Well, summer is here, and fishing has been very good around Yankeetown and the Nature Coast. Seatrout are still hanging around, although not as schooled up as they were in prior months. We have had our best success catching them first thing in the morning when they come up on to the flats to feed. A live shrimp on a 1/8 ounce jighead has been working the best, although a Mirrorlure Little John in watermelon red glitter, or a Q8 Superbaits jerk bait in purple, or lucky penny has been catching a few also. As the sun comes up and the water temps increase, they head back to deeper, cooler water, and are more difficult to find. This time of year, your best bet to catch Redfish is either underneath Mangroves hanging over the water, or deeper rocky ledges coming off of the shoreline. We have been catching Black Drum and Mangrove Snappers on these same rocky ledges. Our main go to once again has been live shrimp on a 1/8 ounce jighead. A mud minnow on a hook with an inline bobber also works well under the Mangrove trees, mainly for the Redfish. The delicious Flounder has been showing up lately as well. Although you will find them sometimes in the rocky areas, the best place to target them has been just off of rocky structure or shoreline, closer to the boat, on lighter sandy or shell bottom. Shrimp on a jighead works best, since dragging the bait along the bottom seems to be the technique that is most successful to get them to bite. Overall, summertime is a great time to fish, so give me call and LET’S GO!!!

· I made some new friends yesterday on a half day charter out of Yankeetown Marina. Dave drove down from North Carolina to see what our Nature Coast had to offer. He was supposed to come down here with his fishing buddy who backed out at the last minute, so he came solo. Somehow, even though his wife does not fish, he was able to talk her into flying down on a one-way ticket to join him. Now Dave loves to fish, but Martha told me flat out she would rather be shopping than fishing ?! Things started out a little slow for us, so I don't think at first anything happened that would change her mind about that. However, we made a move, and next thing you know, Dave caught a few Seatrout. Then Martha caught fire and started hooking up with a bunch of trout, including the biggest of the day at 18 in and 19 in respectively. Dave also hooked up to a decent size Spanish mackerel before We decided to move off the trout bite to see what else we could put into the box. Martha finished off the day catching a beautiful Sheepshead, and Dave finished it off with a nice eating size Black Drum. It looks like Dave might have a new fishing partner! Overall it was another great day in God's Country with an incredible husband and wife team that I now call my friends!!! A special thank you to Andrew and the crew at Captains Cove for the bait and tackle that makes these awesome days possible!

I was blessed to have some super nice folks on the boat yesterday! Tom, Becky, Ed, and Joe picked off a few fish during the course of the day with an almost non-existant tidal flow. However, they kept their heads in the game, and when the tide changed and started coming in, the good Lord blessed us with enough current to really turn on the fish, and they were hungry. They put together an impressive cooler, including Redfish, Black Drum, Seatrout, Flounder, Pompano, and Mangrove Snapper. Joe also picked up a 30-in tank of a Redfish, which, of course, went back into the pond. Tom was the Silent Assassin on the boat yesterday?! He fished off the back of the boat in probably the worst position all day and caught the most fish including 25-in Redfish, some big Seatrout, Black Drum, Pompano, and a 4 ft Bonnet head shark that gave him a great fight on light tackle, but Tom won the battle and got the shark to the boat! Another awesome day in God's Country!!!