October 8 2015 With Summer wrapping up, and the beginnings of fall upon us. I begin to get a little excited. With cooler water temperatures and an abundance of bait making its way back to the waters of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Florida Bay it makes for a great time to be a fisherman. While the temps cool down the fishing heats up. October brings back hordes of bait with the fall mullet run. You will begin to see huge schools of mullet in places that were baron of bait just weeks or even days before. We all know what more bait means. More Fish. All types of fish big to small. Large predatory fish such as Sharks and Tarpon will follow the schools of mullet for an easy meal, and your smaller variety like Trout, Jacks, and Ladyfish love to make the muds created by mullet their home.

While fishing the Florida Keys this time of year. I like to target these tale tale signs of mullet schools. The mullet will swim around in certain areas feeding on the grass and the algae that grows with it. Thus creating a dirtying of the water. So I look for the dirty water and start there. I like to use light tackle and have my clients cast and retrieve with a jigging motion a 1/4 to 3/8 oz jig head with a soft plastic bait such as a Gulp shrimp or a paddle tail minnow. The main Target is trout, but you could also pick up anything from a variety of Jacks and Ladyfish, to Redfish or Pompano. I will also keep a heavier set up ready for when the Sharks start showing up.

The Florida Keys Flats fishing has also really started producing in the last week as well. While doing some exploring on an exceptionally windy day I ran across multiple large schools of Bonefish actively moving and feeding. When sight fishing for these wary flats fish I like to keep as much distance as we can between the fish and the boat so we don’t spook the fish. Bonefishing can be very challenging as these flats fish are very aware of their surroundings and the slightest move or change can turn a good opportunity in to a failed attempt quickly. So to give the best advantage I can; I use as light as possible tackle, and very little to no weight. A live shrimp or small crab usually does the trick, but these fish can also be caught on artificial or fly.

With these opportunities and many more how could you not call this a great time to fish.
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