Lately, along the Nature Coast we have been experiencing steady offshore winds with a few light showers. It's this combination of showers and light winds that have allowed the temperatures to feel as if the FALL is right around the corner. The temperatures have been absolutely perfect for fishing lately. During the end of September into October I fish many of the Spoil Islands scattered throughout the Nature Coast. These spoil islands tend to hold plenty of Redfish, Trout, Black Drum, Mangrove Snapper, and the occasional Spanish Mackerel during this time of year. When fishing these spoil islands, planning around the tides is critical. I like to fish the early stages of the incoming tide, but depending on the moon the fish can show up at any of the spoil islands at any time. On a recent trip I had the pleasure of taking out David Patten and RG Schmidt both of which are extremely experienced anglers. We started off our morning snagging up a few pieces of bait before heading to our main spoil island. To my amazement as soon as we set up on this island and threw a live pinfish off of the point, WHAM! David landed a 27" Redfish. For over an hour cast after cast we landed a variety of fish. On this day the Redfish, Black Drum, and Mangrove Snapper were biting best.
Later on in the week I had the pleasure of fishing with my long time clients Jay and Nancy Allen. During the three beautiful days we fished together we landed over 70 Redfish (most of which were keepers) and 30 trout. During one of our days we fished with a beautiful south wind and a light drizzle. A low pressure system was leaving our area and the drizzle was a welcome sight. With the rapid fluctuation in the barometer the fishing really began to heat up. The first spot we stopped at was a small island way inside an area we call the Salt River. "First Cast" Nancy's first cast landed in a perfect spot where a huge school of mullet was milling around. It didn't take long for a feisty redfish to show itself and the fight was on. Nancy did an excellent job of pulling the 25" redfish away from the school of mullet to keep from spooking the rest of the fish that were hiding in the school. Our next three cast we made into the large school of mullet all produced the same results, "Slot size Reds." For the next 4 hours we trolling motored around the island following the school of mullet and caught redfish after redfish. Total we ended up with 15-20 ranging from 16-28 inches. What a way to start the day.
The Redfish were a great sight to see but the true highlight of the day was the trout fishing that took place after we were tired of catching the Reds. After chasing those Reds for a few hours, I decided to try an adjoining flat where I have had excellent success with trout in the past. I tied on ¼ ounce white jig heads with Berkley Gulp! Shrimp to all of our fishing poles. Within our first 10 casts we already boated 4 keeper trout ranging from 16-18 inches. After I seen that the flat was holding some decent sized trout I decided to go with some bigger baits to try and entice a few bigger trout. I swapped 3" Gulp! Shrimp for 4" Gulp! Shrimp and boy did those big trout love that bigger bait. The bigger Gulp! Was most definitely the ticket as our trout size average increased to catching 18-22" fish.
So if drag screaming runs and big fish thrashing around at the surface gets you blood boiling, give Red Hot Fishing Charters a call today were in the fishing memory business.
(352) 634-4002 kylemessier@yahoo.com www.redhotfishingcharters.com
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