Fishing Reports - Spring | Summer | Fall | Winter

Fall Fishing Fantastic

At the start of October we begin our fall season - my favorite time of year to sight fish. We begin to see lots of new bait move into the area; Spanish sardines, pilchards and a few finger mullet. As we start getting our cold fronts moving in from the north we will continue to see more bait move into the area. Along with the bait come better numbers of snook, redfish, tarpon and seatrout. They gather around passes and cuts waiting to ambush schools of bait on the move. We see larger tarpon than is typical during the summer - up to 150 lbs. They follow the schools of finger mullet traveling down from the north, as do the snook and redfish. With the water levels in Florida bay at their peak height of the year there is plenty of shallow water sight fishing opportunities.

But do not forget the about the ocean side action. Bonefish, permit and tarpon = flat slam. Fall is one of the best times of year to pursue the coveted flats slam. We see large schools of bonefish roaming the flats and tons of small tarpon rolling during the early morning hours - eager to eat anything presented to them whether it is a fly or a live shrimp. Permit roams the edges of the flats during the different tides and can be the most difficult catch of the three. Again as we start getting our cold fronts we will see greater numbers of all three species.

Fall action is typically close to home action. There are a lot of choices available for half-day trips whether it is during the day or night. With the cooler temp’s at night bugs tend to be less of an issue and tarpon, snook and large mangrove snappers will be the best bites in town. Morning and nighttime will be the best bites until our nighttime temps drop below 70 degrees. So come on out and enjoy some of the best fishing available all year.

Capt. Mike Makowski
Blackfoot Charters