by Vicki Fisher
As I prepare to write this month’s article, I am also preparing my home for Hurricane Irma who is bearing down on SW Florida.
Snook season opened September 1st and the water levels have been high and tides strong with all of the rising pressures and full moon cycle. We’ve had a lot of rain the past few weeks and with added water from Lake Okeechobee, the fish have more places to hide and seek shelter. The bait-fishes have been plentiful in the flats of Pine Island Sound as well as the passes.
Generally, the month of October amongst the locals is known as “Red October”. The big bull reds make their way into the backcountry and flats to fatten up before heading offshore for the winter months. Our charters are having great successes on locating and angling the monsters to our vessel. Redfish tend to hide in the mangroves on an incoming tide and retreat with the baitfish on an outgoing. I prefer using a large shrimp on a weighted jig head on the bottom when targeting these monsters.