Fall Migration 10/20/11

Capt. Rich Knox of Absolute Flats fishing reports the charter boat fleet was held at dock by the hands of a powerful Low-Pressure event that brought small craft warning's from the early part of the week till near end of the week! With winds in the 20- 30 m.p.h. and gusty, left our seas offshore at 5'-7' and higher, turned inshore waters into chocolate milk and bumpy. I have always been told to look for the good in things, so I'm going to be positive now knowing that the storm will bring HOT FISHING both inshore and offshore with the cooler temp's we're experiencing now, this is now officially autumn. So during the blow I did as much needed re-lining, re-rigging, check listed the tackle box for every scenario I could think of and even got some minor boat maintenance ,improvements accomplished. After Friday the weather will start to climb back into the 70'sand lighter winds out of the east will help clean up the water clarity and the huge schools of pilchards will school up big time. This weather change will also change the location of where the fish were last time you went out, so you're going to have to do some search and scouring the area to find their new home they have chosen for their comfort zone. The fish that were in transition before, Snook, Redfish,Trout and other inshore species will school up and start to look aggressively to feed on the pilchard hatch to store protein and fat for the upcoming winter season, the barometer tells them to stock up, in other words- feed hard! Offshore when things settle down by the weekend hopefully, Spanish Mackerel, Kingfish (BIG) bonito and cobia will be on hand and plentiful in our area and from the artificial reefs to your favorite wreck's and rock piles farther out. The optimal water temp's when the fishing is at its best for these pelagic is 70* to 75* and usually is in mid-October to November and then some weather cooperating .Some of the biggest fish of the year will only be 100 yds. From the beach in places, so get ready this is an awesome time of year, and peak migratory fishing time in the fall.