Alpha and Omega Fishing Charters

Fishing Charters Charlotte Harbor Florida

October Coastal Angler Fishing Report

 October in S.W. Florida once again. This month if you like to eat stone crab claws it opens the 15th at midnight. If you scuba dive you can go in at midnight to harvest these delicacies. It is fun and spooky at the same time and depends on how good of a dive light you have. LOL They like to hang around rocks and docks where they feel safe. Until out of the darkness comes some thing like the sun shining and they try to hide in any little crack to get away from the light. Warning if you try this wear gloves. They are not fast but they seem to grab you with the other claw when you are measuring the other one. The claw needs to be at least 2 ¾ in. to harvest. Check the FWC regulations as to how many you are allowed to have. This should be the time of year that you can find gags and red grouper in the fifty to eighty foot range where there is some ledges or good hard bottom. I like to start out with frozen baits and if you bring live bait then as the bite slows send some live ones down. It is a good practice to check in forty to fifty feet of water on your way out to catch some squirrel fish/sand perch to bring out with you. Keep the live ones alive in your well and if a few swallow the hook keep them on ice because they make great cut bait too. Some anglers like to drift for the red grouper. This is a good method but it takes a little extra weight to keep it down on the bottom. I personally like to anchor up on a spot and get things going by chumming and just getting the fish to bite. This attracts other species that may make the ride to the dock because they are good eating. Lane and mangrove snapper like these kind of areas too. You may find some porgies and maybe a trigger fish. While you are traveling out, keep your eyes out for birds searching for food, they tend to fly high in the sky as they search and if there is something there to eat they will be very close to the surface of the water. This could be some Spanish or king mackerel, maybe a tuna or bonito. If you see flying fish there maybe a sailfish around the area, if you have some small blue runners or jacks alive hook one and send it out to draw one to it. If you have enough grouper or snapper you could set up some rods and troll back in the direction you are returning to. This is productive and you are fishing as you travel back toward land to add to your bounty. Also this is the time of year you may encounter the school reds/red drum close to the shore searching for food to fatten up to return to the Gulf to breed. These are the ones that are usually over the twenty seven inch limit but are fun to catch. Back in the day we called it RED October, we will see after the red tide last year. If you would like to come along with Capt. Bart to experience S.W. Florida fishing and make some memories, call 941-979-6517 or e-mail me at captbart@alphaomegacharters.com  A phone call will get you a quicker response than e-mail. And always remember singing drags and tight lines make me smile. <*(((((>{