After a long hot summer, we’re finally feeling a touch of crispness in the air that we haven’t felt in quite some time. The cool breezes are a welcome departure from the stagnant humidity of summer and there are signs that fall is drawing near. The combination of shorter days, a lower angle of the sun and cooler temperatures prompts changes below the water’s surface and triggers autumn migrations.
Near the inlets, passes and along the beaches, you can expect to find lots of action this month. Schools of pilchards, sardines, cigar minnows and red minnows are sure to have hungry Spanish and king mackerel, jacks, bonita and many other powerful predators lurking around them. If you can see fish blowing up on the surface, try casting jigs or plugs into them and see if they will eat. Sightfishing will be a little tough along the beaches due to all the recent rains but, if you can find patches of clean water, then you have a good shot at finding redfish or big jacks cruising. We should start to see the flounder moving as well. I have been catching them randomly throughout the bays but they should start getting more and more frequent around inlets as they move toward shallow structures offshore.
Shallow water inshore structures are a good place to look if you want to catch something delicious for dinner. Many of them are holding mangrove snapper, sheepshead, redfish, flounder, speckled trout and other species. You can either cruise through and target several different spots with artificial baits or pull up on one area and chum the fish to you. It really depends on how the area is set up as to what's more effective and, of course, personal preference and the species of fish you want to target also come into play.
Inshore in the bays, the fishing has been good. The water color is a little darker than I prefer (because I like to sight fish) but the bite on reaction baits has been excellent. Small topwaters fished along the shoreline at high tide have been effective for trout and redfish. Soft plastics with vibrating tails and wake baits have also produced some nice fish. Look for the redfish bite to keep getting better and better all the way through November, especially in the shallows. The trout fishing will also improve as temperatures cool. I suggest targeting broken grass and fairly clear moving water.
As always, if you have questions about what’s biting, how to catch them or want to book a trip, give me a call or shoot me an email. Tight lines!
