Weather Change Brings Better Fis

This past week I have had some very nice catches of redfish and some quality trout to 6 pounds. The water temperature is still around the 81 degree mark but this is a big drop from a month ago with the temperatures being around 86 degrees.

The finger mullet are on their fall migration and the creeks are thick with schools of these baits cruising the edges. One way to find the fish is to ease along the edges and look for the mullet showering out of the water. This usually means there are fish under them attacking the schools. Just the other day, I was doing just that when I saw several schools of mullet coming out of the water as fish busted them. I quickly slowed the boat, dropped my Minn Kota in the water and began tossing an Sea Striker Trout Killer to the edge and slowly working it back towards the boat. The second cast produced a feisty 3 pound trout on the second twitch of the bait.

I like to use a light spinning outfit, seven foot rod with 15 pound test Power Pro and to that I tie on a Daiichi 5/0 Copperhead hook and to that an Exude RT Slug or a Sea Striker Trout Killer. Colors that I like are white, white with chartreuse tail, pink, clear with silver flakes and white with a red or pink tail. With the 15 pound test 4 pound diameter, I am able to make long cast with just the hook and soft plastic.

This combination allows me to work the bait in a way that it looks like it is a wounded minnow. I truly believe this will make the difference in catching one or two fish or catching a bunch. When working this bait, I toss it to the shoreline, give it a second or two to sink, then I hold the rod tip down, turn the reel handle to get a tight line and twitch the rod tip gently once or twice. I repeat this action until I get a strike or it is back to the boat. Try doing this close to the boat, so you can see the lure and how it works in the water until you get the motion down.

You are looking for the bait darting through the water about 10 to 12 inches then sinking. You will see the action looks just like a minnow that is wounded. This lure is not designed to be drug fast though the water and it is very important to have the exact action as I have described. Be sure the bait only moves 10 to 12 inches when you twitch your rod tip. Remember, there is a lot of bait in the water this time of the year and the fish have a lot of choices, so work your lure slow and make it look like it is wounded. This is the key to getting strikes.

Take a Sea Striker curly tail grub and cut off most of the round part (the body). I like to cut all but 1/2 inch, leaving just enough of the body to use as a trailer on a hook. Then take a Clark Spoon 00 or 0 in size (try the new ones that have a holographic flash on the back side) and run the hook through the reaming part of the grub body (the part that has the curly tail attached). You should now have a Clark Spoon with a trailer. This combination also cast a mile on the above spinning outfit and if you work it like I have described above, it will also look just like a shinny silver mullet that is wounded.

There is also the old standby, a 1/8 or 1/16 ounce Jaw Jacker jig head with a Sea Striker 4 inch curly tail grub. This is going to sink faster than the first lures described above, so don't let it fall into an oyster mound. With this set up, you will want to work using an up and down motion of your rod tip. Toss it out, hold your rod tip up and sort of lift the rod tip up using a short brisk motion and turn the reel handle a couple of times. The lure should look like a bait that is sort of jumping up and down while swimming short distances. Make the lure move about 6 inches each time you move your rod tip, let it fall back to the bottom and repeat. Your strikes should come as the bait is falling back toward the bottom. These strikes are going to be much more violent than with the previous baits, so be ready for a slammer bite. There will be NO MISTAKE that you have just had a bite.

Without a doubt my all time favorite hard plastic, this time of the year is the MirrOlure Provoker. I have caught more fish on this lure than any I have in my box. This is a floater diver and will generate some of the most violent and some of the most subtle strikes that you will get. This lure I usually fish on a Pflueger President LP bait caster (left handed model of course), a 6 1/2 to 7 foot medium action All Star rod, with a short butt. I usually spool this reel with 20 pound Power Pro and tie on a 3 foot section of 20 pound test Cajun Red line as a leader.

Cast out the lure, hold the rod tip down, turn the reel handle three of four times, sweep the rod tip back towards the boat, then turn the reel handle 3 or 4 times and sweep the rod tip. You can mix up the action by sweeping the rod back two or three time before you let the lure float back to the surface. Sometimes this erratic motion will trigger the strike from the picky fish. This retrieval action will make the lure dive and twitch, then float back to the surface, then dive and twitch then float back up. As with the other baits, work this close to the boat a few times so you can see the action. This lure as with so many other lures is designed to be worked one way only and varying from this designed pattern usually results in NO BITES. So it is important that you have the action down as the lure was designed to work. I like, white, white with black back, chartreuse, green back with white bottom and blue and green.

The largest fish that has been taken in my boat came using a white with pink mouth, a 9 pound trout. This was with a guy that had never thrown an artificial lure in his life. Do you think he is a believer now?

The giant reds are here now and can be caught on poggies, cut mullet, crabs, clams, giant shrimp and small croakers. Try the inlets or find a hard shell bottom in the river. Send your bait to the bottom, put the rod in a rod holder and sit back and wait. I like a stout outfit in the 25 to 30 pound class with a Daiichi 5/0 Circle Wide hook. You need a stout outfit to handle the large amount of lead that it takes to hold bottom or you can get away with lighter tackle if you use your Cannon downriggers to send the bait down. With the downriggers, once the fish eats the bait he pulls it from the downrigger clip, leaving the downrigger weight still on the bottom. Give this a try, it makes fighting the fish more fun if you do not have a big chunk of lead attached to your line. Be sure to wind up the downrigger when you get hooked up, so the fish does not get tangled up in the downrigger line. Remember to spend time to revive these big fish. They are the breeders and we want them to makes lots of babies for the future.

The ocean bottom fishing is starting to turn on as the cooler water brings in the nice snapper and grouper. Talking with Becky Hogan of the Mayport Princess party boat in Mayport, she says use a live pin fish for the best results with these tasty snaps and groups. She says, when you send down a live bait this time of the year, you had better be holding on to your rod as these big daddy grouper will pull so hard that you might have your rod snatched from your hands.