By: Steve Fifer
Good grief. Another week of lousy weather. At least the forecast for the Easter weekend looks better. For the third week in a row it has been uncomfortable-to-hazardous to fish the ocean. The inshore fishing has been decent for redfish mostly with some speckled trout and flounder in the mix, too. Your best chance to get out of the wind and catch something remains the New River downstream from Jacksonville. The creeks on both sides of the river are holding some reds and specks while the flounder are hanging around the creek mouth areas. A carolina rigged shrimp has the best chance of getting bites and 17MR Mirrolures, gold spoons, and Gulp shrimp on a jighead are smart choices for artificials. Closer to MHC, the good redfish action in the marshes and creeks behind Bear Island continues. These fish are getting pressured a little and be very skittish so keep your movements and boat noise to a minimum. Soft plastic swimbaits and flukes scented with Pro Cure or good ‘ol Gulp and jighead work best here. Some encouraging reports from the creeks around Cherry Point. Nice-sized speckled trout, stripers, and even a largemouth bass or two have been caught this past week. Swimbaits like Bett’s Halo Shad, plastic shrimp fished very slowly, and hardbaits like the MR17 and Yo-Zuri 3DS also fished very slowly have produced. After about a 2-year absence, the reports of specks back in those creeks sure are welcome.
