Kingfish here, so tarpon cant be far behind

***Kingfish here, so tarpon cant be far behind***

**THE ST. JOHNS RIVER AND AREA LAKES:** Bass fishing should be slowing down, but hasnt. Ben William and Mike Cenci fished the Tocoi area and released a dozen bass  and missed one Ben says was significantly bigger that the one on Page 2B. And all the bass they caught were completely roed-out. Add another couple of pounds three weeks ago. One of the bait store operators said that bass are stacking up wherever you can find eel grass.

The redfish are on a pretty good bite, but one angler said he hooked 10 on a trip out, with five too big and five too small.

Jimmy from Westside Tackle caught a 34-inch red this week. It hit a chatterbait in the grass, caught while he was bass fishing. Murphy Island south of Palatka is holding reds. And if you can get on a slower tide, the railroad trestle there is a crazy good place to catch big channel cats around the pilings.

The croaker are a bit bigger up around the Shands Bridge. The striper/hybrids are moving around and beginning to show up  as they should  around the Croaker Hole.

The mullet run is so-so. Catfish are red-hot right now, as is the bite for big bluegill and shell-cracker all over the river.

**THE INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY:** The water is warming and cleaning up a little, which has led to a pretty good bite. The best news is that the flounder numbers are picking up. The redfish are still being ambushed most successfully on the ICW banks with spartina grass and oyster bars.

Find the bars on the low tide stages and fish them on higher water.

Drum are still under the bridges. Jacks are still annoying.

Trout are scattered, but may be the best bet if youre looking for a trophy and the sun is either setting or rising. Nothing beats tossing topwater plugs at daylight and twilight.

**THE ATLANTIC:** Starting with the surf, it been spotty at best, with mostly dirty water and rough surf due to the little northeaster that passed through over the weekend.

The county pier has had a couple of spurts of whiting action, but nothing you can count on.

Got a rare call from the guys down at the Flagler Pier, who were giddy with weird news of an epic flounder bite off the pier.

It slowed this week, but the reports are that plank rats were limiting out Monday and Tuesday  that 10 fish each  on flounder to 4 pounds. They were throwing grub tails and quarter-ounce jig heads, tied in tandem with another.

Some early king mackerel reports came in over the weekend and since. There arent many, but theyre there, along with a bunch of bonito, undersized amberjack and a few early barracuda.

A few cobia were reported on the beach, more from the north this week than from the south. Pogie pods are scarce. Captain Al Cumbie got on a school of Spanish mackerel put over 50 on ice yesterday. That limit is now 15 fish a day per angler.

Out on the ledge, the dolphin bite isnt what is has been, but most boats are coming in with 20 or so. What is on fire are the black-fin tuna out there. Wahoo are scarce. No sailfish or marlin were reported hooked this week.

Bottom fishing is good. But between the sharks and the red snapper out in deeper water, it been a frustrating exercise trying to get past them to the bottom.

**THE WEATHER:** Well still have northerly winds Saturday morning at 5-10 knots and seas 2-3 feet. Theyll swing out of the south by afternoon and continue Sunday when 5-knot winds will give us seas 2 feet or less.

Jim Sutton provides a weekly fishing report for The Record.

**Reach him at [email protected].**

**CONTRIBUTED photo:** Mike Cenci with a 9.5-pound bass caught near Tocoi on Wednesday. The fish hit a wild shiner along the grass bank. He and Ben Williams saw one much bigger than the one pictured blow up on a bait, but it wouldnt get hooked. They caught a dozen bass, a big catfish and a legal redfish.