A late running fishing season is seeing continued catches of sea mullet, pompano and flounder in the surf while redfish make up the bulk of the inshore action and speckled trout are just starting up. The piers have had a disappointing spot season but continue to see flounder in the shallows and black drum are active around structure on the piers and at the bridges and docks at nighttime.

The most dependable action continues to come from redfish which are schooling up tighter as the water temperatures drop. Redfish have basically hit well since mid-summer and thought the big ones are gone from the jetties puppy drum, slot-sized reds and a few over the slot fish are still hitting inshore and will be straight into winter.

Redfish from now through January will school up tight and stack up around the creek mouths and hard structure on the fast moving tides, both headed low and rising. Best baits while they are available are live shrimp and frisky live finger mullet although as it gets colder soft baits like Gulp! imitation shrimp and fluke-style lures will take most of the redfish.



In the surf there are still some late season pompano around and some of them are nice sized 2 to 4 pound fish. The pompano are feeding on the last of the sand fleas of the season, which are bunched up and large. Pompano will also hit fresh live shrimp and other natural baits on the bottom in very shallow water or just outside the surf line.



The steadiest action is on sea mullet which range from tiny to nice 2 lb fish. Sea mullet are a great tasting panfish and love to hit cut fresh shrimp as well as bloodworms, artificial bloodworms, and squid. The sea mullet are in small tight schools and run best when the tide is really moving, about an hour or so after the change from low or two hours before high tide.



Speckled trout are just beginning to hit in the mornings. Live shrimp will be the best bait if you can get it but Gulp! baits and imitation shrimp will work. A couple of big gator trout have been taken from the surf by anglers using MirrOlure plugs.

Black drum are hitting at night around bridge, dock and pier pilings. Most will be caught on fresh cut shrimp but they also hit fiddler crabs and chunks of blue crabs. Black drum will be feeding close to the pilings when the tide is most active.

Flounder are biting finger mullet or mud minnows in the surf and can be found on the same baits inshore around hard structure. Anglers are also catching flounder in the surf on strips of cut bait like pinfish or artificial fluke soft baits.

For more fishing reports and articles see my blog A Dash of Salty.