By Capt. Michael Savedow, Edgewater River Guide
We have been waiting all year for the first day of Fall after a long Florida summer, the first fishy change of the season is the start of the mullet run. Most of the migrating baitfish stay in the ocean along the beach and near the inlet, but some of the schools come inside and travel along the intracoastal waterway on their journey south. Followed by inshore migratory game fish, cast net mullet for bait, use larger ones for Bull Redfish, Tarpon, Sharks and bigger Snook, finger size for Jack Crevalle, Bluefish, Ladyfish, Spanish Mackerel, as well as resident fish like Flounder, Trout, Mangrove Snapper, slot size Reds and Snook.
Free line baits on the surface or fish deeper with a small weight under the bait schools, try mullet live, fresh dead, or cut. Lure and fly fishermen can have good action with top water or subsurface lures which imitate mullet. Snook season opens September 1, bag limit is 1 per person, slot size limit is 28″ to 32″ overall length, a snook permit on your fishing license required to keep one. Best places to target snook in our area can be the Intracoastal Waterway bridges and docks, Ponce Inlet channel and jetties, Spruce Creek, Tomoka area, Haulover Canal, also in the Edgewater Backcountry. Try mangrove & oyster shorelines and points with deeper drop-offs and flowing current. Use a larger bait or lure to target keeper size snook, try live mullet, pinfish, pigfish, croakers or large shrimp, for artificials use swimming type plugs for surface action or jigs for fishing deep.
Fall can have some of the best action of the year at Ponce Inlet, main attractions are big spawning Redfish, Snook, Sharks, and Tarpon. Drifting the inlet channel and its western entrance is the most popular technique, free lining whole or half blue crabs, live pinfish, pigfish or mullet, on outgoing tide can be the best choice most days. Use heavy enough tackle to land the big Reds quicker not to stress them any more than necessary by an extended fight with light tackle. The best way to photograph your trophy red is to hold them horizontal, do not hang them vertically by the jaw with a fish grip, and then return them to the water as fast as possible. If you want to know the weight of your big red or any large fish, measure the length and girth with the fish in the water, then calculate the approx weight using the formula, length times girth squared divided by 800.
Late summer patterns will continue for a while longer on Mosquito Lagoon, for Seatrout, early morning top water lures and soft plastic jerk baits, after the sun is up, live pigfish or croakers freelined on drop offs, in holes and sloughs near mullet schools. For lagoon Redfish stay shallow, with soft plastics, select shrimp, live finger mullet or cut bait. Night time dock light fishing will continue to be good, fall migratory fish arriving will also be feeding on baitfish and shrimp attracted to the lights, Snook, Trout, Jacks, Bluefish, and Ladyfish can be thick at the right lights, fish moving tides especially outgoing for the best action.
