As fall begins the inshore bite is heating up! Some anglers have already caught limits of seatrout and redfish! Water temperature is warm on most days in the upper 70’s. As result of mild conditions there are still plenty of trash fish around. What’s meant by trash fish is simply a collective of small fish that can steal your bait.
One tip from a local bait shop is try fishing further off the bank to get away from the trash fish. My thought is little contrary, when fishing for redfish holding on structure. Fish a literally close to the structure as possible. Once you’re off the structure small fish will likely again steal your bait. One veteran fisherman uses primarily 3X soft plastics. These are the soft baits that will stretch but otherwise are hard to damage.
Another idea is to fish some of the small fish that are stealing your bait. For example, small pinfish at certain times could be a great bait for seatrout. Small yellow tails could be good redfish bait. Of course, you can always cut these baits to make a good cut bait. Ladyfish can be slimy, nasty mess. On the other hand it makes a great bait both live and dead for almost any fish out there.
As fall progresses you could literally find good fish almost anywhere. Swirls in the water are likely mullet. On the hand, you could be looking at a school of redfish. When you find mullet keep an eye on that area its likely seatrout and redfish will find them too! Mullet is a good bait both as a cut bait and as a live bait.
Shrimp, mullet and menhaden are abundant in local creeks and rivers. When bait pushes in larger fish will follow. An abundance of bait now means fish will stuffing themselves for winter. A mild winter or average winter and abundance of bait can mean fish will continue to feed and reproduce through out the winter. Right now bait is abundant can seatrout and redfish are showing up!
Hope this of interest and help! Keep what you want to eat and release the rest!
Fish On!
Capt. Jack McGowan
Coastal River Charters
