Red October
October–my favorite time of year. Cooler weather means cooler water temperatures, and the cooler water means more inshore action around oyster beds and mangroves.
October is also when the redfish spawn is in full swing. Massive schools of redfish move into Tampa Bay every October, many times by the hundreds. I’ve had the most catches ever during October aboard Afishionado. It’s safe to say, you can catch the biggest redfish of your lifetime this month. Catching 40 inchers and longer is common, during the fall.
When targeting redfish, look for schools of mullet. It just so happens that the mullet run peaks during the redfish spawn, so mullet are everywhere. This makes for a win, win! Redfish travel with mullet for an easy meal. As mullet travel and feed throughout the seagrasses, they flush out baitfish and crustaceans from their hiding places. Redfish like to tag along, so they can scoop up what the mullet won’t eat.
The best areas to encounter large schools of redfish are in the “no motor zones” scattered around Tampa Bay. These locations are excellent starting points to locate redfish, due to the lack of high-speed boat traffic.
A sure way to catch multiple redfish after locating a large school is to anchor up, live bait chum heavily and a stay put until the action gets started. Once a roaming school of redfish zeroes in on your chum and starts to feed, they will remain in the area as long as they’re not spooked by other anglers trying to move in on the action.
You can read more at afishionado.com on the “about redfish” page.
You’ve probably noticed that the days are getting shorter. Fall snook fishing is greatly affected by water temperature and length of daylight. Shorter days equal lower water temperatures. By the end of this month, the water on the grass flats should be in the mid-to-upper 70’s. Seventy-six degrees is an ideal water temperature for snook fishing.
The snook bite in the Bay was decent last month, but as the water temperature keeps decreasing, the snook bite will keep increasing. The grass flats adjacent to the mangroves are loaded with bait right now and, with cooler temperatures, snook will become more active and willing to aggressively chase bait.
The seatrout fishing has been exceptional all summer long, and it only gets better as the cooler water triggers ever better trout fishing. Seatrout have been abundant on just about every deep-water grass flat in Tampa Bay. As the water cools though, more and more seatrout move into shallower water to feed.
Just like when you’re fishing for snook and redfish, “Chum and they will come” applies to seatrout. While chumming the deep-water grass flats this summer for sharks and Spanish mackerel, I’ve been amazed by the sheer numbers of large seatrout that were drawn to my boat.
The Spanish mackerel fishing has been rather good all summer, too, but whenever we got periods of heavy rain, it would slow. As October progresses, we experience less rain. Less rain means more Spanish mackerel move into the bay providing a more consistent bite.
By mid-October, king mackerel start to pass through the area. These fish have been gorging themselves all summer long, so I expect to catch some “reel smokers.” Many tournament winning kings are caught at the mouth of Tampa Bay, while slow trolling large live baits. Some anglers prefer to anchor their boats and start a chum slick to bring them to the boat.
October is a wonderful time of year to explore Tampa Bay, so get out there for an adventure of a lifetime.
Afishionado, “Adventures in Fishing.”