CLEARWATER, Fla.- Welcome to Central Florida Angler Insider sharing the best spots and plots to catch fresh and saltwater gamefish each week in Central Florida.
September 11th-17th 2020
The Brief
- Weather: Hot, humid, afternoon thunderstorms.
- Bass: Keep up to five but only one 16 inches or longer.
- Panfish: Keep up to 50 of any length.
- Crappie: Keep up to 25.
- Mangrove snapper: Keep up to five 10 inches or longer.
- Flounder: Keep up to ten 12 inches or more.
- Spanish mackerel: Keep up to three, 12 inches or longer.
- Release snook, redfish, and spotted seatrout south of Hernando/Pasco line.
- It’s okay to keep one snook between 28-33 inches if caught north of Hernando/Pasco line.
- Revive gamefish before releasing them.
- Covid-19: Keep distance, wash hands, don’t share lures.
Freshwater
Rain and more rain have expanded lake and river shorelines giving hungry bass and bream access to a new restaurant serving insects, little baitfish, frogs, crawfish, and earthworms. Match the hatch. Fish early or fish late when the water is cooler. Spend extra time fishing areas with rain runoff, thick vegetation, and – importantly — a path to deeper water. As the sun rises bass will follow that lane to deeper, shady structure like brush piles and submerged tree trunks.
River anglers should fish bridges, docks, and boardwalks. They have everything bass and bream love – shade, moving water, eddies, ambush points, depth layers, logjams, and an all you can eat buffet.
Saltwater
Big seatrout are feeding, and they’re getting bigger and hungrier as temps cool. They’re moving with schools of baitfish on the deeper flats and they’ll hit top-water lures, suspending swimbaits, and paddletail jigs. If you’re not catching seatrout, you’re still likely to catch other species like mangrove snapper, ladyfish, jacks, and Spanish mackerel. Redfish schools are forming here and there and mostly moving alongside schools of mullet. First light anglers may see them pushing across the flat, feeding cooperatively and aggressively. Steep incoming and falling tides at mid-week will better our chances. Snook are feeding more aggressively. They don’t stray too far from the mangrove shorelines.
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