Spring Reds and Trout at the First Coast: Chase the Falling Tide cover art

Spring Reds and Trout at the First Coast: Chase the Falling Tide

Spring Reds and Trout at the First Coast: Chase the Falling Tide

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This is Artificial Lure with your St. Augustine fishing report. We’re working a mild spring pattern along the First Coast. Light northeast breeze early, building onshore by afternoon. Air temps running mid‑60s at first light, pushing upper 70s later, with partly cloudy skies and just enough chop to keep things interesting. According to NOAA tide tables for St. Augustine Inlet, we’ve got a predawn high followed by a mid‑morning fall, then a mid‑afternoon low and an evening push back in. That dropping water after sunrise is the money window: bait flushed off the flats and out of the creeks, predators stacking at the edges and mouths. Sunrise is right around that six‑ish mark, with sunset roughly twelve and a half hours later, giving you a long day to work both ends of the tide. Inshore, the reds and trout have been the main story. Local reports from the Intracoastal around the 312 bridge and Vilano say slot reds have been chewing well on the first half of the outgoing, especially where oysters meet deeper cuts. Anglers drifting the edges with live shrimp under popping corks or cut mullet on fish‑finder rigs are putting a handful of keepers in the box, plus plenty of underslot dinks. Speckled trout are still active along grass lines and creek mouths from Salt Run up toward the Guana area. The night and first‑light bite has been strong on topwater walkers in bone or mullet patterns. As the sun gets up, switch to 3–4 inch paddle tails in new penny, opening night, or natural mullet colors on 1/8–1/4 oz jigheads. Slow roll them along drop‑offs and you’ll pick off trout with the occasional flounder mixed in. Speaking of flounder, numbers are improving. Folks working the docks and pilings in Salt Run and around the Bridge of Lions with mud minnows or finger mullet on Carolina rigs are seeing a steady pick, mostly 14–17 inches, with a few doormats when the water’s clean. Work tight to structure and be patient on the hookset. Nearshore, when the wind lays, boats sliding just off the beach have found pods of bait and the usual suspects behind them. Kingfish have started to show on the reefs and wrecks in 50–70 feet; slow‑trolled live pogies are the ticket. You’ll also see scattered cobia cruising rays and buoys—keep a jig ready, something heavy in chartreuse or white, and toss it right on their nose. Surf fishing along Anastasia and south toward Crescent Beach has produced whiting and pompano on the better days, with a few drum in the mix. Best results come on the last of the incoming and first of the outgoing, with double‑drop rigs tipped with fresh shrimp, sand fleas, or Fishbites in shrimp or clam. Scale your tackle down for more bites; these fish have seen a lot of hardware lately. For artificial fans, you can’t go wrong with a small arsenal: topwater walkers at dawn, gold spoons for covering water over grass, and soft plastics on light jigheads once the sun’s up. Natural colors on clear water, darker or more vibrant on that wind‑stirred tide. Couple of local hotspots to circle: First, Salt Run and the adjacent flats inside the inlet. Work the early falling tide along the grass and around the docks for reds, trout, and flounder. Keep a close eye on the current seams near the channel. Second, the ICW stretch between the 312 bridge and Vilano. Target creek mouths with good oyster presence and a little deeper water close by. Those ambush points have been holding some of the better slot reds and a healthy trout bite. That’s the rundown from in and around St. Augustine. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
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