It's On The Way

Yes, it is. Here comes the cold and with it a migration of bait from the river and creeks to the ocean. Now is not the time to be a mullet. As they make their migration from the creeks to the ocean, every predator in the water is staged awaiting an easy meal. A mullet, I would not want to be. I tell people, there are so many mullet in the water this time of the year, a fish could sit on the bottom with it's mouth open and a bait fish would swim in there looking for a hiding place.

 

Based on the above, what does this tell you? Say you are going trout fishing or red fishing or flounder fishing and you had to choose a style of bait. What would it look like this time of the year? -----------------. Give up?------------ A mullet look a like. Now a mullet look a like to a fish is not necessarily the same to us. Some people say fish do not see colors but if this is so, why do the artificial bait companies make so many colors? Then there are so many shapes and sizes. How is a fisher person supposed to choose. There is one sure fired way to choose which ones to include in your box. BUY THEM ALL. Wouldn't that be nice if we could afford and have the room for such an array of tackle? But, most of us have to choose from so many to so few. Here is what I look for in a lure. I go to my local tackle store, take The Strike Zone Fishing for example. I go to the lure section, point my body in the direction of the lures, close my eyes and point until I touch one.  NOT REALLY. Here is really what I do. I buy one of as many as I can afford at one time. Take them all with me on my next trip and try to use all of them during that day. If I catch a fish on one, I set it aside and tie on another one. Fish it for a while and if no fish it goes in the NO FISH box. See the problem is there are just too many lures that could in a fishes eye look like a mullet type bait.  And there are many soft plastics that also look like a mullet bait. So what do you do?

 

Here are a few that I have had very good success with.  The number one best of all time artificial bait is a curly tail grub and a lead head jig. The two that I have caught more fish off of is the white with pink tail and the white with chartreuse tail. No mater what time of the year it is you will always find in my boat several packs of Gotcha curly tail grubs. The do not spoil, mildew or mold. As long as you keep them out of the direct sunlight when not in use the colors do not fade and they are always there ready to catch you a fish. You can work them like a fast swimming bait, like and injured bait, a shrimp jumping over the submerged rocks, swim them on the surface or even put them on a cork and jig them on the flats. They are very reasonably priced and Sea Striker makes them in different sizes and many colors. I usually fish them impaled on a 1/4 ounce jig head but also use them on 1/6th ounce jig heads to 1 ounce and on an X-Point 2/0 worm hook rigged carolina style with a heavy egg sinker to get deeper or allow my cast to be very long to cover more area. I even use them for ocean fishing. When king mackerel fishing, I slide the wire through one to give my bait more flash. I also use them on a deep drop bottom rig for snapper and sea bass love the bright green ones in conjunction with live or natural bait. These are GREAT when trolling for trout. My rig usually consist of 10 to 15 pound test Cajun Red Monofilament leader tied to a barrel swivel with two 1/4 to 1/2 ounce lead head jigs, each with a Gotcha curly tail grub on it. I usually spread them out any where from 1 to 3 feet apart and usually have each with a different color curly tail Gotcha. I also stager them to different lengths behind the boat. By doing this, you are actually fishing at different depths.

 

I can say that if I had only one artificial bait to choose from, It would be a Gotcha Curly Tail Grub. I truly believe that worked properly, I can catch just about anything that swims with this bait.

My two favorite colors

Lead head jigs with bait keeper

 

How about some of what you can expect this month?

 

Inshore:

Trout, trout and more trout. Try the curly tail grubs worked around grassy shorelines on the higher tides and around deeper areas on all tides. You must have moving water.

 

A top water hard plastic also works well this time of the year, worked on the higher tides. Start it on the edge and work it towards the boat. And it is hard to go wrong with a curly tail grub or live shrimp on a popping cork worked on the edges.  You should catch plenty of trout and a few redfish and if you are in the right place at the right time, even a flat one or two.

 

Lots of flounder around the rocks, docks and bridges. Try a Gotcha curly tail in root beer with flakes. Dark green seems to also work in the waters of Northeast Florida for flat fish.

 

With the water temperature falling the croakers will be on fire this month and expect some sheepshead action to fire off.

 

Maybe a black drum or two in the deeper faster moving water around deep bends in the river or at the inlet rocks. Try a shrimp, cut crab or clam for these tuggers.

 

A few snapper blues have shown up and just enough to be a nuisance as they chew through your line.

 

Offshore:

Snapper, grouper and seabass on the close in wrecks. For the snapper and grouper, live small fish like poggies, mullet or cigar minnows work well but you can catch these on several artificial baits and dead bait.

 

Some king mackerel still in the deeper water.

 

Capt Jim's Fun Fishing Inc.
17184 Dorado Cir
Jacksonville, Fl 32226
904 757 7550
www.hammondfishing.com
jim@hammondfishing.com

 

Reed Parry with a nice trout