St. Johns County Fishing Report: Surprising snook discovered in St. Johns River

Jim Sutton
·5 min read

It's still all about the shrimping in one of the better years in a decade. And this week, it's all about looking for them. The shrimp run starts at the Mayport Inlet and they run south down to around Lake George. There they feed and grow and, little by little, they head back north - while other classes of juvenile shrimp continue to move south. So, what we have now is a moveable feast, made up of large, medium and tons of small shrimp, depending upon where you are and where they are.

These shrimp will also be shedding their shells in order to grow.

Dennis Scott with a redfish that buried the hand-held scale at 50 pounds. He and Steve West had a banner day recently in the St. Augustine Inlet, catching and releasing about two dozen over-slot reds. They were using blue crab and cut mullet.
Dennis Scott with a redfish that buried the hand-held scale at 50 pounds. He and Steve West had a banner day recently in the St. Augustine Inlet, catching and releasing about two dozen over-slot reds. They were using blue crab and cut mullet.

Recent fishing report: Good news for the Crustacean Nation

And more: Area shrimping ramps up in St. Johns River

The St. Johns River and area lakes

This will continue until the run is over, probably around the end of October. At that time most all the shrimp will display red legs — literally — and move north out of the river into the Atlantic. The mullet run generally coincides with this and massive schools will move toward Mayport as well.

If you want to take a look at shrimping take a trip to the Palatka or Green Cove Springs docks after dark. It's well worth a look around and you'll see every kind of lighting contraption you can imagine dangling  precariously or not, from the docks. There are several nice restaurants in both cities, so make a night of it.

But for now, boats will be taking most of the shrimp.

And, if you want to see what a mullet run looks like, take a drive over the Shands Bridge and witness dozens of folks swinging big mullet onto the abutments with big cane poles. It really is a lot of fun.

Otherwise it's mostly scattered catches of panfish and catfish. The river is high because of rains and a backup at the inlet to the north. So all of your attention should be pitching crickets up into the cypress trees that are now a couple of feet underwater.

The bass guys have been doing the same with artificial lures. Fish will go where they can when they can - and they're finding good forage in the newly opened waters.

Fish of the week goes to Captain Adam Delaney whose client hooked up something big under a dock near Welaka. Adam was sure it was a big garfish because catfish can't swim that fast. It turned out to be snook 1/8th of an inch under the 32-inch maximum slot. That's unheard of in a freshwater river.

The Intracoastal Waterway

Mangrove snapper continue to be the very best bet for some action and some slobber-knocking suppers.

Flounder continue to be tough to target, but they are getting a little bigger.

The river is still loaded with finger mullet, especially on the lower tides.

You'll also find way more big jacks than you'll ever want to tangle with. But, if you're just out for some fun, load a rod and reel with a big topwater plug and remove all but the back treble hook. Better yet, trade that for a 5/0 Khale hook. You'll have a blast and won't spend minutes extricating your plug from his mouth - or your hand.

The bridges are the best place to target redfish this week, but most of them will be over-slot.

The Atlantic

Most of the charter guys are scratching their heads over the lack of the expected fall mullet run. It's a little early to get weepy about it, but there is it.

But the weather this week has kept most all the boats inside the inlet and it looks to get worse next week. So there's been little to no tarpon or kingfish action off the beaches.

Some tarpon are being caught more inside - especially around the bridges.

The surf fishing began to pick up with the first of the legal pompano being caught on the southern beaches. The water temps remain in the 80s and pompano want the higd 60s - so the best is certainly yet to come. The whiting bite also picked up, with some of the better catches on the beaches up around Jax, but some decent catches here as well. The beaches near the Matanzas Inlet have been the better places to find them.

The calendar

The monthly meeting for the Flagler Sportfishing Club will be held Oct. 4 at Big Boys Play Toys in East Palatka. Captain Cullen Traverse of High Talin' Fishing Charters will be the featured speaker. Things kick off at 7 p.m. with a smoked fish dip contest.

The Ancient City Gamefish Association and the Northeast Florida Marlin Association team up to put on the Pink Up The Spots Charity Fishing Tournament Oct. 7 and 8. Early entries are $30 per angler and must be paid by Oct. 5 at Avid Angler - cash only.

All entrants must attend a captain's meeting and registration event Oct. 7 at the Northeast Florida Marlin Association at Camachee Cove Marina on Vilano. Entry then is $40 per angler.

Jim Sutton
Jim Sutton

There will be plenty of food, fun, music and raffles.

Fishing starts at safe light and weigh-in is from  2 to 4 p.m. Oct. 8.

There's a $1,000 first prize for big redfish and $500 for the top flounder - both guaranteed by sponsor Boatbroke.com.

Call Donna Frantz at 904-814-0515 or Linda Manucy at 904-824-6436 for sponsor, vendor or fishing information.

Jim Sutton writes a weekly fishing report for The Record. Contact him with questions, reports or your fishing pictures at creekratstaug@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: St. Johns Fishing Report: Shrimp, catfish, snook, mangrove snapper