Get Your Topwater Hooks Sharp

That's right, it is that time of the year when topwater fishing can be great fun.

As the mullet make the run to the ocean, every striking fish is staged to ambush them on their journey and if you are in the right place at the right time, you can enjoy some furious strikes and some string stretching excitement. The water temperature has started to drop and when this happens, the mullet head for the ocean. Mullet that have enjoyed a pretty peaceful summer of feeding on plankton and vegetation are now pressed to make their annual journey to the ocean. On this journey, they will encounter large schools of jacks, ladyfish, redfish, trout, tarpon and every other fish that will eat a mullet. I would not want to be a mullet right now.

If you are in the right place and have the right lure, you can hook up on these predatory fish as they bust these mullet schools.

Lures that I like are just about any one that even looks anything like a mullet. Some of the ones that have worked for me are Zara Spooks, Top Dawgs, Pencil Poppers, She Dogs, Tiny Torpedoes, Lucky 13 and about anything else you have in your arsenal that floats and makes some sort of noise when retrieved.

I like a topwater lure because you can fish it over grass and rock piles without fear of losing it on a hang up.

Other lures that will perform this time of the year are floater divers, like the Bomber Long A, Mirro Lure Provoker, Wiggle Warts and two of my favorites, an Exude RT Slug and a Gotcha Trout Killer. The later is rigged using a X-Point X-Gap 4/0 hook rigged without any weight. This lure is best fished on light tackle and if you have some 10 or 15 pound test Power Pro on the reels spool, you will be able to cast this a very long way.

This rig gives you the best of both worlds when it comes to fishing artificials in a way that you can fish it on or near the surface or let it sink down a little to get the targeted species really fired up. This lure has probably put more fish in my boat this time of the year than any of the other lures combined.

The only downside I can think of with this lure set up is you rarely feel the bite because most of the time while working this lure, you will have slack in your line.

Here is a little on how I like to work this lure for good results. Toss it as far as you can in the direction of the area you are targeting. As soon as it hits the water, start working it back to the boat with a SLIGHT twitch of the rod, then turn the reel handle to get back the slack and continue this action. When you get a strike while the lure is under the surface, you will not know it until you go to make your next twitch of the rod tip. If a fish has eaten your lure, you will feel a resistance or heavy feeling. NOW is the time to set the hook. Rare back and bust the fish and most of the time you will be hooked up. If you feel this heavy feeling and do not set the hook, the fish will most likely spit it out before you get a second chance to bust it.

When I have a hard bait tied on and have a fish strike at it a couple of times but not get hooked up, I will drop that rod on the deck and quickly pick up the rod with the Gotcha Trout Killer rigged and toss that lure in the direction of the last strike and let it sink down a few feet then start working it like it is wounded. You will find that a lot of time, the fish will strike AT the lure but not get hooked up. Sometimes the fish will strike AT the lure several times without a hook up. I think when you toss the soft plastic in the fish's direction and let it sink, it thinks the bait that it struck at but missed is wounded and will come back and eat your lure. The trick to this is doing it quickly. I usually have the Trout Killer rigged and laying next to me so I can react very quickly. I usually do not wind in the rod with the top water lure on it because this takes too much time and I want the fish to stay close to where it made it's last unsuccessful strike at my hard bait. You will have plenty of time to get this rod and bait out of the water and out of your way after you get a hook in the fish. Besides, you will need something for your fishing partner to do while you are fighting the fish, you just hooked.

If you do not like topwater action, you will have plenty to do with the nice big redfish that are in the river feeding on small croakers. Find a good deep rock pile and send down a chunked croaker, 1/2 blue crab or chunk of lady fish for these big bruisers.

While you are waiting for the monster reds to bite, you can have plenty of fun and get some good eats, catching the croakers under your boat.

The ocean is still producing good numbers of good sized grouper, seabass and vermillion snapper and a big chunk of Boston mackerel works great on these hard pulling grouper. The key to getting the grouper to the boat, is for you to get the first 5 feet of line back on the reel quickly. If you can do this, most of time you will boat the fish.

Good Fishing
Capt Jim Hammond

Capt Jim's Fun Fishing Inc.
Jacksonville, Fl
904 757 7550
http://www.hammondfishing.com
jim@hammondfishing.com