East winds, although they’ve been pretty stout, is just what we needed to clean up our inshore and near-shore waters.
The water temperature is down a bit, hanging around 80 to 82 degrees. This has set the stage for an eruption of fry bait that has attracted the attention of all other members of the food chain.
There’s something about flocks of dipping terns and the water’s surface being beaten into a froth by predators of all sizes that get’s your blood pumping.
Paying close attention to these boils will give you an idea of the size of predators involved in the frenzy. The smaller fish could be blue runners, jacks or ladyfish or a combination of the three.
The occasional big blast among the smaller ones could be Spanish mackerel, Bull redfish, bonito, black tip sharks or even kingfish. This is derby fishing at its finest, bouncing from frenzy to frenzy, casting plugs or spoons can be a blast on light tackle. Anglers specifically targeting the king fish and sharks may opt for slow trolling live blue runners or small Spanish mackerel.
Full moon tides this past week provided some good redfishing, this is the time of year when we start to encounter schools of redfish with good regularity.
These redfish are most likely moving in from the gulf and staging up on flats near the passes.
Target flats directly adjacent to deep water, unfortunately this often means fishing somewhere near the channel, but they’re known as channel bass for a reason.
Look for the usual signs, such as clean water and the presence of mullet, but also keep an eye on any suspicious mud clouds along the outer edge of the flat indicating the presence of a school of fish.
Fall redfish will often stage on the outside edge of the flat and never move up with the tide, this is probably due to all the fry bait out in deeper water.
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