Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

October Redfishing! It is the season for for redfishing in Southwest Florida. There are to ways to target reds right now. YOu can fish schools of breeder reds from 10-20 pounds or you can sight fish singles that range from 4-8 pounds. If your into the school fishing then you need to start out with a very low tide. The low tide concentrates the schools along the sand bars since there isn't enough water on the flats. Find the school is the hard part. When you find a school thow just about anything you want at them. I like to use soft plastic jerk baits or top water plugs. Spoons and spinner baits will work good as well. If your using live bait a well of small sardines will help with keeping the school in casting range. The more chum that you throw at them the longer that you'll have a bent rod. If you into sight fishing the flats then you need to fish the last half of the falling and the first half of the rising tide. Pole the shallow grass flats in a skinny water boat and look for the redfish "tailing" or "pushing" up on the flats. They usually do this when they are in a feeding mood. Use a very subtle presentation with either flies or soft baits. A live hand picked shrimp will be a sure score if you can get it near the nose of a tailing red. The forecast is excellent since redfish and speckled trout are a staple for my charters all winter. If you want to give the tailing redfish a try then it would best to book before Chistmas. After that we have good redfishing but its more blind casting or sight fishing for reds that are "laying up" and not in an active feed. Good Luck! Capt. Scott Hughes Blackwater Charters 941-628-4247 cell 941-575-2389 home