By Capt. Billy Norris
Fishing this past month has been excellent! Both backwater and offshore fishing have provided steady action with quality fish. The weather has begun to cool down quite a bit and the rains have slowed considerably. With the cooler weather, we will start to see the shift from summer to winter patterns. In the backwaters, both snook and redfish have been eagerly taking baits. Best bet for bait this time of year is pinfish. You will still catch fish on whitebait, but the bigger fish are dialed in on pins. In my opinion, this is most likely due to the fact that the coastlines are inundated with massive schools of whitebait, and the fish are used to seeing it. Presenting them with a pinfish is something different that breaks their baseline and they are more apt to strike. This time of year, redfish can be found throughout the backwater, the passes, and even in the Gulf on some of the nearshore wrecks. Snook are everywhere. In the late fall, they will school in large numbers on the beaches and around passes. With clearer water, you will have to go with a lighter fluorocarbon leader to get them to strike. The catch 22 with lighter line is you will get broken off more often, but a heavier leader will drastically decrease the amount of strikes you get. In addition to snook and redfish, there have been plenty of jacks and juvenile tarpon in the backwaters providing action filled days.
The offshore bite has been equally good. Cobia have been around in numbers, and targeting them on the wrecks and reefs has proven worthwhile. Up your tackle from the backwater rigs to 40-50-pound fluorocarbon leader and up your reels to at least a 5000 or 6000 level. There are still plenty of Spanish mackerel around, with kings beginning to show up as well. The mangrove snapper bite has continued to be great, and there have been quite a few mutton snappers around as well. Although not common for our area, there have been large numbers of them on the nearshore reefs, however, they are all relatively small, averaging 12”-14”. For big game catch and release fisherman, barracudas, goliath grouper, and sharks have been plentiful around the wrecks and reefs. Tarpon fishing has also remained good this past month, and should continue to stay steady until the cold fronts begin to show up. Their bait of choice can change daily, so make sure you have a variety of options to pitch to them. A combination of threads, crabs and big pinfish is a good place to start. As we move later into the year and the water cools, we should be seeing a shift into the wintertime fishing patterns. Over the next month, kingfish should arrive in numbers, as well as the annual influx of big sheepshead into both the coastal and backwater areas. Fishing has been and will continue to be great over the course of the next few months, so give us a call today and book your trip!
-Captain Billy
Contact Pale Horse Fishing Charters at 239-285-7710
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