Fishing forecast Jacksonville, Florida - April

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wgbassgirl
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Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:11 am

Fishing forecast Jacksonville, Florida - April

Post by wgbassgirl »

Fishing forecast Jacksonville
By JIM SUTTON, The Times-Union

Article Source

The big winds that blew all week will abate some for the weekend. Seas will be 3 to 4 feet Saturday and Sunday with northerly winds - slightly smaller inside 20 miles. Ten-knot winds will blow. But with a full moon Sunday, inshore waters will be extra high with the north winds. Best bets will be to fish in freshwater. Bream fishing has remained good on the St. Johns River and area lakes, and many bream are carrying roe. The full moon should concentrate the bream, if the cold front hasn't blown them off the beds again. After this week of high winds and cold weather, it's really anybody's guess as to what the fish will do.

Saltwater

Inshore north of the St. Johns River: Some big drum are being caught in Cumberland Sound and around Fort Clinch. Some Spanish mackerel were caught in the St. Marys Inlet, along with black drum and bluefish. Redfish have been slow.

Inshore south of the St. Johns River: There were lots of reports of redfish in the backwaters around St. Augustine all week, but that might have been because the protected water of the creeks was the only area for good fishing. Some whiting and bluefish were caught off the Vilano Beach Pier. Flounder are beginning to show up, and they won't mind the very dirty water that the winds have caused.

St. Johns River mouth and vicinity: Sheepshead and drum are still in the Mayport Inlet, if you can get out there. Some of the big drum are around the little jetties. It has been a slow week because of the weather.

Offshore Fernandina Beach: The few boats that got out fished close in and found legal snapper and a few grouper. No one fished the deeper water. There were reports of cobia showing up on the wrecks, but that was last weekend, before the blow.

Offshore Mayport: Same thing here. A few snapper and grouper were on wrecks inside 80 feet.

Offshore St. Augustine: Again, very few boats made it out this week. Reports are slim.

Ocean piers: The Jacksonville Beach Pier was good last weekend, with some pompano, trout, flounder and drum. But the winds have made it pretty tough to fish since then. The St. Augustine Beach Pier was slow all week.

Freshwater

St. Johns River south to Green Cove Springs: Panfish were the main action this week. Julington Creek was the hot spot again. The full moon Sunday could fire up things.

St. Johns River from Green Cove Springs to Palatka: Bass are still bedding in the river south of Palatka. Some mullet are being caught at the city docks there and on the Shands Bridge. Dunn's Creek has continued to give up giant catfish, lots of bream and some speckled perch.

Area lakes (Lochloosa, Orange, Santa Fe): The bass bite on Lake Santa Fe remains consistent, but the bream bite picked up this week. Saturday and Sunday could be great with the full moon. Lochloosa has produced some speckled perch and bream on the north end of the lake. The bass bite there has picked up. Word is that fishing white-frog lures in the hydrilla patches has been the way to find the bass.

Rodman Reservoir area: The reservoir itself turned up a notch this week for bass fishing. The spillway below the dam continues to produce some nice stringers of catfish and bream.

Elsewhere: The catfish and bream have been biting consistently in the big lake and the finger ponds.
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