“Fall means fishing”
Fall is the time that most associate with inshore fishing. Water and air temperatures are dropping. There’s still plenty of bait in the creeks and rivers as redfish and seatrout fatten up for winter. Last week inshore fishing was hot with many fishermen limiting on seatrout. Black drum, redfish, flounder and sheepshead were biting strong as well! Bait shrimp became scare due to very clear water and strong demand at local bait shops. Despite very clear water many fisherman did exceptionally well with several limits of fish taken in the sounds. Striper action is also is heating up! Capt. Matt Williams said he fish his first day of the season for stripers. Matt reported catching 32 stripers with several in the 20 pound range!
Fishing should continue to heat up during the coming weeks as long as temperatures remain mild.. Fall fishing is little like playing the lottery. Keep playing and you’re likely you’ll likely have a nice return.. The fish this time of the year can be schooled up and aggressive. When one drop isn’t producing another might produce. With many fishermen on the water this time of the year a safe bet is to get on drop and fish the tide.
Tides will build to 8.8 feet on Saturday. Tides in the beginning of the week appear more fishable than the latter half. Strong northeast winds have hampered fishing. Northeasters typically last around a week. Northeasters can exaggerate high tides making the tides much higher than predicted. As winds subside good fishing will likely continue. Some fishermen believe that the bite increases as tides build. This statement is true up a point: as tides get over 8.3 feet the water will likely become dirty and the current too fast to fish. When tides are close to the 9 foot range look for the fish back in the grass.
Fall is a great time for fishing on the coast! Fall means fishing!
Capt. Jack McGowan.
