This week out of Jacksonville, the pogy pods are stacked along the beach and everything that swims is following them. Inside, the strong tides around the moon are flooding the spartina grass, which means the tailing redfish game is on.
What’s Hitting
Kingfish are the headline offshore, slashing through the bait pods anywhere from just past the breakers to the party grounds. Tarpon are shadowing the same bait, flood-tide redfish are tailing in the grass on the biggest afternoon tides, and mangrove snapper have taken up summer residence on the jetty rocks. Croaker and yellowmouth trout are steady in the river channel for the bottom-fishing crowd.
Where to Find Them
Follow the birds and the flipping bait from the beach out to 40 feet — the kings are underneath. The flood-tide reds want the spartina flats up the intracoastal and around the Sisters Creek marshes on tides pushing above normal high. Snapper are on the south jetty rocks on the slower tide phases.
Tides & Conditions
This week’s spring tides are the whole story inshore — afternoon floods put fish in the grass where they haven’t been able to feed in weeks. The beach has been fishable most mornings before the sea breeze stacks it up.
Tackle & Tactics
Slow-troll live pogies on stinger rigs for the kings — two flat lines and one down is the standard spread. Flood-tide reds want a weedless gold spoon or a crab-pattern fly placed a few feet ahead of a tailing fish. For jetty snapper, a live shrimp on a jighead bounced tight to the rocks gets it done.
Local Intel This Week
The Mayport ramp on Boat Ramp Road, Jim King Park at Sisters Creek, and the Beach Boulevard ramp on the intracoastal are all good jumping-off points this week. The bulk of the fish are on the beach bait pods and in the flooded grass on the big afternoon tides. Redfish and trout regulations are specific on slot and season here — check current FWC regulations and seasons before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
On a flood tide, the redfish push into the grass with the rising water and drop back out the same drains they came in. Instead of chasing tails across the flat, set up on the main drain during the last hour of the flood and let the fish funnel back to you.