Fall is such awesome time to fish, perfect weather, most all the water to yourself, and lots of fish. I probably spend some of my most enjoyable fishing days on the water this time of year. I mean don't get me wrong everyone knows I love to tarpon fish in the summer. What make the fall so special is the calming effect you get from being on the water. The weather is cool and the fish are easy to catch and if you want to move and try another spot there are a hundred places to go where you won't find anyone else. It's so relaxing, the way fishing is supposed to be.
This past week has been nothing less than the norm for October, low humidity and fast fish action. The gulf water temperature is perfect right now, yesterday it was 77 degree. Things are really firing up. It doesn't matter if you are inshore or off, the action is fast. Bait is everywhere and thick as thieves offshore, on the beach, in the passes and on the flats and the fish is gorging themselves. The kingfish are the big prize offshore right now. Yesterday we did and half day in the afternoon we caught 10 to 20 pounders consistently the whole time with no lag in the action. We lost a few larger ones, one that was a solid 30 pounder we that we had up to the boat. My largest this past week was probably close to 35 pounds. The king fishing is peek right now. The grouper are also biting as well as the snapper on the bottom. That last blow brought a lot of fish in closer; no longer do you have to make that 20 mile run for good grouper fishing. There is plenty of fish in the bay to 10 miles out. There have also been a number of sails mixed in the bait within 10 miles, so who knows there is a chance while king fishing to catch a sailfish. There are also a few rumors of some large permit floating around. I tried to find them in that calm water yesterday but was unable to maybe later this week I will catch up with them.
The inshore fishing is equally as good. The snook fishing was especially good for me this past week with lots of numbers. I had a few days for 3 hours or so where it was a fast as you could reel them in. Mostly smaller 22 to 26 inches, but they are a lot of fun. We did have a couple fish close to 30 inches. The Redfish have not been as fast as the snook, but I have been getting keepers mixed in with the snook in the 20 to 25 inch class which makes for a nice added bonus. Trout are also solid right now although I have little time to spend on them with everything else biting. I think the trout should be good for years to come as long as we don't have any real bad red tide as we did a few years ago. I look forward to some good winter trout fishing this year.
Well that is my report for the last week of October. Fishing is really hot right now and the weather not so get out there and enjoy it while you can. I still have a couple openings for anyone wishing o get out. Catch you on the water.
Capt. Matt Ercoli
www.captainmatt.com
