October is often one of the best month’s to fish here in Southwest Florida. This season has been no exception, with quality catches of snook, redfish and tarpon. With the coming of the first cold front of the winter, water temps have begun to cool into the “sweet spot” providing the perfect temperature for most inshore species to feed all day long.
SHORE FISHING: I’ve spent several days this month chasing snook from shore, catching fish up to 34″ in well know locations around Fort Myers, Sanibel and Cape Coral. I prefer to use artificial lures when targeting snook from shore. It’s easy to cover ground quickly as well as fish small areas thoroughly. The most productive lures have been small soft baits from 4″ – 6″, the Hogy Skinny Series soft baits rigged on light weight jig heads have produced the most fish.
KAYAK FISHING: October is
one of my favorite month’s to kayak fish. The Hobie Pro Angler 14 has been indispensable in covering ground to locate the migrating schools of redfish around Pine Island Sound and Matlacha. Once you’ve found a school of fish, I go into stealth mode by pulling up my Mirage Drive and begin poling using my Yak Attack Park and Pole.
I’ve been having the most productive redfishing in the middle of open flats, focusing my efforts near pot holes. These open areas make it easier to work lures or bait without getting snagged up in the thick grass. Fish have been responding well to cut pinfish and unweighted soft baits worked slowly near the pot holes. It’s important to use fluorocarbon leader for these fish, the are often pressured and can spook easily to cumbersome presentations.
NIGHT FISHING: Night fishing this month has been a bit hit and miss. I’ve hit several locations from Captiva to Marco Island including bridges, passes and beaches. A few nights were excellent, while the rest were mediocre at best. I fished several locations around the full moon and fish were not feeding like I had anticipated. Two night bouncing around Sanibel and Cape Coral canal systems nearly came up empty handeded, with most lights only holding sea trout, snapper and ladyfish.
There was solid action on snook and tarpon on the bridges and passes down south. Big soft baits like the Hogy 10″ Original Series resulted in 7 hooked tarpon. The snook preferred live bait, finger mullet was the most productive (also the most abundant bait).
Good luck out there and tight lines!
– Capt. Ross
