HUNT or FISH.....HUNT FISH FALL STYLE

Its that time of the year..do you go to the lease after whitetails or hit the flats after sow trout and big reds? I really try to do both. Timing this time of the year is all important. Down here in Port Isabel we seem to get a front a week. They seem to always hit on Sunday or Monday. Then usually by the end of the week we get a couple days break. Winds calm down and water clears. Neat thing about our area and the shallow, weed cover flats is that it usually only takes a tide change to clear the water. 

The water has cooled off and the fish are everywhere. They are presently in that "get ready for winter state of mind". They are slamming big topwaters with all out maddness. They are stuffing themselves for the coming of cold weather. We are finding lots of big reds and good 25-27" trout on some of our really close flats. Most of these areas are adjacent to deep water and in our area that means the ICW. 

I talked to one of our top guides on the Island yesterday and he related that there were lots of reds on the east flats. He said that one way he was fishing for them was simply drifting and waiting for the schools to approach him. He said it was not only working but saving him alot of fuel.

As I mentioned, big topwaters, Skitterwalks, Renegades, Spooks, and One Knockers have been our top producers, usually in bone, white, or black. Silver weedless spoons,1/4-3/8oz. seem to get more strikes that gold this time of the year. Plastics will always produce, but the bigger fish want bigger baits!

As far as hunting goes, I'll still get enough of that in as the weather gets really nasty. Cotulla is only four hours away!