Boatless Fishing Forum, Reports, Info

I'll be visiting N. Hutchinson Is. from July 6-12. I fish a lot in massachusetts but don't know much about Fla. I'll be able to get out in the early mornings. I'll be staying near the beach and the Indian River is nearby. Will I be able to find fish in the surf or should I try the river?
Thanks for any info.

That time of the year the summer baits should be thick in the surf. I'd try white streamers with Mylar. Work the beach til it looks fishy. You could catch jacks runners or snooks. In the river try poppers for the same and maybe some trout or redfish. If you fish the river bring some water shoes or old sneakers and wade out some.

fishnfool73 wrote:That time of the year the summer baits should be thick in the surf. I'd try white streamers with Mylar. Work the beach til it looks fishy. You could catch jacks runners or snooks. In the river try poppers for the same and maybe some trout or redfish. If you fish the river bring some water shoes or old sneakers and wade out some.

Ok, thanks. I'll tie up a bunch. Is 1/0 ok for hook size or should I go smaller?

I'm not a fly guy really but 1/0 should be plenty. I'd say use what you would for school or stripers or blues up in Mass.

Go a little south to Bathtub Beach, at the south end of the island. Last summer, there were huge schools of glass minnows that hung out there most of the summer, with tarpon, huge jacks, snook and bonita eating them every morning and evening, coming right up onto the beach. Small jigs or plugs are the ticket.

Hey bud! Yeah 1/0 is perfectly acceptable imo for everything up to 30 lbs tarpon. If you see bigger fish in the mix though, step it up a little bit more. I would tie anything that like FFS said resembles a glass minnow with plenty of flash, however keep it tiny. Lookup a glass minnow and do your best to imitate it. I have not fished that area, however it is a fail proof pattern that works on everything in the beach in the summer. There are no bass here, but the snook make up for them, plus many other tropical species which I am certain you will come across. I truly find it that fish are a lot more willing to take a fly than anything else when properly presented and I consistently outfish live bait on the fly. Make sure to post how you do, and if you can take pics then even better!

-swordfish

That's great, I can't wait to get down there. Thanks for all the good advice.