Hello anglers, October is here! Most of us are ready for some cooler weather. Things will cool down and lots of fish will be on the move! The tropical activity will certainly shake things up. The water clarity, temperatures, and salinity will have a significant impact this month.
BAY: The trout and redfish will be moving and the water temp and salinity levels will fluctuate throughout the month. The shallow flats should be excellent this month. There is tons of bait in the bay right now which means two things: I have a lot of bait to throw my net on, and the fish already have a lot to eat. Timing and location is important. Be sure to catch that tide moving. My favorite time to fish back country is incoming tide, but moving tide is key. Live bait choices include pilchards, menhaden, finger mullet, and live shrimp. Artificial lures will produce as well. Toss top-water plugs early and late in the day. I like soft plastics or gold spoons under the surface after the sun gets up. Docks, bridges, and rocks will produce this month as well. You can’t beat a live shrimp on a slip-sinker. I rig using 20-30 pound fluorocarbon leader and a strong short shank hook. In these areas possible bites range from a 1 pound mangrove snapper to a 50 pound drum. Keep in mind that this is also a great time to target flounder. I suggest dragging bull minnows or soft plastics on jig heads in various locations to have success.
GULF: King and Spanish mackerel will be on fire this month! Troll duster rigs with cigar minnows and diving plugs. Vary your speeds and depths for optimum success. Bottom fishing will be great. Keep a few large live baits in the live well. Grouper will be chewing this month. I like to keep a variety of rigs and baits for bottom to broaden my species potential. I drop small and big rigs on every bottom fishing location.
SURF: The pompano and whiting should be getting better and big redfish will be cruising down the beach. Keep a shrimp on the bottom. Larger Spanish mackerel, lady fish, and blue fish will be caught from the surf on spoons, gotcha plugs and jigs.
Thanks for reading and fish on!
CAPT. JASON SHINGLER
Adrenaline On H20
Panama City, FL
(850) 348-2282