Fishing Reports

Major explosions, Acrobatic leaps of faith, and drag screaming - Fall 2010 Fishing Report

Cooling temps, changing weather patterns and an abundance of bait fish are what fly anglers are homing in on these days on the local flats off the Nature Coast. As the summer heat begins to give way to cooling temps and fall breezes, many inshore fish begin migrating from their offshore haunts back into the nutrient rich inshore creeks, cuts, coves and flats that scatter our local water ways. Black Drum, Speckled Trout, Pompano, and Jack Crevalle are commonly the first on the scene, and when they arrive they tend to arrive in force.

It just so happens that the inshore arrival of many of the top game fish coincides with the major migration of mullet, herring, glass minnows, and ballyhoo during their return voyage offshore to spawn. It’s when these two migratory groups meet for the first time that all of the fire works really begin. During a recent trip with a group of clients where we were specifically targeting heavily feeding fish on the surface, I witnessed a Jack Crevalle bust a 4lb mullet out of the water with such ferocity that it was shot out of the water nearly 15ft in the air before being engulfed upon its return. That is exactly what fly anglers have to look forward to when targeting the return of these heavily feeding fish: Major explosions, Acrobatic leaps of faith, and drag screaming runs for cover.

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