[dropcap]S[/dropcap]eptember is one of my favorite months to fish. The kids have gone back to school, and this mom gets more time on the water. The bay water temps will begin to slightly drop this month and that is good news for the anglers. Also, this month wraps up the Spanish mackerel fishing until next spring. So catch them while you still can and you can be eating Baja fish tacos for dinner. The flounder will begin to make their migration towards the gulf into deeper water at the end of this month. Carolina style rigs with bull minnows or a jig head with a plastic grub will catch them. When fishing for redfish and trout on the flats, work a topwater bait at first light in the shallow flats, with a slow steady retrieve, if the grass isn’t too bad.
August had a lot of floating grass, and that made topwater lures difficult to use. When the floating grass is bad, then I switch to a Slayer, Inc. S.S.B rigged weedless or an Aqua Dream weedless spoon. The Bull reds on an outgoing tide under Hathaway Bridge or in the pass are always fun, especially with topwater baits. And that will even get better as fall approaches. The kingfish are fairly easy to catch. Slow troll a lure like a Bomber Long A, a Rapala CD18, a Mann’s Stretch 25 or a Bomber Windcheater. Frozen cigar minnows on a duster or a live cigar minnow hooked through the nose with a number 2 treble hook and a 2 foot piece of wire leader are also options. In September, there’s also a good possibility of hooking into a sailfish while out trolling for kings. So keep your eyes peeled, and look for bait activity, and you may end up with some tail walking excitement at the end of your line!
By Capt. Linda Cavitt
Panama City Beach, FL
www.captlinda.com