Mixed bag offers anglers a multitude of fishing opportunities.

Report Date: October 18, 2007

October and November are two months where Florida light tackle fishing gets its reputation from. Redfish, Trout, Bass, Snook, and Grouper are just a few of the species of fish that are targeted as the water off the Gulf Coast begins to cool. As cooler northern air dips south, our water temperatures lower from the mid 80’s into the 70’s and upper 60’s. This rapid cooling of the Gulf water sends most fish into a feeding frenzy as they hurry to stock up the rest of their fat for the winter.

  On a recent charter out of the Crystal River area my clients and I had a day where it seemed that the fish would hit anything including a bare hook. We began the morning with a flood outgoing tide so I decided to target some monster Reds that have been staging in potholes just before the extreme low tides. The first stop we made it only took Julie Kolinsky 2 casts to land a 25” Redfish (what a way to start the morning). For the next 2 hours we runned and gunned from spot to spot just before the area we were fishing became completely high and dry. We managed to leave the area with three beautiful keeper Redfish and tons of “Rat Reds”.

After the early morning redfish bite I decided to try some local grouper holes in 8-10 foot of water. The action was fast and furious as we landed everything from snapper, mackerel, flounder, and sea bass. Those were all bonuses compared to the 3 grouper we caught all over 22”. I had a blast watching my 4 clients hauling in grouper after grouper on 4 lb SpiderWire. What a day Reds in the a.m. and Grouper in the p.m.

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