Whiteys Outfitters Fishing Report
Look for the action to heat up along the coastal beaches
as schools of baitfish begin popping up in the surf. September is an early start for the fingerling mullet to begin their migration from the northern Atlantic waters along the Carolinas to swim south to the Florida coastline for winter.
Schools of mullet look like patches of nervous water along the shore. They range from a few dozen fish grouped together, to thousands stretched out along the beach as far as the eye can see. Migrating schools will swim for protection close along the shoreline holding right in the waves, which is in range for land based fishing. Predators will also push large groups of mullet just offshore into large bait pods easily accessible from a kayak or by boat. While these little silver fish swim for their lives, all the big guys show up to feed on them and it is one of the best times of the entire year to fish in Florida!
Many species of fish will gather to feed on the mullet and attack the schools endlessly. Monster snook can be caught off the beach along with redfish, bluefish, jacks, spanish mackerel, sharks and the most sought after, tarpon. Most tarpon will range from 20-40 lbs., but look for plenty of the big boys coming in at 80+ lbs. Make sure your gear is in great shape and the spool is full of line because you will need every yard of it. Tarpon are notorious for making an instant strike and then heading for a run that will dump over half of the line from your reel. If you’re lucky, they might stop before you get spooled!
The key to fishing these huge schools of bait is to stay where the action is. Stop and check the local beach accesses to see where the bite is happening. Most of the time it is right out your back door, and will stay there most of the day. More active feeding times will be a couple hours after sunrise and later in the evening several hours before sunset. Live bait, mullet, and of course an assortment of lures should be rigged up and ready to go on a 30-40 lb. leader of mono or fluorocarbon. Swim baits that look very natural work great tracking through the water at different depths based on the rate of your retrieve. Try some of the Calcutta Flash Foils in a mullet, pinfish or red/white color, and/or the Berkley paddle baits in a mullet pattern around the 5-6 inch range. For the surface bite, grab your favorite wind cheater or any surface popper like the Cotton Cordell pencil poppers. Top water and diving lures will stand up to more aggressive strikes and are not prone to having the tails bitten off by smaller fish.
As the mullet round the tip of the jetties at Sebastian Inlet everything goes crazy. Snook will start doing cartwheels out of the water and the redfish will blaze through the schools inhaling baits. Live pinfish and pigfish along with croakers are showing up in the inlet and moving out from the river during tide changes. Live bait on the tide changes during the night is always a snook favorite along with diving plugs and bucktails. During the day live shrimp and pinfish drifted from the piers on incoming tides should produce some redfish and snook action.
The mangrove and mutton snapper have been holding in the deeper inlet channels and along the piers. The snapper bite was still strong at the end of August and should continue to hold most of September, with the continued supply of bait coming into the inlet.
With the long awaited start of snook season coming September 1st, the timing could not be better for the mullet run to start. Keep in mind that the snook regulations are 28-32, and one fish per person, per day. Let’s hope September is a calm month in the Atlantic, and all the storms stay away so that we can dry things out. Take some time off for yourself, and hit the beach or Sebastian Inlet for some of the best fishing times all year…
Whitey's Bait & Tackle
321-724-1440
9030 S Highway A1a
Melbourne Beach, FL 32951
captstovall@whiteysonline.com
www.whiteysonline.com/
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