Even when it’s really cold I have found that you can still catch trout on lures in the Fort George area. Slow-sinking hard plastic baits such as the Bomber Sinking Mullet or MirrOlure 52M perform well this time of year. They are basically do-nothing lures; you cast them out and let them sink. I like to count them down. I let them sink for a 4-count, twitch the rod upward for a little action and let them sink again. Trout always hit the motionless baits on the fall. Slow sinkers are perfect baits for lethargic fish that don’t want to chase their prey. Suspending lipped divers are another good option. Crank down and pause your retrieve, and a suspending lure stays down in the water column, rather than floating to the surface. Suspending lures work well when trout are holding in water less than five feet deep. Soft-plastic shad tails on a jighead will probably produce more trout than anything else, but the bigger fish seem to go for the hard baits. I have found that natural colors produce the best in the clean water around Fort George. A clear-body, black-back mullet pattern is one of my favorites for hardbaits. I’ve had the most success with white or pearl colors when it comes to soft plastics.

Nathan Johnson "point-plucked" this gator trout off an irregular shoreline.

Shorebound fisherman will find plenty of opportunities around Fort George River. There’s excellent float fishing for trout on the Fort George bridge. One of the better techniques that locals often use for catching trout from the Heckscher Drive bridges is to fish on the upcurrent side of the bridge, allowing a float to drift back underneath the bridge close to the pilings. Huegenot Park, which is basically a beach on the shorelines of Fort George Inlet, is famous for its superb surf fishing; early in the morning finger mullet invade the shallows where trout, redfish, flounder and bluefish come to feast. Shorelines near Camp Alamacani on the south bank of the river give up gator trout regularly and Little Talbot Island State Park is probably the best kept secret in Jacksonville; at times you can actually see bull redfish riding the waves in the clear surf.

As I turn the corner around Garden Creek from the ICW and head due east toward the Fort George Plantation, there is a noticeable difference in the clarity of the water. Oyster mounds are fuller and healthier looking. The spartina grassflats are picturesque. The expression I see on the anglers’ faces as we meander through the sandbars in the green, salty waters of the Fort George River says it all. It’s as if they know they are entering fishy territory.

FS