Fishing Report for the Florida Panhandle
Capt. Alex Crawford
October 30, 2002
Carrabelle - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fall on the Gulf Coast is special. The summer crowds are gone, the beaches are deserted, the big fish are biting and all is well in the world. Just like clock work every year, the first cold snap of Fall weather intrinsically tells fish that it is time to fatten up for the cold winter ahead. The dinner bell is turned on and now is your time to belly up to the table.
With the water temperature in the high seventies, inshore fishing becomes a bonanza of reds, trout, flounder and sheepshead. The bay is awash in bait, yours for the castnetting. Poggies, finger mullet and shrimp are plentiful right now. How can you tell that the shrimp have moved into the Apalachicola Bay? Just watch all the shrimpers out there every night pulling their nets.
When the winds blow from the North, tuck up outside the jetties of the Government Cut with a baitwell full of finger mullet. On a recent trip my anglers caught and released 14 slot reds on one tide. As always, find oyster beds and find redfish.
If the water is clear, trout will eat chartreuse jigs and live shrimp fished under a float. Try the Saint Vincent Dry Bar or the bridge passes in the bay. Go to a small pogy fished with a small slip sinker on a fluorocarbon leader. Set your drag lightly, so as to not pull the hook out of Old Yeller’s paper mouth.
When the wind blows out of the South, get in the lee behind Saint George Island and tie up on the bridge pilings. This is sheepshead catching at its absolute finest. Choose a piling with oysters and barnacles that you can scrape off with your long handle gaff or square blade shovel. Sheepshead can not resist this natural chum. It is a conditioned response created by the underwater sound of oystermen tonging oysters. Sheepshead go on a feeding binge when their favorite food comes floating down for easy pickings. Take a bucket of oysters and cut them up in small pieces. Impale them on a #4 stout live bait hook that you have hand sharpened. Use minimum weight to feel the bite, as you fish them vertically at the piling. If the bite slows, just move to a new piling or break out the oyster knife, the saltines, the Louisiana hotsauce and the ice-cold brewkies. Oh, and don’t forget to bring the jazz for the CD player. It is a long learning curve, but there may be more to life that sweat, tears and the ocean. Right?
This week a Captain buddy came to my dock with two 150 quart Igloo coolers full of gag groupers, including 4 near 30 pounds. All I could get from probing him was, “south and deep.” Big live pinfish is still the secret weapon for gags. Drop your pinfish traps at the mouth of the Apalachicola River and load them with quality squid.
Red snapper recreational fishing closes November 1st. The offshore wrecks hold lots of husky mangrove snappers. The tasty gray triggerfish is there as well. Have fun, hold your mouth just right and catch ‘em up!
Until next tide, tight lines and solid hookups,
Captain Alex Crawford
Proud Member Florida Outdoor Writers Association
Proud Member Florida Guides Association
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