Area Fishing Report: Good things for anglers in fall

For many avid fans of outdoor sports, this is hunting season ... pure and simple. Possibly even more would-be anglers postpone their casting due to football season. But those who keep a grip on their rods while others grab guns and foam fingers know that the fall season brings good things for anglers.   

Spring might be the best season for all-around fish-catching, but the springtime action comes with a considerably larger crowd on the water and at boat ramps. One of fall fishing’s big positives is the dependable reduction in fishing pressure. 

Autumn’s on-the-water bounty is already ramping up. There are always less-than-ideal fishing situations here and there, but aside from some persistent flooding on the upper Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers and rain-darkened inshore shallows along the salty Gulf Coast, overall fishing conditions are quite good.   

For instance, the annual run of shrimp up the St. Johns River is starting to look far more promising. Most cast-netters now say there are sufficient shrimp near Palatka to make a cast-netting trip there worthwhile. Speckled perch are starting to bite well in most lakes near Gainesville. And the gulf’s shallows seem to be producing better each week. 

Dan Orr took a Labor Day drive to the Gulf Coast, “just knocking around”. Along the sightseeing ride, the Gainesville angler visited Shell Mound in the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge around mid-morning. There, he noticed several people on the fishing pier. The tide was high and rising, and he didn’t have to wait long before someone pulled in a fish. Orr happened to have his granddaughter’s little spinning outfit with him, and he also had a Ziplock pouch of Fishbites E-Z Flea … a synthetic alternative to natural bait that’s produced in St. Augustine and is very popular with surf fishers.   

He walked about halfway down the pier, noticing that everyone else was armed with considerably heavier equipment and most had “great looking bait like live shrimp and fresh, cut ladyfish.” He took out the pouch with the Fishbites bait, cut off a small piece of the Sand Flea formula, hooked it and flipped it out. Orr proceeded to watch the better-equipped fishers catch silver perch, croaker, catfish, sting rays and even a couple of small sharks. When his first bite came, it was a redfish … a hair too short to keep, measuring 17.5 inches. Still, it was the first red he had seen. The next bite was a heavier and stronger foe that he battled tooth-and-nail. Finally, the angler vanquished the crowd-pleasing redfish that measured just over 24 inches. 

In Gainesville’s closest lakes, everyone’s favorite panfish becomes most active when the weather cools — and speckled perch are already doing just that. Ken “Tight Line” Simmons has been drifting crappie jigs with minnows added out in 8-to-9 feet of water on Newnans Lake and he has been smoking good-sized speckled perch. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, the little jigs that Simmons pulled through Newnans’ depths accounted for 25-speck limits. “Tight Line” returned Monday to pile up 25 more slabs.

The Gainesville angler offered one insider tip: “The earlier in the day, the better the fishing.” 

Crappie action is almost as good on Lochloosa. When I phoned Jeff at Twin Lakes Fish Camp to confirm this, he said, “A couple from Georgia, the Cochrans, stayed in one of our cabins last week. One day, they took a rental boat and trolled little speck jigs out in deep water.  They came back with 34 good specks.”  

Here at Gary’s Tackle Box, we’ve been told this week of similar speck catches pulled from Orange Lake. 

Gary Simpson, a veteran tournament angler, operates Gary's Tackle Box at L & S Auto Trim.