No hurricanes, plenty of big fish!!!!!

Report Date: September 5, 2009

As we write this report, no hurricanes have hit our area, yet. So, maybe September will be a great one for fishing The Nature Coast. And hopefully, some cooler weather will be just around the bend. This has been a hot, hot summer.

Tommy Stanfield from Texas with a double

Your best bets for the month of September are redfish, trout, spanish mackerel, grouper ,bluefish and jacks..

Redfish- Usually this month the reds in our area will school up and can be found in their usual haunts.
Look for rocky bottom, oyster bars, gravel bars, points of mangrove islands in the backcountry.
Gold spoons, along with soft jerk baits will catch your limit of reds if you work these types of bottoms.
Also, topwater plugs fished early morning on a high tide or overcast day will get your share of these ol’ spotted tails. Live shrimp or pinfish, freelined back to a school of redfish will almost always tempt them into biting. If not, use a cut pinfish or ladyfish medallion. It doesn’t hurt to use chum to get them biting also. For you flyfishermen, try poling the flats on a low tide, looking for tailing reds or big “v” wakes made by big fish. Drop a gold spoon fly, white crazy charlie, or black and gold clauser in front of their noses, give it a little twitch and hold on.

Trout- most trout will be found in 10-14 feet of water during this time of year. The inshore flats water temps are usually around 89 this month and trout like cooler water. Try drifting deep grass flats with pinfish with a little weight to keep them down. You will probably catch some nice trout as well as sharks, cobia, and an occasional grass grouper. If you work jigs, try ¼ oz. with soft plastic tails in colors of white, yellow/gold fleck, electric chicken or chartreuse. Work them slowly over the bottom with a fluorocarbon leader. The barge canal and Florida Power canal north of Crystal River, usually yield some nice sized trout, along with reds, grouper and cobia. Try trolling plugs and slow trolling pinfish hooked in the lip with a circle hook.

Jerry Robbins, line stretchin, drag screamin action

Spanish Mackerel- can be caught this month around deep grass flats and offshore rocky bottom. Try using a chum bag and chum with cut up pieces of shrimp. Then freeline shrimp back into the chum line.
You will catch a mix of fish using this technique. From mangrove snapper, grunts, grouper to ladyfish, jacks, and an occasional cobia or shark. Start by using fluorocarbon leader. Once you start getting cut offs, switch to wire leader for the Spanish.

Grouper fishing will depend on the weather. If we have tropical storms, no grouper fishing. However, if September is quiet, grouper will come from 40-60 foot depths using live bait on a bottom rig. Trolling large plugs will put some nice gags and reds in the box, also.

This time of year thunder storms can come up from nowhere. So, use caution when you see a thunderhead close. Catching one more fish or scallop isn’t worth it. If scalloping, have someone in the boat at all times watching for bad weather. With your mask in the water all the time, you can have a bad thunder boomer on you in no time. Be safe out there.



Remember, take a youngster fishing, ‘cause a child’s smile and a good day fishing is the best medicine for whatever ails ‘ya.

Until next time……

Captain Ed Lewis

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