Captain’s Corner: Mike Gore

The water temperature is slowing starting to drop and the fishing is getting even better than it has been the past couple of months. Bait is loaded all over the beaches, flats, and fishing piers. It continues to be a mix bag of sizes. Make sure to use a ¼ in. stretch cast net for now.

Snook have not made the full transition into their winter homes yet. The best bite has been on the outgoing tide. With the low water, look for them to hold in deeper holes on or around the grass flats. With so much bait on the flats, you may have to try different techniques to entice a bite. Cut bait seems to be the ticket on low tide. Make sure you fish the sand holes when using cut bait on low tide.

Now that the stone crab traps are out, look for big schools of breeder redfish to start roaming just off the beach. Look for diving birds on bait, this is a good indicator on where to find them. Once you locate them, hold on. The ones being caught have been over 40 inches. If you wish to target them inshore, they continue to be schooled up in upper Tampa Bay. On extremely low water, look for deep holes just off the grass flats. The redfish will not move far off the flat. They move just far enough to find water they are comfortable in.