Jacksonville, home of Florida’s Aboriginal Coast, has consistently been accepted for its outstanding inshore and adopted fishing. With over 68 afar of Atlantic Ocean bank and 400 afar of river, intra-costal waterways (ICW), creeks, lakes, and ponds, Jacksonville has as assorted a fishery as any locale. Combine that fishery with abundant acclimate and abounding admission to baptize and you accept conceivably one of the best places to yak angle in the absolute country.
Situated in the northeast bend of Florida on the bank of the Atlantic Ocean, the St. John’s River flows from the Atlantic through Jacksonville all the way to Lake Okeechobee in south Florida. Another cogent anatomy of baptize that runs through Jacksonville from arctic to south is the Intra-Coastal Canal (ICW), active amid the river and the ocean.
What makes Jacksonville and arctic Florida different is the assortment of its waters, flat conditions, and accessible fish. Whether you appetite to angle adopted for big bold fish, assignment the jetties, angle the river, intra-coastal waterway, or creeks for inshore abyssal fare, or arch into the freshwaters south on the river or in lakes and ponds, Jacksonville has article for you.
Offshore fishing is at it’s best in the summer, aback huge pods of menhaden (pogies) abide the beaches and kingfish, tarpon, jacks, cobia, and sharks appear in to feast. Huge red boom additionally are begin below the pogie pods and accomplish an accomplished fight, and the Spanish mackerel runs crop affluence of action. Typical adopted accouterment for yak anglers are spinning or baitcasting setups that would be adapted for bigger fish, application added leaders, big hooks for alive bait, or ample artificials and plugs.
Where Jacksonville absolutely excels is it’s inshore fishery. There are actually hundreds of creeks off the ICW and river, including some amazing wetlands, preserves, and parks, such as the Timucuan Preserve. If you are into bank baptize angling, fly fishing, or alive allurement fishing, the choices of breadth are bottomless and the breed present are spectacular.
In the abhorrent inshore amnion the favorites are redfish, spotted seatrout, flounder, sheepshead, atramentous drum, stripers, and alike the casual snook. Typically creeks through Jacksonville’s marshlands accept lots of abounding grass, mud flats, and ability beds, which are ideal for sight-fishing tailing and abetment redfish.
Inshore yak anglers use aggregate from alive allurement techniques on spinning tackle, to plugs, bucktail jigs, and artificial jerkbaits on baitcasting equipment, to fly-fishing gear. Common alive baits inshore are shrimp, mud minnows, feel mullet, and dejected crab. The best accepted weapon of best for alive allurement fisherman is absolutely alive shrimp on a jig.
If you are fishing inshore or at the jetties, advantageous absorption to the tides is a must. In Jacksonville the chaw is best on the approachable advance and the aboriginal of the incoming, aback baitfish are added heavily concentrated. The tides in arctic Florida beat anywhere from 4′-6′ alert a day - so if you are alive a brook you charge to plan appropriately or you may acquisition a lot of mud amid yourself and the aperture of the creek, or amid yourself and your barrage site.
These flat swings aftermath a lot of baptize breeze and if you are from an breadth after tides it’s usually a bit of acquirements experience. If you acquisition you are consistently canoeing adjoin the tides you are apparently accomplishing things appropriate - that is affective into the aback of creeks during the approachable advance to get in some bank baptize angling, again alive adjoin the admission advance on your way out. Of course, you can additionally use the tides to your advantage on best trips - for archetype you may let an approachable advance booty you from your barrage to a admired brook which you again go into, angle the low advance and aboriginal of the admission tide, again let the admission advance advice you get aback to your launch.
If freshwater fishing is your alternative Jacksonville has abounding freshwater lakes and ponds. As you advance added south in the river the baptize gets fresher and you can angle up with bass, croakers, bream, crappie, bluegill, and catfish.





