Guide bites
Capt. Josh Fritz (352) 345-9304: Capt. Josh reports it’s been a fantastic gag grouper season. It’s catch-and-release only from here on, as the season closes Oct. 1, but the depths from as shallow as 8 feet out to 50 feet have been holding lots of big fish. Red grouper remains open, however, and he notes that they have been coming on several trips, even in relatively shallow water. Live pinfish and sardines have been the best baits. Inshore, the redfish are starting to school in bigger numbers and it’s only going to get better in October. Fish are staging along rocky islands and spoils, as well as outside hard-bottom points, as they start to move into back bays. October also will be seeing more big trout moving shallower. Spots that hold reds often will be where the yellow-mouth gator trout are likely to be. Live pinfish and sardines are top baits for these jumbo trout.
Capt. Mike Senker (352) 584-6297: Capt. Mike says the offshore mangrove snapper bite is hot, with lots of nice-sized fish being taken in 25 feet of water. There are some keeper hogfish possible at that depth, but for better odds on those, boats will have to go deeper. More cobias are showing up in catches and that bite is likely to only get better as we move deeper into fall. While generally anglers will need to get to 80 feet and deeper for reliable red snapper fishing, there was a report of one being landed in 50 feet of water. It was just the one, but red snappers are a schooling species so unless it was a fish with a bad sense of direction it’s likely more were with it. As some cooler air is finally showing up, everyone will be on kingfish watch. There was an early season jumbo king landed recently off Hernando, but it shouldn’t be much longer before catches become more likely as fish migrate south for the winter.
Tackle shop roundup
Bait & Tackle of Hernando Beach (352-610-4315): Sven says some of the best reports coming in lately are about huge mangrove snapper offshore. Anglers dropping large pinfish for gag grouper have been surprised with jumbo snapper up to 6 pounds when fishing 25 to 30 feet of water. Inshore, lots of keeper snapper are in Hernando Beach canals. Chubs or shrimp take them with chubs a better bait for the larger ones. The mouth of Minnow Creek has been giving up some trout and the creeks along Bayou Drive in Bayport have been turning up some decent catches of several species, including a couple of oversized redfish. Jenkins Creek pier has been a good place to fish early mornings, where snook, reds and trout have been taking. Once the sun gets up a little the bite goes cold, with perhaps some small sheepshead about the best thing being landed. The flats just off the coast are seeing some better numbers of cobia starting to show up, and the outer edges of the deep grass continue to produce some decent catches of flounder and sea bass. Sven says jigs with soft-plastic tails dragged along the bottom is how to take the flounder and hopping the jigs off the bottom is the trick to target the sea bass. The flounder season is open through Oct. 15 so now’s the time to fish for those looking for a flounder diner.
Dixie Lee Bait & Tackle (352) 596-5151: Eric says the cooler nights mean a likely spike in the action this week. Over the past week, some nice catches of snook were made by anglers working outside points and bars, though it’s possible this week cooler water may see more of them moving to creek mouths or even inside creeks. Redfish catches over the past week have been pretty good, with fish taken on the outside points, islands and mangroves with regularity. October usually sees the start of more reliable redfish action, as fish tend to bunch up more and feed well. While some nice trout were being taken in shallow water a week ago and it appeared that bite was getting fired up, reports slowed over the past week, which is baffling some. Likewise, as the gag grouper season got into its final days, many reported the rock piles that were successful offshore stopped producing keeper-sized fish. The mangrove snappers have taken up the slack, however, as the bite has been “extraordinary” for many fishing rocky bottom and ledges in 25 to 30 feet of water. The fish have been running very large and limits have been frequent.
Mad Mosquito Outdoors (352) 556-2055: Jorge says he’s been getting some good reports on the main three inshore species most anglers target — redfish, trout and snook. Reports of all three have come from anglers working outside points, bars and mangroves from Aripeka to Weeki Wachee. Rocks and hard bottom have been holding the reds. Some of the better trout reports were from anglers fishing live shrimp in holes about 4 feet deep adjacent to mangroves. While the action has been along the Gulf front, cooler water this week may see fish move into creeks and backwater bays this week. More cobia reports are coming into the shop from anglers finding them on the flats. The large ones are not here in good numbers just yet, but it shouldn’t be much longer.