Fishing Report: Wahoo whacked all weekend

THE ST. JOHNS RIVER AND AREA LAKES: The anticipated full moon spawn of speckled perch seems to have pretty much fizzled out for the third time this winter - and the third year in a row.

What generally occurs is that specks will move into the shoreline vegetation once or twice a winter - en masse. That's when anglers target concentrations of fish, including the big females.

Sometimes, though, the fish move into spawn in a much more spread out fashion, for instance over the period of a month or two. And sometimes when the complex conditions that trigger a spawn don't occur, biologists believe they may not spawn at all, and the females simply consume their own roe from within.

We seem to be in the second scenario. Some specks are in the pads in Lochloosa and ganging in Haw Creek - which leads from Crescent to Dead lake. Dead Lake, itself, is rumored to be good right now, but unless you specifically know someone who's been down there, hooking up by phone with the facilities at Bull Creek Campground - if it's still there - is next to impossible.

There are still a number of fish being taken at Lake Lochloosa, but the word is out and you won't be alone. The camp sold 700 dozen minnows over the weekend.

The largemouth bass spawn is definitely on right now due to the one-two punch of the full moon Monday and a week of sunny, warmer days. There are beds all over Lake George. Lots of folks know this as well, but the lake is so big and the beds so evenly spread over it, guides say the fishing isn't that crowded. Lots of 8- to 10-pounders were weighed this week.

The bluegill bite is exceptional most places and the fish are running big - copperheads. But it's the catfish bite that's really on fire in the St. Johns Basin right now. If you're a real aficionado of catfish, the sweetest of them all, what's known locally as the butter cat (Yankees call them bullheads) is showing up in Dunn's Creek. For some reason, they only seem to bite a month or so out of the year and an early bite is on right now.

THE INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY: The best bite, other than bluefish, has been the redfish; mainly because so many of them seem to be slot-sized this week. Cut crab has been a great bait, but the finger mullet are pretty thick right now, and that's free with the price of a cheap cast net. For most, cheap is the way to go in the ICW and its creeks. You just don't want to toss an expensive net up against oyster bars. It won't last long.

A few flounder were reported. Sheepshead fishing picked up, but mainly because the marshes have warmed up enough to go dig them yourself. The west coast supplies for bait shops is very iffy right now.

Speckled seatrout are bunching up in the deeper channels, but are tough to locate.

THE ATLANTIC: The wahoo bite over the weekend was insane out on the ledge. To give you an idea, Paul Dozier is running his Northeast Florida Wahoo Shootout again this year. It began Feb. 6 and ends April 3. Monday there were 70 boats with fish on the board, and 69 of those weighed all their fish Saturday, Sunday or Monday. The J-Hook charter boat out of the Conch House iced down nine wahoo between 30 and 50 pounds. The Sweat Equity put three wahoo on the board over the weekend, totaling 227.88 pounds. The Jones N is in second place with three fish weighing 208.48 - including a 93.1-pounder.

It's a sure bet that a bunch of boats will be heading out of the inlet today to hit that bite again.

Both high-speeding lures and trolling baits produced. But "snatch and catch" guys got wahoo - period. The others tallied a few dolphin, along with the wahoo and good numbers of blackfin tuna.

One boat weighed 13 tuna Saturday.

We didn't hear all that much about the bottom fishing, probably because no one was doing it with the wahoo biting like that. But the few that did fish the bottom limited on beeliners, triggerfish and sea bass; and iced a few mutton snapper as well.

The local reefs and wrecks produced some sea bass and a few flounder. But the cobia seem to be gone; which isn't surprising with water temps in the low 60s.

THE WEATHER: It looks pretty for the weekend with sunny skies and light northerly winds pushing seas to 3 feet tops - the weatherman swears.

Jim Sutton provides a weekly fishing report for The Record. Reach him at jim.sutton@staugustine.com.