By Capt. Michael Savedow, Edgewater River Guide
October brings the first cool fronts of the season, they push south through Central Florida, bringing breezes off the ocean after a summer of calm mornings. East winds will raise water levels in the Intracoastal Waterway and Mosquito Lagoon. Early morning topwater lures with a louder rattle, can be best with breezy choppy water. With higher water on the flats in Edgewater Backcountry and on the lagoon try very close to shorelines where you can find skinny water fish prowling for food. Fish tail hooked finger mullet or mud minnows up tight to oyster bars, mangrove shorelines and shallow flats with a favorable water depth of 12 to 18 inches. Reds, trout, and snook cruise and feed tight to the shore in high water searching for minnows, shrimp, small crabs.
On lower tides fish the edges of oysters and mangrove shorelines. The fall mullet run should be in full swing on the beach, inlet, and ICW with easy bait catching. Watch for game fish busting and mullet schools, jack crevalle and bluefish can account for most of this surface action. A live mullet or topwater lure can be best for a quick hookup here. Ponce Inlet can be the center of attention for spawning redfish, averaging 20 to 40 lbs. They feed heavy on drifting blue crabs, mullet, and baitfish being pulled through the inlet on the outgoing tide. Boats can drift or anchor, in the western inlet entrance, inner channel edges, and the jetty tip area. These big fish are catch and release only as most all are over the 27″ maximum size, use heavier tackle to land them quicker for healthy release, always hold them horizontal for your pictures, never hang by the jaw with fish grippers which can damage the fish.
Expect the chance of snook, tarpon, and sharks as well around the inlet fishing live bait. Try for the year’s biggest mangrove snapper which have grown in the backwaters all season long and are getting ready to move to the ocean for the adult stage of their life. The inlet area, jetties, and New Smyrna docks, ICW, Edgewater and bridges can be best for bigger mangos. In the Edgewater backcountry, fish bigger baits to attract larger snapper, shrimp, finger mullet, and cut bait. Minimum size 10″ with bag limit 5 per person on mangroves.
Dock light fishing can be really good in fall, Oak Hill and Edgewater lights can hold mostly trout and also snook, outgoing tides usually best bet, but moving water a must, free line live shrimp go to bait. Closer to the inlet, New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet lights can have more blues and jacks, snook are always a possibility at any light. Ladyfish are big night feeders, mostly outside the lights, all along the ICW channel, shrimp, lures, or fly casting makes fun catching on big fall ladys. Dropping water temperatures and clearing water makes for good variety catching in the backwaters, all the resident like fish seatrout, snook, redfish, mangrove snapper, and black drum are joined by the migratory fish heading south along with the mullet, schooling bluefish, jack crevalle, oversized ladyfish, Spanish mackerel, tarpon, pompano. For live bait try shrimp, mullet, pigfish, pinfish, mud minnows, you can free line them or add a small weight to drop them into holes or channels. Lure anglers can throw top waters early morning, then switch to sub surface after the sun is up, twitch baits, spoons and 1/8 or 1/16 oz. swim tail jigs.
