Column - Oct 31, 2006

Ready, set ...

Wait. Yeah, that was me last week-end. I was ready and set to go fishing, but Mother Nature had other ideas. She sent a "blow" in and what a blow it was, with winds gusting to more than 50 miles per hour and seas reported at the ILM3 buoy in excess of 15 feet!

That certainly changed up the fall fishing. In fact, it just about came to a complete halt. Even after the wind died down Saturday night, the seas were still kicked up and the water was very "dirty."

The good news is, the fish still need to eat, so once things calmed down the bite was back on during the week. In fact, the beginning of the week the weather was so calm I thought I lived next to a lake instead of the mighty Atlantic.

Well, maybe not but it was very calm.

Weather interrupted fall fishing but that’s it, just a short pause. The bite is back on and the weather is allowing anglers to go get ’em.

Catching report

Inshore the bite has resumed in full force -- speckled trout, puppy drum, red drum and flounder are being caught. The roe mullet are in the creeks and marsh ditches, and look for the drum to be close behind them. The spots are starting to show up in the ICW in decent numbers.

In the surf, plenty of red and black drum are being caught on cut bait and shrimp with an occasional keeper flounder and small blues. There are still a few pompano, but I expect they will be gone any day as the water temperature continues to drop.

On the piers the bite has been strong. Mullet, flounder, spots, drum, blues and croaker are being caught in good numbers. Fish bites, shrimp, worms and cut bait are all producing well.

Off shore, the kings continue to bite and can be found along the 10 fathom (60 feet) curve about 12 to 15 miles out. Some grouper and nice size black bass are being brought up from the bottom from about the 15 to 20 mile range. There have been a few wahoo and tuna caught further out.

Tight lines to all!