tough fishing for a while.  The fish are like ice cubes when you get them to the boat.  Hopefully, with the higher air temperatures this week, up into the mid-70’s, things will improve quickly.

In checking my fishing log for this time last year, I’m just not finding the fish in the same locations.  It takes some hunting to find them, but when you do, they are there in good numbers.  Good bottom grass in small bays behind the barrier islands in six to seven feet has been working for me.

Exude golden bream jig bodies have been out-producing all the others, but green isn’t far behind.  Usually, at this time of year, white ice is usually the hot item on the fish menu.  I think it will be when the white bait moves into the shallow flats as the water warms.

The east side of St. Joe’s Sound has extremely clear water, but the west side behind the barrier islands is a bit cloudy.  When it’s clear, long casts are a must, and that’s when the braided lines are really helpful.  I’ve started using 15 pound Power Pro rather than the 10 pound I had been using.  The 15 pound isn’t as pliable as the 10, but seems to cast just as far.  You also won’t get as many wind loops with the slightly heavier, stiffer line.

Captain Fred Kremer

Strictly Artificial Fishing Charters

www.strictlyartificial.com