Capt. Rick Davidson, Editor (grassflats2@yahoo.com)
Fishing Report July 2020
It’s been a fantastic month at Sea Hag Marina. The rental boats are coming in full, and offshore fishing was the best in several years. I’ve never seen so many large red snapper coming in to the cleaning tables, but unfortunately the season ended on July 26th. Gag grouper fishing was fantastic as well, some huge cobia have been caught, and there were some nice redfish and trout available. But the big story was scallops. They’ve been in varying depths, and sometimes it’s taken a little moving around, but limits have been coming regularly. Here are just a few pictures from around the Hag this month, following the August Forecast
Fishing Forecast August
Scalloping continues to be very rewarding. As in past years, you can find boats around and outside of the Bird Rack to the north and Rocky Creek to the south. Just look for the fleet. Make sure you stay at least 100 yards away from any boat with a dive flag. I’ve heard a number of complaints about boats not paying attention to flags. Protect your neighbors and slow down when near any boat this time of year. If you aren’t aware, you can buy everything you need for scalloping at the Ship’s Store: masks, snorkels, fins, bags, and even a rental boat, but you must make reservations for a boat. The bag limits are:
Per person: 2 gallons of whole bay scallops in shell or 1 pint of bay scallop meat
Per vessel: Maximum of 10 gallons of whole bay scallops in shell, or 1/2 gallon bay scallop meat (1/2 gallon = 4 pints
Offshore, red snapper season is over, but amberjack are open as of August 1. Gag and red grouper are still available. Some of our guides can run out to find vermillion snapper as well. Inshore, trout are hiding in deeper water and can be found in 6-8 feet of water over deeper grass flats, but the larger solitary fish are around shorelines in the early morning at sunrise. Redfish seem impervious to the many scallop boats. I had one report of a small school of redfish cruising within 100 feet of a group of scallopers. As usual, fish near marshlines on high tide, and rocky areas and oyster bars on lower tides. This should be a great month. Keep our fingers crossed that we can avoid any storms, and take advantage of this month to get your family on the water.
Finally, congratulations to Chaeli Norwood, the littlest Sea Hag, who is engaged to Kevin Harden. We’re so happy for you:
