Autumn is the best time of year for Florida fishing, in my opinion. Bait is in the surf on both coasts, the sun doesn’t feel like it’s sitting on your shoulder and fish can be found just about everywhere. My fishing method of choice for the last two years has been surf casting and wading both out of preference and necessity. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I’ve had a lot of success, so I want to regularly start posting recaps of my outings. I grew up pouring over articles in the likes of Florida Sportsman and Florida Sport Fishing so reading about fishing to gather information and advice feels second nature. Even though I didn’t have access to the six figure boats and luxury equipment that many of the articles featured, I still picked up tips that I use to this day. I’ll try to include all of the gear, hooks and knots so you can compare your own successes and failures to mine!

So I fished Fort Desoto the Sunday of the 13th of November, it was a crystal clear, warm day and I knew that I was going to have a good time regardless of what I hauled in.

I fished the channel highlighted here from about noon until five o’clock.

I use Tides4Fishing.com and Google Maps to do all of my pre-fish research and this day it really paid off. I saw it was going to be a day with a large tidal coefficient so water was going to be ripping through that channel between the sandbars resulting in the potential for a lot of trapped bait and predators cruising the shallows. The tides coincided well with my schedule so I was able to fish the last thirty minutes of an incoming tide and the entire outgoing tide until sunset. The first thing I did when I got to the beach was scout for bait and within a few minutes I was able to haul in a dozen or so pinky sized sardines. Because this was my first time fishing this beach I packed light, only bringing a small box of jigs and plugs, a 6ft cast net, and a couple of pre-made Carolina rigs. I’ve found waterproof backpack is a must for surf fishing along with a lanyard for pliers. Nothing is worse than running back every ten seconds to bait up or change rigs.

I started by throwing a sardine attached to a 3/0 circle hook with an orange split shot pinched about 4 feet up the leader. There was an area of wash that looked to have a lot of trapped bait and light current so I tossed the little guy behind that spot and was hooked up within a minute with my first (of many) ladyfish. I knew I was going to have fun for a while with these poorly regarded (perfectly acceptable) speedy bait thieves. Almost every cast turned into a ladyfish ranging in size from about a 14″ to 20.” Because I didn’t bring any wire leaders or cut bait rigs I decided against keeping some of them for bait and just fished the school hoping to pick off an errant trout or snook.

After about an hour I decided to walk the beach and get a better feel for the area. There was a bird sanctuary to the south so it wasn’t hard to spot where the bait schools were as dozens of pelicans, seagulls and terns dive-bombed the pods up and down the channel. I walked about a quarter mile north up to the point and spotted my first big fish in the shallows. The sun was now setting a bit and the top water activity started to bubble up, emboldening the bigger predators. The water was absolutely ripping through the center of the channel but the shallows were relatively calm and could be sight fished. I saw what appeared to be some large trout and snook hammering sardines twenty yards or so off the beach so I switched to a top water plug and started casting. My weapon of choice was the Super Spook Junior (Bone/Silver) on a 30lb flourocarbon leader attached with a double-uni knot to 15lb yellow braid. On my third or so cast a massive snook popped my lure about five feed in the air, so I knew I was rigged right. After blind casting at about a 45 degree angle to the beach over the shallows for about fifteen minutes I was on to my first snook.

A slightly under slot snook, relatively skinny heading into the winter months. He has just been de-hooked and my right arm is reaching out to support him in a second (don’t kill me FWC I love nature and respect the fish!) The top image of this article is most definitely how you should hold all snook, regardless of size.

I was stoked, he demolished the super spook about ten feet in front of me. I was “walking the dog” very steadily with what I’d call a medium speed retrieve. After I got him in the sand and released I got right back at it. I casted up and down the channel for about thirty more minutes before I had my next fish. I was speaking with a fly fisherman down on vacation who’d been catching the same ladyfish all day that I had. We were joking that I’d catch a fish right next to him to rub it in his face… and that’s just what happened; the second snook gulped the lure a few feet in front of us. The picture of the second one is the feature image, if you’re curious.

I had a few more hits after that but nothing substantial. It had been a great first run at this beach and I definitely will be coming back with the next warm front. I’ll be trying my luck up into the bay as it gets colder but this spot gives me the impression it will have promise when the conditions are right during any season.

If you want to see more images, check out my instagram @chakazula

Tight lines!