Fall Bite
This time of year the water temperature cools down and the bite heats up, bait starts schooling back up on the flats and the game fish come out of their summer haunts and start feeding on the flats.
If I was to pick a perfect situation to fish this time of year, it would be an overcast day because the clouds cool the water down. Another good thing about an overcast day is that hooked and chummed baits don’t get terrorized by seagulls, pelicans and cormorants.
A light breeze is good because you can get the wind at your back and make long casts. I also like a breeze because I’m convinced when the weather is “too nice” the fishing seems to be not as good as it could be.
An outgoing tide this time of year is my favorite tide, it’s worth it to time your stage on the flats. It’s important to know the exact water heights on the tide you’re fishing and know how shallow your boat can go. I have been stuck on the flats a couple times over the years and it’s all fun and games until the no-see-um’s show up.
Experience will keep you from getting stuck in the flats on low tide, just hang as long as you can, but give consideration to the seagrass. It’s ok if you give a little patch of seagrass a haircut every once in a while, but don’t dig trenches or give the grass a KoJack shave with your prop.
Satellite pictures show increasing prop scars on our grass flats year over year, sea grass is so important to our natural resources. Seagrasses are so important that the EPC has threatened to ban boats with outboard combustible engines from the flats.
The following are some things that we can do as responsible anglers to reduce damage and losses to seagrasses; know the tides and how shallow your vessel can operate, use a jack plate, (my favorite jack plates are Bob’s Machine Shop Jack Plates, invented in Ruskin Fl., manufactured and distributed in Gibsonton Fl. if you are interested in getting one contact Beagle at Alafia Marine), get an electronic anchor as traditional anchors can rip grass up from their roots when they are pulled (I use two Power Poles on the stern of my boat to purchase also call Beagle at Alafia Marine).