Florida Fishing Report: Florida Fishing Charters

I returned to the water Monday following last week’s tragedy and the weekend’s tropical storm to escape and evaluate the conditions. I reflected how fortunate I am and how too often I take it all for granted. I realized how the therapy of being on the water is what made me what I am, all those years ago. As an added bonus, I found all the signs of fall and despite the winds and rains of last week, conditions were excellent.

The water had dropped to a very favorable 76 degrees. The air was dry and cool and the aroma of fall was in the air. To the north the water was near gin clear, tannic stained around the rivers, and a little muddy on the south side of my preferred range. Bait was/ is abundant all along and just off the shoreline. Spanish mackerel slashed through dense schools of scaled sardines. The fall migration of mullet is well on its way and many backwaters are teeming with them. Gamefish such as snook and redfish were intact, though not as tightly gathered prior to the weekend’s 50 mph winds.

John Orszulak of Connecticut had a business/ fishing trip postponed last week when the planes were grounded and made it back on Tuesday and Wednesday. Images on this report are highlights from those trips. We found snook on the outside edges and on the bars just outside the creek mouths. Reds were caught along the mangroves and salt n’ pepper bottom with scattered rock. One bar yielded a double hook up of snook and redfish. Some jumbo jacks were taken as well as an oddball cobia. Surprisingly, the inshore migration of mango snapper is off at this time. Mangos on the inshore structures in this area peaks in October, so we will see what will happen in the upcoming weeks. The key to success this week is the availability of horse eye greenbacks for those in the know.

One of the beauties of fall fishing is the cohabiting of species on single spots. We experienced a few touches of that this week. It will peak in the following weeks as the numbers of snook and redfish will increase and the added specie of sea trout will make its annual arrival. Cobia will make its annual migration to the south as well as king mackerel and grouper will fire up nearshore off the productive areas of Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus Counties.

As the week went on the tides began to slow with the quarter moon and the air temperatures rose from earlier conditions of the week. The cooling-warming process is just what is needed to keep things at an even pace in reaching optimum conditions. So what to do when the tide is low all morning and tides are slow in getting reds and snook to feed? A short run off the shoreline will get plenty of action on the Spanish mackerel frenzy.

My final specific trips targeting giant tarpon are coming up. I will survey Tampa Bay on the upcoming week. In most years there has been a good fall bite around the bridges on major moon tides and some fish will linger on hard bottom and deep troughs on the lower side of the Bay. In addition, along the beaches as they migrate out of the state for winter.

Screaming Drags and Tired Arms!

Robert McCue