Fishing the inshore fall bite around Anna Maria Island might be slightly challenging as we transition from the warm waters of summer to the cooler water temps.
With a consistent weekly batch of cold fronts occurring, the fall water temps are dropping, causing targetable fish to relocate to their winter haunts.
Finding large concentrations of fish — snook, redfish and trout — can be challenging during these first weeks as the fish are concerned with locating to warmer water. As these fish migrate, they tend to be harder to find. And being preoccupied, they may not take a bait as readily as you had hoped.
But patience is a virtue.
Give these fish time to settle in and the bite should get good again.
If you don’t have the patience, you can target species more tolerant of cooler water temperatures, such as black drum, sheepshead and pompano.
Sheepies and black drum should be showing around docks, piling and the sandy beaches where structure exists. As for the pompano, check the passes, beaches and even the deeper grass flats. Bouncing a pompano jig tipped with a shrimp in these areas can be quite productive. If you’re lucky enough to find a school of these golden nuggets, then it’s game on.
On my Just Reel charters, I’m experiencing the warm-to-cold transition. The use of live shiners as bait is futile on the cooler days but we’ve produced good snook and trout on warmer days.
I’m also carrying shrimp to cover my bases.
On the cooler days, live shrimp work better. Casting shrimp around docks is yielding redfish, black drum and an occasional sheepshead. Using pieces of shrimp on a jig works for pompano. And some days I’m putting anglers on limits of these delectable tasting fish in the cooler.
Capt. David White is working offshore when the weather makes it feasible to run into the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Bottom fishing in the Gulf around hard bottom and structure — ledges and wrecks — is good for mangrove snapper, with limits of these fish readily attainable.
The highlight offshore for White is targeting black drum. Trolling with either a variety of lipped plugs or with tuna chum is yielding catches of these high-speed fish — most measuring 20 pounds or larger.
Moving inshore, White says snook and redfish are cooperating on the warmer days, especially during afternoon tides. He’s also seeing sheepshead and black drum beginning to show around the docks, rocks and beaches.
Capt. Jason Stock is celebrating his third-place win in the fall King of the Beach kingfish tournament. A kingfish weighing 35 pounds took him to the winner’s circle.
The migratory species — amberjack and kingfish — are making a showing offshore around wrecks and reefs. Amberjack — the most apparent right now — are being found on just about every piece of structure offshore of Anna Maria Island. They are the big ones too, according to Stock.
When Stock is not fishing kings, he’s finding a stellar mangrove snapper bite offshore in the Gulf. Mangrove snapper up to 8 pounds are being caught while bottom fishing around ledges and hard bottom and, if you know anything about mangrove snapper, you know an 8-pounder is a force.
Jim Malfese at the Rod & Reel Pier says the fall bite at the pier is starting to turn on. Pier fishers using live shrimp as bait are hooking into a variety of fish — black drum, redfish, snook and snapper. Most of the black drum being caught are within the slot and a portion of the redfish are, too. The same applies for the mangrove snapper, although Malfese says most are 10-12 inches. As for the snook, pier anglers seem to be catching either under- or over-slot fish. For the smaller snook, live shrimp is working fine. For the big snook, a live pinfish or a small ladyfish as bait is the ticket.
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