Fall Fishing Is right Around The Corner

As weather starts to cool a bit and cold fronts start to make their way to the sunshine state, going into October you should start to see these same fronts become a bit harsh. This will provide us with some cooler weather that will start to drop our water temperature into the low 80 degree mark. This is when we will start to see fish making the move toward there fall fishing areas.

On recent charters I have noticed Snook start to feed a bit more frequent and most fish that I have caught have been on the outer flats around the potholes and troughs. Greenbacks have been the bait of choice and using the Cajun Thunder Bobbers seemed to entice the bite and also keep the bait in the strike zone but out of the grass. Bait is still hanging around on the flats and smaller so I have been using the Daiichi #1 Black Nickel circle hook. As we head toward October look for fish to continue to be on the move and head up into the creeks and backcountry areas.

With cooler water temperatures Trout fishing will only get better. As of late I have been catching plenty of smaller Trout on the outer flats in 4 to 6 foot of water. As we get later in the year look for the bigger trout to school up in the shallow water. You can use either live bait or artificial baits. I have had a lot of success with either bait. I really like to break out the bag of artificial when targeting Trout. There are a lot of good baits out there that work good when targeting Trout but one of my favorite go to baits for Trout is the Z man Pearl white PaddleZ bait rigged with an 1/8 ounce jig head. This is a very simple rig and is one of my favorite. If you are fishing shallow water with thick grass I’ll opt to the 5 inch Zman Jerkz Texas rigged with a 1/8 ounce Daiichi 4/0 butt dragger hook.

If it is Redfish you are after there are plenty of fish showing up in smaller schools on the South Shore. Fishing around the stronger tides of the new or full moons have been most productive when targeting the bronze bruisers. Another key component to catching Reds is being patient and waiting for the fish. Remember Redfish are roamers and they come through in schools but are always on the move so waiting them out and using plenty of chum baits to draw them in will be the difference maker. If you don’t run across big schools of Reds try blind fishing the big schools of mullet. Redfish are known to run with schools of mullet and feed on crustaceans on the bottom as they get stirred off the bottom. With a little planning and luck good days of fishing are in your near future. Tight Lines!