Red Tide go away — please, don’t come back
Although patches of the dreaded red tide are still present throughout our areas, fishing still remains consistent. The key to finding a bite is in the water quality. Areas where clear, clean red-tide free water exists is a great place to start your search.
On my recent charters, I’m migrating from shore out to cleaner waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearshore structure, such as artificial reefs, are providing ample action on mangrove snapper, flounder, throw-back grouper and Spanish mackerel. Numerous other less desirable species — shark, jack crevalle, ladyfish and blue runners —are being found at the reefs where live shiners are producing the best bite.
On days when the wind shuts down beach fishing, I’m switching baits to live shrimp. Casting these shrimp under residential docks is producing good numbers of keeper-size redfish, as well as sheepshead, mangrove snapper and flounder. Add a few over-sized black drum and many juvenile jack crevalle, and you’ve got yourself a successful fall/winter fishing trip. Some days on the docks are better than others and you need to switch up your pattern from day to day. Don’t “wear out” a certain area. And switching docks adds more to your arsenal. One dock may hold a lot of sheepies and another one can be loaded with redfish. The more docks you know, the better off you are.
