By Capt. Jeff Patterson, Pole Dancer Fishin’ Charters
In my opinion October makes for some of the best and most consistent fishing of the year! The mullet run is in full swing and I really focus on redfish, snook, and tarpon. The tricky part is that you never know what kind of weather and conditions we’re going to have this month. The inlet can be awesome but it can also be dangerous and quite often not doable so I always have a back up plan in the river.
I like targeting snook and tarpon with bigger mullet 8-10″ either free lined or sometimes with just a couple split shots just to slow them down a hair. Redfish I’ll get on the bottom with whatever weight you need to get there depending on current but I do catch them up on the surface even in 20-30′ of water when they’re schooled up. I like using 4-6″ mullet targeting slot reds or even up to the 30″ range.
You don’t hear about them as much but permit are also fairly common to get around the inlet and even the Intracoastal just north and south right now. For that reason, I drop a shrimp to the bottom in between using some of the other bait fish.
Business tends to be slower September and October and I always tell the locals that fish with me, this is the time to do a trip! Tight lines, get your rod bent!
