Offshore Fishing & Cosatal Waters Fishing Report

With Halloween right around the corner, October is a scary month…for a mullet.

With the mullet run starting to heat up as the weather cools down, the fishing gets great all over the state. Better watch those paddling hands while you're out surfing because there no reason why a jack crevalle or even a supercharged bluefish won't mistake your fingers for a nice little finger mullet skipping through the waves. I've seen it happen. It's not pretty. You ever seen a grown man cry while surfing?

 But seriously, the fishing is about to go crazy on the beach, inlets, and river. These huge hordes of mullet are going to be cruising south and big fish everywhere are going to be waiting at their favorite ambush point for the chance to fatten up for the cold winter we may get. This is your chance to stalk up and get pull out the big one, but finding ambush points is the KEY!

In the river there are more spots for a game fish to ambush prey than anywhere else. My favorite is a mangrove point that juts out from a shoreline and sticks out into open water. Snook, reds, and trout will hang out on or very close to these points. As mullet make their way down a shoreline they will be forced to swim around the point and will surely be attacked by the waiting predators. The best way to fish these when you know there are mullet running around is to net up some live ones, anchor up a good ways off the point and cast your baits to the point. If snook are popping baits and boiling around the mangroves, you know you are in for some fun!

 As everyone knows, the bulk of the mullet run takes place in the surf zone. Mullet try to stick close to the shoreline as to not be mauled by hungry pelagics. Here ambush points are much harder to find than in the river, but they are there! You just have to know where to look. The best spots to fish the mullet run are around coquina ledges, especially those north of Indialantic all the way up to the Port. Satellite Beach is a great place to start because there are literally hundreds of spots where fish like flounder, snook, reds, and tarpon will chill out and wait for mullet to pass overhead. The coquina ledges are usually in 3-10 feet of water - depending on the tide - and have undercuts and overhangs where the big fish lie and wait. If the mullet are coming through strong the predators will be putting on quite an aerial show! Free-line a mullet or fish one on a light split shot and you should stay in the strike zone. I prefer to use artificial lures like the DOA BaitBuster, STORM Swimbaits, white bucktails, or 5-7" swimming plugs.

 Of course, the inlets are the perfect habitat for trophy fish during the mullet run. The outgoing tides send big schools of river-dwelling mullet out the inlet and those that are cruising the beach will be intercepted by the jetties. Every kind of fish bigger than the mullet will be there eating them. Ladyfish, bluefish, jacks, flounder, snook, reds, and PLENTY of tarpon will be waiting in the current and along the surf zone near the inlets to feast on the mullet invasion. Again, live mullet work great as do plugs, jigs, swimbaits and even flies on those calm afternoons.

 Unfortunately, the bottom fishing has been pretty slow lately due to the dirty water left over from the Hurricanes/storms. Lots of sharks been reported being caught and a few red snapper and grouper, but nothing spectacular. Save the gas and stay close to shore, there's plenty to be had. Also, in case you didn't know, the SAFMC has closed all grouper fishing in the Atlantic federal waters from December-April. So starting this December you cannot keep a single grouper OF ANY SPECIES for four months. So get 'em now boys and girls.

Well, here's some pictures folks, get out there and enjoy the last of the warm weather…yeah right.

Till next tide, tasty waves and big feesh,

Matt B