Space Coast Fishing Report For August 2019 Covering Port Canaveral, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Orlando

We have truly had a great July. Summertime fishing always has its slower days but overall they were few and far between. The arrival of the bait was a absolute relief and enticed strikes on days the fish were not so cooperative. Calm seas with only a few afternoon storms made for smooth sailing. The king mackerel stole the show like they usually do but dolphin fish, cobia and sailfish were welcomed daily visitors. The 5 day snapper season was crazy and everyone did well most days. The most important thing was in all the craziness everyone was safe. Hopefully the next time they open snapper they will do a better job and not let us slaughter them during spawning time. Near shore the action was steady for all. King’s crevalles, sharks and tarpon were abundant for those wanting bigger game and those content fishing shrimp along the jetty’s and surf always brought home drum, flounder and mangroves for dinner. Let’s hope July 2020 holds the same because there was nothing wrong at all with this July.

August Near Shore Fishing Forecast
The action is close and the fish are stacking. The number of tarpon on the back side of the Canaveral shoal rivals the Florida Keys. Sharks are mixed in everywhere with a good variety of black nose, black tip, spinner and the occasional lemon or sand tiger. Nothing is more fun than anchoring ahead of a giant school of tarpon waiting for them to get close with live baits ready while soaking half of a bonito in hopes of a giant lemon shark. Two of the hardest fights you will ever get and right now you have a chance at both. The water is still clean enough to live bait troll the beach and it seems the big fish are late to the game this year. They are spawned out so that is good unless you are trying to win a tournament. If you try some Space Coast Fishing this month expect to see a few nice triple tail on the buoys along with goliath groupers, jack crevalles and barracudas. Snook, flounder and mangroves will be tight to the jetty’s and all the normal ambush points inside the port.

August Offshore Space Coast Fishing Forecast
August can be a very tricky month. The clean calm water and the only game in town of live bait trolling the summer away applies in the beginning of the month until it doesn’t. At some point weather will give us big seas and turn this place on its head. Immediately following that first very rough day the fishing is going to be tough. The reason this happens is because it has been so calm for so long everything has settled. It is much like shaking a snow globe. This is disappointing but it does start to give us options again. Bottom fishing will be back on the agenda because for some reason the first round of rough seas seem to trigger the bottom species. We will see a lot of action from vermillion snappers, triggers, lane snappers and mangrove snappers. We can also expect a few more bites from groupers and amberjacks.

The stream will start to have defined edges again where those who are willing to drag baits can put a day together with a couple mahi, and the occasional wahoo or sailfish. Live bait trolling for kings will take a hit but will recover after a couple days of calmer sea conditions. I would also expect to see a few more cobia while live bait trolling or bottom fishing in 120 ft or less. Overall I expect a good month of fishing but be prepared for that short period of time that the wheels fall right off.

The Suzuki Repower Fishing Report is sponsored by Mastry Suzuki Repower and Suzuki Repower Center at Marine Pro of Central Florida serving Florida’s Space Coast.

Captain Greg Rapp
Sealeveler Sport Fishing Charters
Phone: (321) 794-3474
Capt. Greg on the web: https://www.sealeveler.com/
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About Captain Greg’s Reports and Forecast
Captain Greg has been fishing the waters of Port Canaveral and the Atlantic for over 30 years. He has the largest and most highly rated private charter business in Port Canaveral, Sea Leveler Sport Fishing Charters. Greg and his team of full time captains fish well over 200 days each per year. We have kept detailed catch history for every trip ran since 2010. You can access this history at www.sealeveler.com/reports. His engineer wife, Amber, has analyzed the catch history along with other historical data such as water temperature and weather patterns. Greg uses his fishing experience and knowledge along with his wife’s statistical analysis to bring you the best fishing report available for Port Canaveral. Greg will give you the honest truth on how the fishing has been along with his best prediction of what to expect by using all of this information.

Check out previous fishing reports by Capt. Rapp. Captain Greg’s Space Coast Fishing Report for May 2019 – Capt Gregg’s Port Canaveral March Fishing Forecast