Mid-Coast Bays: October 2024

October is a wonderful month no matter how you rate it. It’s not only the first full month of fall but also the beginning of the fall fishing season here on the middle coast. What will make this fall even fishier is the fact that Mother Nature blessed our part of the coast with a great rain event recently that dropped the water temperatures from the oppressive 88 – 90 degrees we’d been enduring for weeks.

With these cooler water temperatures we found the fish less lethargic and more apt to feed than before the cool down. Meaning we didn’t have to strictly target and fish deep water areas adjacent to shallow areas. The fish were instead staging more regularly on shallow shorelines near backwater drains and small openings connecting backwaters to main bays. We were mainly throwing 4” Saltwater Assassin Sea Shads in Purple Chicken and Momma’s Chicken colors. We were using these paddletail lures for the natural swimming action the tail provides. You can slow your presentation to little more than a crawl when necessary and still produce the vibration that excites redfish, trout, and flounder into striking.

Speaking of flounder, we have been seeing and catching more of these tasty fish since the cool down and I believe it might have jumpstarted their fall migration and spawning activities. If you are intent on targeting flounder you might want to try a curlytail. These lures seem hard for a flounder to pass up and you can work them slower along bottom than the rattail and paddletail types.

We normally target flounder on the flats in front of deeper drains that connect back-lakes to main bays. Working your lure with the current provides the most natural presentation. When flounder are feeding aggressively they will thump your offering like a hungry trout, which definitely lends to gaining a secure hookset. When not feeding aggressively you will need to delay your hookset for a couple of seconds. I know it’s hard to do but I stop my retrieve when I feel a very light tap. You will feel a slight weight on the line as the flounder holds the lure in its mouth, and you might also feel another slight tap as it slowly sucks the lure in. This is when I rear back with a sharp hookset and pray it stays connected.

Another reason to love October is because cool fronts become more frequent and each passing seems just a bit stronger. Air and water temperatures decline a bit more as each front arrives, further accelerating the normal fall patterns of all the bay’s inhabitants. At the head of San Antonio Bay, in the Guadalupe estuary, the white shrimp will begin their migration toward the gulf. You will know when this gets underway as almost overnight you will see flocks of gulls working over schools of shrimp being chased to the surface by every species that preys on them. The species I will be targeting are speckled trout and redfish.

If chasing flocks of gulls and terns is not your thing that’s really not a problem. As these shrimp make their exodus through the bay system, they will create what I call a natural reloading of the various reefs in their path. Meaning as the shrimp schools encounter a reef they will pause temporarily as the currents they are riding on become somewhat disorganized. The shrimp will stay in that area for a while until the currents recover and gets them moving again.

That’s my explanation of reloading―game fish following the shrimp schools and taking up temporary residence in greater than normal abundance on the reefs―because that’s where the most reliable food source is located. I have watched this play out for years and I hope this behavior will remain the same for many years to come. While it’s not exactly like shooting fish in a barrel, there will be days, when everything falls into place…it can get pretty close.

This reloading effect also happens similarly on certain shorelines that lie along the migration route, such as the east and west shorelines of San Antonio Bay and also the north and south shorelines of Espiritu Santo. Anglers that ply other bay systems along the coast that are headed by habitat where white shrimp thrive can expect similar results. Just head for the estuary; that’s where the migration will begin.

One last note when targeting flounder―Be advised that November 1 through December 14 marks closed season for retaining flounder to promote escapement to the gulf for spawning.