September is a great month to get offshore. The weather starts to change ever so slightly, but the sea conditions are still good for small boats to fish.
The fall mullet run should start towards the end of the month. When the mullet schools start showing up, all hell will break loose. Cast net some mullet and fish with them on the beaches where ever you see schools of mullet. The fish that will be feeding on them are as follows: blacktip and spinner sharks, barracuda, jack crevalle, kingfish, cobia, bluefish, and Spanish mackerel. Also, try chunking some cut mullet underneath the schools for mutton snappers.
There are a couple of kingfish tournaments here locally that you might want to enter. The kingfish will be on the beaches around the bait schools and out to 90 feet of water on the offshore bar. Use mullet, blue runners, pilchards, greenies, ribbonfish and even hornbellies for bait. Make sure you rig with at least #4 wire (I use #6), and a treble hook as a stinger (kingfish have a tendency to bite short).
The bottom fishing for grouper, snapper and amberjack is really good in September as well. Use the same bait as mentioned above, along with cut sardines and squid. Fish in depths of 60 to 120 feet of water around artificial reefs, ledges and sea mounts. A good tip to find good bottom structure is when you’re out trolling for dolphin, pay attention to your depth finder. When you see a ledge or drop off or any king of bottom change, hit your mark or man overboard button. Then the next time you’re out bottom fishing, go see if those spots are holding fish. If they are holding fish, name the spot. If not, you can delete that waypoint.