Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | Welcome to ‘Red March?’
When redfish anglers talk about how they’re looking forward to a good Red October later this year, they aren’t talking politics or discussing Hollywood spy dramas. They are referring to the fall redfish bite that’s traditionally at its peak in October although these past few years September has been an unusually hot red bite month as well.
Typically this time of year it’s a rat or juvenile redfish bite with an occasional slot or even over-slot fish mixed in but lately we are catching bigger numbers of slot and over-slot fish along with the 10 to 20-inch juveniles. Local Capt. Brian David of Changes in Latitudes Charters is pictured with happy clients showing off their fat Pine Island redfish that couldn’t resist a live shrimp dancing under a cork.
More than normal slot and over-slot fish this late winter? Not sure why, but I’m surely not complaining.
Trying for a red this Saturday? You could be on the water early to catch the last few hours of the outgoing tide and possibly look around for tailers or set up and fish bait. Dead low at 10 a.m. (0.6 feet at Pineland) but quite a bit of water moving later to a high tide at 3:30 p.m. of 1.9 feet. With more water, fishing the edges and under the mangroves during these high tides will be the redfish ticket using bait or artificials especially soft plastics that can be side-arm skip casted far back and under the branches where that 15-pounder is probing the shoreline for an easy snack. Don’t count out ladyfish chunks for skip casting as they work rather well. I cut up hot dogs into 2-inch pieces and soak them in GULP liquid overnight and skip them in the morning.
Learning to efficiently skip cast both forward and backhanded way back and under brush and docks puts you way ahead of the safe-edge-only caster. Learn both back- and forward-handed skip casting as you don’t always have a choice of boat direction when it comes to fishing shorelines or structures like docks. Practice this technique till you can skip the length of your boat inches above the surface and work from there. The fisherman’s friend YouTube has plenty of casting instruction worth viewing.
If you haven’t mastered skip casting, then cast as close to the edges of cover with your live or dead baits and pay strict attention to your line and rod tip. A hungry red will inhale baits and retreat 6 feet back under heavy branches in the blink of an eye often breaking the line on the brush during the fight. Try putting a small float approximately 12 inches above the hook to give a visual signal that the edge bait is gone and also when I start to yell, “REEL! REEL!”
Good places to try this weekend for a fat redfish might include areas around and just south of Captiva Rocks, the docks along Useppa Island, east side of north Matlacha Pass and both the east and west walls of Charlotte Harbor, fishing the bars and shorelines. Take lures as well as shrimp and or ladyfish chunks. Frozen is fine.
Look for snook on island points and ambush likely current breaks and don’t be surprised when one eats your redfish offering on bottom.
Sharks of all sizes are moving around shallow waters sniffing for your chum slick while trout are always loving shrimp under corks, topwaters, bottom-hopped soft plastics and flies over grassy bottoms. Sheepshead still on nearshore numbers and grunts, snapper and grouper deeper at 100 feet and more.
Overall with a predicted warming trend over the next several days, plus baitfish now moving, the fishing will continue to rapidly improve as we move into the magic 70s water temperatures setting the stage for the tarpon arrival as well as a major movement of our snook population towards the beaches.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at (239) 579-0461 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.