July is here and so is the heat. It's been brutal hot out the last couple weeks along with the consistent afternoon thunderstorms. Best plan for a trip this time of year is to get out early and get back early. As long as we're back to the ramp by 3pm we're pretty much safe from the storms. That ocean is very unforgiving at times when it wants to be. It can change from glass flat calm to absolute chaos within minutes when a storm rolls in. Our main focus has been offshore bottom fishing lately but we're still doing a little bit of everything. Depending on the weather we've been heading out to the reefs catching tons of lane snapper and mangrove snapper, limiting out on most trips. We've also had a few good days of catching toro snapper which is pretty rare and some fun fighting barracudas. The mahi bite has not been all that great this year. We've caught a few on freelines while bottom fishing but not really seeing the numbers like in previous years. The kingfish are around as well but that bite has also been a little slower than usual. As we move into July the kingfish bite should get a lot better nearshore and offshore. Cobia have been around hanging with the sharks but that's the obstacle we face, getting the cobia away from the sharks. This is the time of year when we start to get thermoclines offshore which is very cold water on the bottom which in turn pushes the fish closer to the surface. Instead of fishing on the bottom we switch to freelining live baits and cut bait without sinkers. As long as the ocean stays nice and calm we should be able to get some more fantastic days of fishing offshore this summer. Inshore/Nearshore fishing along the beach and the inlet has been pretty good as well. We've had some epic catches in the last few weeks catching massive snook, permit, and big tarpon. I can't think of anything better than watching a big 100 plus pound silver king ripping drag and jumping out of the water. The snook fishing has been tough as usual for this time of year. Not for the bite but just getting them to the boat and avoiding them getting eaten by the goliaths. The goliaths are thick at the inlet, I'm talking 10 to 20 monster 500 lbers hanging under the boat just waiting for you to hook up on a snook. As for river/flats fishing, the heat and the rain plays a big part in your trip. Being that it gets so hot throughout the day the water temps have been crazy warm come mid day. The water temps have been up in the 90's towards the afternoon. My suggestion is to get out as early as you can to have any success with flats fishing. This time of year is not a good time for river fishing if you're looking to bring home dinner. My suggestion, if you're looking to fill the cooler, book an offshore trip during the summer instead. We still have trips available for our annual Red Snapper days (July 14 & 15) so book up a trip while they're still available. We are hoping to run three 5 hour trips both days, weather permitting. Tight lines everyone and thank you to all my loyal customers out there for fishing with Whatever Turns U On Fishing Charters.

School is out and the summer has begun. We've been doing a little bit of everything the last few weeks. Inshore, Offshore, and some Bowfishing, it's been nonstop action for Captain Shane lately. The big obstacle this time of year are the thunder storms. Avoiding getting wet and not to mention struck by lightning has been our biggest concern. Most customers are looking to get fish to eat. Inshore fishing trips are a little difficult to get table fair during the summertime. Snook season closed June 1st until September 1st, redfish is closed, and the trout are usually full of worms with the warmer water. The inshore bite has been pretty good though, we've found a few spots in the river to bring home some keeper mangrove snapper and sheepshead. The snook, redfish, and trout have been pretty consistent up along the mangrove shorelines and around the spoil islands, but you got to have patience to get the hit. The snook at the inlet has been hit or miss the last few weeks. The big schools of goliath grouper are now here so that normally slows the snook bite down quite a bit at the jetty. Also, the sargassum seaweed has been horrible all along the beach and in the inlet making it very hard to fish. If it's nice enough in the ocean, we can get out to some of the closer reefs on nearshore trips to catch lane snapper. If table fair or filling the cooler is what your looking for then offshore trips are where it's at. Offshore bottom fishing has been on fire the last couple weeks. The snapper bite has been amazing. Once you get on the spot it doesn't take much time at all to limit out on snapper. We've been catching lots of lane snapper and mangrove snapper with live shrimp, threadfin herring, and grunts. We've also been catching triggerfish, toro snapper, and cobia. That's one of the cool things about bottom fishing in the ocean is you never really know what your gonna pull up. The sargassum seaweed has been scattered all over the ocean making it almost impossible to troll. Bowfishing tilapia has been excellent. The water is still very low in our usual spots so we've moved on to the bigger lake areas. The lakes have been very succesfull along the shorelines, we've been shooting some giant blue tilapia. That's what makes bowfishing so fun is there's really no shortage in fish to shoot. The whole time it's constant action. They've opened up our East Coast Red Snapper season. We get a whopping 2 days to harvest red snapper, July 14th and 15th. Depending on weather conditions, we're gonna try to run three 5hr trips on those days.

Now that it's coming into summer and the seas will be much calmer, we'll start booking some more offshore trips here soon. Got out to some of the closer reefs the other day and we limited out with 4 anglers on lane snapper (40). Another recent bottom fishing trip we got into a big school of Toro snapper (Atlantic Bigeye), lane snapper, and some big mangrove snapper. The deeper reefs were loaded with sharks so it made it almost impossible to get anything off the bottom. Bowfishing is still on fire as always. There are almost unlimited amounts of tilapia and gar to shoot out there. The water levels have went down drastically in some of our usual spots which makes it a little sketchy to navigate through. We've moved out into the open lakes and that has been very productive.

The end of April and this first half of May has been fantastic for inshore fishing in the lagoon. I know nobody likes fish closures but let me just say closures work. Back in September 2022 the FWC closed us on keeping any redfish in the Indian River Lagoon. In the last couple months I have noticed the redfish numbers have sky rocketed. The lagoon has been on fire for us the last few weeks. The spring time is normally excellent this time of year for big gator trout. We've been fishing the mangrove shorelines and spoil islands catching big sea trout, redfish, snook, and jack crevalle. Our redfish numbers are great and we're catching them in the 25" to 32" range, sea trout are coming in around 20" to 28", all sizes of snook, and big schools of large 15 to 20lb jack crevalle. We haven't done much inlet fishing the last few weeks but we also haven't missed much out there. The snook bite has been pretty slow at the inlet lately. That's normal for this time of year though cause now is the time those schools of big Goliath grouper show up at the north jetty. If you're into getting your butt whooped pulling are car off the bottom then that's your fish. The grouper get very aggressive this time of year as far as trying to eat your catch. With that being said I personally suggest upgrading your gear to something a little heavier to try getting your snook in faster so they don't get eaten. I can't thank all my loyal customers enough, y'all are what keep being able to do what I love.

April has started off extremely busy for us this year. We've been booked solid through most of the month. The last week of March up until Easter the weather was amazing and the fish were on fire. Limiting out on snook and as many jacks as you wanted. Starting Easter day the winds picked up big time and unfortunately we had to cancel on a few trips. The winds have died down the last few days but so has the bite. Looks like the next couple weeks are gonna be a little breezy with rain showers as well but we'll have to manage. The inlet has been kinda dead the last few days since the rough conditions we had last week. Not to much going on out there. The snook schools seemed to have disappeared from the north jetty and there hasn't been to much action drifting for jacks and bluefish. There's still goliaths and sharks hanging around but that's about all we've been seeing the last few days. Since the rough seas and heavy winds we've been doing a lot more inshore fishing in the river lately. We've been back in our old spots fishing mangroves and dock areas trying to hide from the wind. We have to move around a lot but it's been pretty productive for the most part. We're getting decent numbers of whiting and speckled trout in the 12" to 20" range, some 18" to 27" redfish, jacks, and snook of all sizes. Also noticed some good size tarpon rolling in the river. I can't stress this enough that inshore fishing takes patience. We're not fishing over big schools of snook like the inlet, we're fishing a mangrove shoreline that has a few snook or redfish cruising up and down looking for a meal. If you have the patience and listen to your captain you will catch fish.

March has been one busy month for us on the water. We've definitely been slammed this spring break for sure. It has been the typical Florida weather, hit or miss with either really calm or really rough conditions. One day it's flat calm and sunny then freezing cold and blowing the next. We just never know what we'll get so we got to keep our options open for fishing locations this time of year. Sebastian Inlet has been our main focus for most charters. The bite is usually pretty consistent this time of year whether it be snook, redfish, jack crevalle, bluefish, spanish mackeral, or goliath grouper. Depending on what our clients are looking to catch we can pretty much get any one of these fish on a daily basis at the inlet. Lately, drifting the incoming tide with mojarras or finger mullet has produced numerous amounts of jack crevalle. Them jacks are a lot of fun to catch and can definitely put a whooping on you using light tackle. We've caught these jacks for the past couple weeks ranging anywhere from 5 to 40 + lbs. Not to mention the fact that jacks are actually really good to eat. The snook bite has slowed down quite a bit but we're still getting them. In previous years slot snook (28" to 32") were rare. Most of the time the inlet snook are oversized ranging from 35" to 40". In the last 6 months we've caught more slot snook than I'd ever seen. Another change has been the amount of big bull reds. This season really hasn't produced those big schools of bull reds that I love hooking into. We've caught them here and there but not consistently. In the lagoon, the fishing has been decent. We've been catching some decent speckled trout, black drum, bluefish, and snook along the mangrove shorelines. There are some monster snook under the docks but getting them to eat is a whole other story. Trolling the channels has produced some Spanish macks as well. We haven't done any offshore trips do to the inconsistent weather. I have been seeing other charters with bigger boats going out and doing pretty good on lane snapper, kingfish, and cobia. The bowfishing trips haven't been to busy yet, still trying to get the word out there for us. The tilapia are bedding now and the water is down about 3 feet which makes it a lot easier to find the fish. We're hoping to maybe start doing some largemouth bass fishing trips in the future as well. We're very excited that we have another captain that will be working with us soon. Captain Rob Becerra will be running inshore river trips for us all throughout the Indian River. Captain Rob specializes in big dock snook and tarpon and has been fishing the Indian River since he was a little kid. Tight lines everyone and hope to see y'all on the water with us soon Ringing The Bell