Whiteys Fishing Report, September, 2009
As the tropical action heats up in the Atlantic, expect the mullet to show up any time along the beaches for their annual migration. When the mullet runs is here, look for many predatory fish to shadow the schools and make endless attacks on the mullet. The small mullet will blast through the air in defensive maneuvers to avoid being dinner. While the tarpon, will make aerial displays rolling and jumping around the mullet.
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. You can expect to catch everything from jacks, tarpon, mackerel, snook, sharks, bluefish and the list goes on.
When 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 action.
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. Also, all fishermen must have a license now. If you are fishing from shore, the shoreline endorsement is $9.50, and a regular saltwater license is $14.50. Shore bound anglers must purchase a snook stamp for $2.50, in order to posses a snook.
Offshore fishing has been really slow last month. The bottom has been dirty due to the swells from Hurricane Bill & Danny. Most of the fish have been caught while trolling baits. A fair number of Mahi in the 12-15 lb range and maybe a wahoo scattered here and there. Bottom fishing will improve as the swells die down. The water temperature on the bottom is not very cold and the snapper and grouper are still hanging around your favorite rocks.
As the weather permits, get out of the house and hit the beach or Sebastian Inlet for some of the best fishing action 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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