Fall Mullet Run - Redfish

Favorite time of the year! Everyone has their favorite fish, season, or even month — mine is by far the fall months. From snook and tarpon nearshore along with many other species, to big Bull redfish and trout in the river fall has a lot to offer! Within the next few weeks we typically start to see the famous fall mullet run. During the mullet run, you never know what to expect!

Find the mullet and find the fish, it’s as simple as that. Most of the time the schools will be scattered along the beach and around most inlets. When it comes to the mullet run, it’s not uncommon to have a tougher time getting to the fish. With the mass amounts of bait, I prefer using larger plugs such as a bomber windcheater, a large Rapala skitter walk or any large plug of your choice. I find with all the bait around covering ground can produce better numbers! If you’re not really into throwing artificials, a larger mullet around 6 to 8 inches free lined or fished on a knocker rig with a 1/2 oz. egg sinker can work well too. You can expect plenty of bluefish, jacks, some snook, tarpon, and the occasional flounder and redfish.

In the lagoon, this is usually the time of year when most anglers seem to catch their personal best size redfish. It’s important we take great care of these fish they are spawning and the future depends on it. Look for these fish in schools around any sandbar, drop off, or shallow grass flat. Get a slow and quiet approach with either a weedless gold spoon or swimbait. Try to avoid using treble hooks as much as possible. A large live mullet fished free-lined on a 5/0 circle hook works great as well. With warm temps and large fish it’s time to put the small tackle away, as cool as it is to catch a big fish on tiny tackle it is very un-ethical and can cause great damage to the fish! A 7 to 8 foot medium heavy to heavy action rod paired with a 5000 to 6000 size reel with 20 to 30lb braid is a good choice, the less stress on the fish and a faster catch and revival the better! If everyone does their part now, we will have better fishing for years to come.