It's Fall...And It's Time to Fish!!

Fall is the time to fish, if you aren’t watching football.

Finally, the hot and humid days of summer are behind us and, for the first time in a while, you can get out on the water in perfect comfort. For me, fall brings to mind big smoker kings, grouper on the shallow reefs and reds that are way, way over the slot limit. I also think about the smell of smoked mullet and the taste of that first Florida stone crab claw of the season, which opens on Oct. 15 each year.

As the water temperatures drop, gag grouper move back to the shallow water ledges and reefs. When this happens, they are generally hungry, and nothing tugs better than a grouper on a short string. With the reality that gag season will be closing in the Gulf on Nov. 1, for many of us, this will be the last opportunity to see a fresh one hit the plate for quite a while.

Cooling water also signals the kings to head back south for the winter. The first ones to come through are generally the big smokers, and nothing tops off a grouper trip like a 40-pound king on a spinning rod. If you’re out there, free-line live bait, cigar minnow or menhaden down-current and let him soak while you’re bottom fishing. If a king doesn’t see it first, you also stand a great chance of hooking into a cobia or an oversized red drum. Red drum travel offshore in large groups this time of year, and they aren’t picky about what’s for dinner.

On grass flats, trout fishing can also be phenomenal this time of year. If you prefer to fish artificial baits, trout can be caught on a fly, jig, spoon, top-water plug and just about any shallow-diving plug in your box. Live shrimp under a popping cork can also produce steady action, if the pinfish and grunts aren’t stealing every shrimp you put out there.

For the patient fisherman who would rather sit back and watch a cork, a live pinfish or grunt is probably the best way to land a “gator” trout (spotted seatrout) of 5 pounds or better. Just remember: one fish over the 15-20 inch slot is the limit, and it’s never a bad idea to put a big one back for next time.

It was 40 degrees in Minnesota this morning, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Michigan, and New York.
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