Fall's fabulous fishing!!!!

Report Date: September 8, 2007

Oh the joys of Fall….Cooler weather, football, baseball playoffs, and hunting season. These cooler temps will also usher in something else, some of the best fishing of the year. Whether you fish inshore, nearshore, offshore or freshwater, be sure your tackle is ready. However, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the weather. This is also hurricane season and the weather can get nasty real quick. The main thing is not to take chances. If the weather is bad, there will be other days.

Big Redfish Double!!!

Best bets: Redfish are always available. Oyster bars, rocky points, grass shorelines and rocky bottom are redfish hotels. Their favorite food this time of year is fiddler crabs, shrimp, small blue crabs, cut mullet, pinfish and other small bait fish. Best bet for spincasters are Cotee jigs with Salt Water Assassins Blurp, sometimes tipped with shrimp in colors of white, rootbeer, new penny, chartreuse and black with gold flecks. Reds can also be caught on gold or silver spoons and top water plugs like the Mirrorlure Top Pup, She Dog or twitch baits in gold, yellow, orange or silver colors. Here is a tip: if you spot a group of reds and they won’t bite. Take some old shrimp frozen from the last trip, cutbait, or whatever you have (ladyfish is good cutbait) and cut up into quarter inch pieces for chum. Throw a handful out upcurrent from where the fish are holding and every five minutes repeat. Float or freeline your bait in with the chum and I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Sometime fish like an appetizer too.

Trout fishing on the flats will be another best bet. As the waters cool, they will move into 2-4 feet of water over grass and rocks and start to school up. A popping cork with a shrimp, pinfish or grub on a ¼ oz. jig fished 12-18 inches below will catch a limit for ya. Also, top water plugs fished early and late in low light conditions will work well. Twitch baits or suspend baits as they are sometime called, like the Mirrolure Catch 2000 series and their new Mirrodine, work great. This time of year you catch a lot of undersized trout in the 14 inch range. Take extra care an be careful to release these fish unharmed. These are your lunkers for the future. Remember, we all have a part in conservation and protecting our fishery.

Gator trout on light tackle/fly...

Spanish Mackerel, Kings, Cobia, Shark among others, will be along the coast this time of year. If you want to have some real fun, get into a school of feeding spanish mackerel with light or fly tackle and a small wire leader. On a cool autumn day with bluebird skies overhead, a gentle sea breeze and a first time angler in the boat, it just doesn’t get any better. Any small bright, flashy lure tipped with a strip of cutbait, will work on Spanish.

Big fish, line screaming, rod bending action!!!

Grouper and offshore fishing will pickup substantially this month, providing the winds are favorable. Depths of 30-50 feet will yield good catches over rocks and rocky bottom. If the floating grass is gone, trolling plugs over the same type bottom will prove successful. Kings will be around, so troll a live bait or spoon or plug over your favorite bottom and see what happens.

October brings blue skies, low humidity, gentle breezes, cooler temps, good tides, and lots of hungry fish. Get out there and get ya some.

Give me a call to book your fishing adventure…

And, remember, take a youngster fishing,” ‘cause a child’s smile and a good day fishin’ is the best medicine for whatever ails ya’”

Until later…..

Captain Ed Lewis
www.Redfishhunter.com /> CaptEd@Redfishhunter.com

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