Daytona Beach Fishing Charters
As the old saying goes, “the only thing constant is change.” With changing water conditions comes different types of fishing opportunities. Any good captain knows this and your ability to “pivot” becomes very important. Fishing off the beach things have changed quite a bit. The huge schools of baitfish have mostly disappeared and along with them the tarpon. There are a few tarpon around if you look closely and a charter of ours caught a decent one prior to the crazy Labor Day weekend.
Speaking of crazy, as our areas’s population increases, so does the the traffic out on the water. The holiday weekends can be downright difficult to fish. Our least favorite holidays to fish are Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. The funny thing is if you asked the fish they’s say the same as the hundred of of boats go buzzing by their heads! Boat safety is of utmost importance and you have to be vigilant out there. Unless there is some unusual circumstance, we don’t fish the holiday weekends.
The tarpon fishing is still decent but, nothing like the all out blitz of the past month. We have been fishing these waters for over 20 years and have never seen such amazing tarpon fishing! The baitfish migration will be key to the fishing as we should see a big push of mullet migrating south. All indication are pointing to a strong mullet run. Keep your fingers crossed we don’t get a hurricane which will really screw things up. Late summer early fall is when you really need to pay attention to the weather forecast.
Our old standbys, snook and redfish have been chewing consistently. The last two weeks our charters are coming back with stories of the biggest redfish they have ever seen and over the slot sized snook. 
Captain Austin is very adept at finding the redfish and snook this time of year. This is his favorite time of year to fish. Big redfish have always been a part of many Daytona Beach Fishing Charters but, the snook fish over the years has really improved. We now can expect multiple fish days of large snook in the same areas as the redfish. Our area has never been known as a snook hotspot but lately that has been changing the last 4 or 5 years.
Redfish begin to congregate in huge numbers this time of year which makes them an easy target. We are definitely known for our large redfish and most charters end up with multiple fish over 40 inches. The Indian River Lagoon has been a mecca for redfish and only a few inlets in Florida consistently produce big fish. We are lucky Ponce Inlet is one of those inlets.
At about 30 inches, redfish leave the shallow waters of the lagoon and go out of the inlets to come together in huge groups to spawn. During breeding, the males chase and bump the females while drumming, a sound they produce by rubbing a muscle against their inflated swim bladders. 
Come see for yourself the world class fishing we have and call or text Captain Austin at (386) 689-9056. Until next time – tight lines!
