Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | Fish Tales: Fall fishing at its finest
Can’t get enough of the big silver stuff?
Never fear, the gangs still here and looking to eat weather permitting all the way into December before heading south, leaving their resident cousins behind to winter over.
Tarpon are still scattered throughout the area using the passes along the inside and outside of the barrier islands, as well as the deep areas of Charlotte Harbor, but it’s a hit or miss proposition requiring scouting, gathering info and simply putting in your time.
Never a fan of Boca Grande boat bumping springtime crowds, these past months I’ve found plenty of silver action not only during the spring fling but all summer long at area bridges especially the Sanibel Causeway, which this year has been a tarpon magnet (please keep it to yourself) with big snook, redfish and huge Goliath grouper as bycatch.
Live or dead bait tactics or casting large soft plastics at night on moving tides will put your tarpon of a lifetime several feet in the air. If you have company coming looking to pull on a real monster, drop down some big baits along the deeper pilings, but don’t tell them what’s lurking below. Some of the biggest Goliath’s I’ve ever seen hang out here, so buckle up and hang on. Don’t have big enough rods and reels, then by all means try the hand line challenge for a lifetime memory.
Check the weather before going offshore for a mixed bag of grouper and snapper fun and fine dining, but don’t wait too long as time is running out. Trolling and bottom fishing for hard-hitting gag grouper will end on the 30th of this month, while red grouper remains open all year in state waters. Red snapper season will close on the 4th of next month before the weekend-only season open. From 100 feet out to 200 and beyond, hungry fish await your baits.
Lots of smaller snook are around the bushes in the harbor and on the beaches along with pompano, redfish and whiting, but the real fall draw is schooling redfish on the flats of Pine Island Sound and upper Matlacha Pass all the up to Pirate Harbor on the east side and Turtle and Bull bays on the west.
Fish reds in the traditional way by simply tossing a shrimp or cut pinfish baited hook as close or under the mangroves on higher water phases, or look for moving schools, pods, or singles wagging their tails as they probe the bottom.
Pick an incoming tide morning to look for tailers and carefully present baits to them or probe the flats and potholes with long-distance casting for unseen fish on higher water with spoons or topwaters. A 7.5 to 8-foot soft-tipped rod with some backbone and a reel spooled with 10 to 15-pound braid loaded with a spoon or top water allows ultra-long casts to cover lots of territory. Never overlook moving mullet schools as they often have reds or a gator trout along for the ride as they stir the bottom as the school moves across a flat.
Poled skiffs allow anglers to sneak up on tailing reds better than any other method. Once spotted, get within range then watch to see the direction of the fishes travel.
Softly, not sky bomb, drop a fly 3 to 4 feet in front of the fish so you don’t scare it then slowly reel it close and let in sink. When using live or dead baits, try the same tactic again using -soft- sidearm casts. I like putting my soft plastic or live shrimp far ahead of the fish in time so it settles to the bottom. Then, as the fish approaches, use the rod tip to make the bait jump up from the bottom. This natural reaction presentation is too much for any hungry red to resist.
This is fall fishing at its finest.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at captgeorget4@yahoo.com or (239) 440-1621.