[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a great month to get out on the water as much as you can. The water temps are slowly dropping and the crowds are gone. Now is the time to make up for all those canceled fishing trips this summer due to non-stop rain that we experienced. The bays are still stained but getting much better. In the surf, whiting, pompano, and redfish can all be caught. If kayak fishing near shore, you can expect to catch Spanish macks and kings along with bonita, sailfish, snapper & grouper. A supplemental snapper season will be open from October 1st through the 21st in State waters. Slow troll a cigar minnow or other baitfish to catch spanish and kings and maybe a sailfish or Blackfin tuna if you’re in the right place. A wire leader rigged with a treble hook and a stinger will do the job. A skirt can be used as well. For bottom fishing, frozen cigar minnows are popular but if you can use live bait you have a better chance of catching a Gag grouper. In my experience Red snapper don’t seem to care if I’m using a fluorocarbon or a mono leader, but I seem to get more Gag grouper when I’m using fluorocarbon and live bait. Inshore, top water baits are working well to get the fish’s attention if you can find areas where the floating grass isn’t too bad. To catch Speckled trout, as the day progresses, try a popping cork where the water gets deeper, rigged with a live shrimp, baitfish or Gulp. This usually does the trick! As the water continues to clear up, we can get back to sight fishing, especially for redfish. Stick jerk bait rigged weedless, or a weedless spoon is my “go to” tactics for these fish.