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    September 8, 2022 at 8:52 pm

    

    Capt. Tony Bozzella PRO

    • Inshore Fishing Guide
    • (904) 651-0182

    

    The start of my favorite time of the year: fall and winter fishing. Many of the shallows, mud flats and grass marshes, start to fill up with juvenile and slot size redfish as the mullet and pogies head south to winterover. Many fish wind up in the estuaries feeding on mudminnows, crabs, fiddlers, etc.

    A great time to get out is the last three hours of the falling tide, and first hour of the incoming. Many oyster bars have “rips and eddies.” This is the water that pours around the oysters and just behind the rip is usually an eddy. This is a body of water that is calm and has no current and is a great place for a fish to sit and shoot out and eat baits as they spend no energy sitting in the eddy. Sometimes it may look like the water is moving in a circle. That is the feeding spot! Cast your TBS jig paired with a shrimp or mud minnow and stay in tune with the bait. Keep the slack out of your line and pay attention — if you get a “thump,” let the fish eat the bait, reel any slack out, and set the hook hard. Redfish can handle a good hook set considering they eat live blue claw crabs!

    If you don’t beat the spot up too bad, you can comeback multiple times and usually get a bite. Another great time for a big trout. As the bait heads out of the areas inlets, this could be a potential hot spot. Top water, lipped divers and any baits that, you the angler, know how to work the lure. Most lures work, but all have that special touch to make them come alive. As of now, my clients have landed 230 trout over 20 years guiding. 80% of those trout were all caught on a few lures, the ones that imitate a pogie or a mullet, and knowing how to use it, that is the deadly combination. Many people ask me, “Captain Tony, what is your secret to catching big fish?”

    One of the biggest secrets I have is investing in a quality rod and reel that can cast 30 to 40 yards. When a big trout knows you’re there and your boat has hull slap and noisy, most likely they’re not going to eat. However if you come in quietly to your spot, keep just far enough away to where you can cast up current and a little over past your target, so the lure is at its optimum performance and depth when it goes through the strike zone. These little tips are crucial in success.

    October is a good month to get out early and I also like the last of the incoming first of the outgoing. Good clean cool incoming water can be a ticket. Get out and get one!!

    If you like catching fish and want to learn how to fish North Florida's backcountry and flats from the best, give Capt. Tony Bozzella a call today, you won’t regret it! Call to book a trip, or visit Inshore Fishing Guide on the web.

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