Change You Can Believe In!
No, this is not another phony political line of BS, this is real… and it happens every year starting in September.
The water temps change around the middle to the end of the month, but you can bet the farm on one thing, (regardless of the water temps), the daylight hours are changing, and all the critters of the ocean can clearly see what is happening. Regardless of the timing of the water temp change, the daylight hours getting shorter and shorter puts all the predators in overdrive. Vast schools of cigar minnows and sardines will be in the 10-25 mile range (depending on where their food source is at). This “all you can eat buffet” will bring the predators to congregate near or under them. This is the time of year (every year) that someone will catch a STUD wahoo in these inshore waters. Places like the 23 mile rock have always produced wahoo and yellowfins during the month of September. The reason is simple…food.
I have always said, “find the feed, find the fish”, and September is the month to do just that. This is where the gags and kings will be hanging out. Make sure to keep a light line out this
time of year. From now till December (depending on water temps), this can be the hottest king fishing of the year. As a matter of fact, the lite line can be a downright nuisance. The rod keeps bending over and the reel starts screaming (again)… then you have to wind up everything off the bottom to gaff another king. It’s fun, yes, but so are carp in the pond… I went out there to bottom fish, not king fish. If you have younger anglers on board, this is great fishing for them.
Just be patient, as they will soon have a limit of kings, and you can put that light line up and concentrate on the bottom. Speaking of the lite line, and as I said earlier, this is the time of year to catch a wahoo in there, so do put it out with the biggest pretty (live) bait you can find…you never know.
Further offshore in the 125 -150 foot depths, the same is true, but most likely you will not find the bait on the surface. Keep an eye on the recorder, and if you see a big stack of bait suspended or on the bottom, chances are good that you are directly over the red grouper as well. It makes ZERO difference whether you are marking a ledge, wreck or live bottom…if you mark a big stack of cigs and/or sardines out in the deeper water, there is red grouper and maybe some big snappers under it. Years ago, (when fuel was cheap) we would just ride and look for marks out in that slick flat sand bottom in 125 feet. Bear in mind that we were out there for 3, 4 or 5 days and in a boat that would only make 9 knots on cruise and 11.5 with all she had. So yes, we had plenty of time to “look” between areas. If (when) we found a big stack of bait, we dang sure would spin it around and anchor on it. Most of the time the results were the same. If there was a big american red snapper on this stack, the first bait or two down caught the ARS, and then the red grouper harvesting began.
One thing is for sure, the temps are getting ready to cool down, and the fishing is getting ready to heat up.
Please take your kids and plenty of photos for memories they (and you) will never forget.