Posted 10.1.2018

The Fall lasted two days and now it is “summer” again. The long, hot spell will draw to a close at some point and the fish will fall into more consistent patterns with some added excitement of cobia and king mackerel “coming to town”. The schools of fish are impressive and they will get more cooperative as the month wears on.

The Red Tide continues. Is it weakening? Not enough. It is still moderate to high enough to create fish kills. Now October, my hopes of a hurricane to plow right through it are becoming less of a reality.

My schedule has been light. More of my report is about what I know has been happening out there than what has been happening to me out there. Things will be changing and a lot of people are going to want to go. It has been the worst stretch of business in my 14 years.

Flounder action has remained solid through out the past few weeks. On specific flounder outings it has been pretty easy to catch not only numbers but the fish are pretty good size this year. Fifteen to nineteen inch fish have been regular catches. The lures work just fine on this species. A pile of fillets like this means a great meal for the family:

The excitement of the beginning of Fall has been the longer feeding span for all species but also some “invaders”. Bluefish and jacks have been regular visitors to inshore waters. Both species that are very aggressive, they provide a great pull on the other end of the line. With a mild winter, bluefish will probably be a regular pest. Teeth like a collection of four sharp saw blades working in unison, they can make mincemeat out of lures and cut lighter leader lines.

The shallow water access the kayaks have provided has led to a lot of the best success of late. Staying away from areas with higher traffic from boats, jet skis and even other kayaks has led to better action than in other areas where there is higher activity.

Trout remain a best choice. Honestly, if you don’t throw topwaters, you are missing out in life.

Pompano remain a great second choice. Yellow jig, pink teaser. Pompano are the most underutilized species in the state.

Redfish: They just aren’t good. I miss how it was five years ago. Redfish are CLOSED. There have been enough people to demonstrate there is a problem that the state put a closure in place. The errors of their ways, they point at Red Tide. Red Tide is only 1% of the problem we have with snook and redfish. It is high time that we correct this system because it still isn’t working.

As always: Be careful out there!

Neil Taylor
Guide Services-Tampa Bay Region
Adventure Kayak Fishing
www.adventurekayakfishing.com
(Cell) 727-692-6345
LivelyBaits@aol.com

Neil Taylor
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