Fishing Report: Oct. 2, 2020

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. - Every Friday morning, Captain Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard's Marina joins Good Day to fill viewers in on his fishing forecast as we head into the weekend.

Here is his fishing report for Oct. 2, 2020.

Inshore

Snook bite has been going very well this past week around the area. We are seeing some decent snook action at night in the passes still. It seems once the weather cleared, there were still some decent numbers of fish around at night in the passes, but they wait 'til the perfect tide to bite and, latel,y around John's Pass, that’s the start of the incoming tide.

Lots of bait around the passes are making them a little picky and more frugal and opportunistic. During the day, the snook bite in the Bay Area has been really good around the flats, mangroves, and even dock lines. The soft plastic paddle tails have been great lures to target snook as of late with cut mullet or threadfins for dead bait and live pinfish or grunts for live bait. 

Redfish action really going great throughout the area. During the day, you can find them around the mangrove shorelines, flats, oyster bars and even along the bottom in the passes and dock lines. At night, we are still seeing good numbers of them around the passes, closer to the bottom, mixed around with the snook feeding on the big numbers of shrimp and white bait flushing through our passes.

Cut bait works well for them day or night in the passes and around the docks or along the shaded areas in the daytime. Live pinfish, green backs, or shrimp work well for live baits. Soft plastic paddle tails, jerk baits and gold spoons are great options for them lure wise as well. 

Flounder action has really heated up as the water started to cool. Look for these guys in the sandy holes of the grass flats or sandy areas adjacent to the flats, docks, bridges, or jetties. They love live shrimp or creek chubs for live bait or slow-moving soft plastics like DOA shrimp or paddle tails, just on or near the bottom.

I like an incredibly-slow retrieved DOA shrimp, stopping every three turns letting it hit bottom and then popping it slightly and repeat. It should take you a very long time to retrieve these lures, imagine how long it would take a shrimp to swim the distance of your cast. That is the length of time it should take you to retrieve that imitation shrimp. 

Mackerel are starting to come back in big numbers along the shipping channel in Tampa Bay, around local bridges, fishing piers, flats, and the beaches. They are chasing the large numbers of local live bait. We have these big schools of green backs, glass minnows and others.

You want to use fast-moving flashy lures to attract their attention or cast net up some big numbers of green bait or other white bait to use for them. The love to eat quickly and a long shank hook helps to ensure they don’t bite through your leader. I like a 1ot long shank and a bigger green back with 20lb floro leader for the mackerel live bait set up. 

Mangrove snapper are still thick around local docks, piers, bridges, jetties, and other structures of the area. However, their numbers are starting to thin out a bit as that cooler weather sets in. Go get them while you can around the shipping channel rock piles or other local large structures. 

Black drum bite has picked up around the local bridges, docks and piers. They love that dirtier water behind the front and cut dead bait like big shrimp or crabs on the bottom around those areas. 

Trout action has been great around local grass flats, especially around the edges or potholes. They have slowed a bit around the passes at night, but during the day the trout bite has been fired up. 

Tarpon fishing is going well at night around the passes and early morning in the same areas. There are some reports of tarpon action around the bridges in Tampa Bay at night too. They are chasing those lady fish, smaller mullet, and passing crabs in the lights of the local bridges. It’s super late in the year to still have these guys around, and as the water cools they will disappear more and more. 

Triple tail action is starting to heat back up around the markers in Tampa Bay and as stone crab season starts to pick up we will see more and more of these guys around the local stone crab trap buoys in the bay and along our beaches. 

Near shore and Offshore

It is a very exciting time of year near shore and offshore right now. With changing weather comes a whole new push of fishing changes.

For example, we are just now starting to see the mackerel show up around the beaches out to near shore reefs and the kingfish won’t be far behind them. They love that 72-78 degree water temperature and we are just now seeing that temperature get right for more and more mackerel to show up near shore and they are always followed by the kingfish typically on the next big moon phase. 

Along with the kingfish and mackerel starting their fall fun, we are also seeing the hogfish pick up too around 40 to 80 feet of water. These hogfish will only get better and better and more and more aggressive. They love the light tackle and live shrimp on those knocker rigs, nekid ball jigs or jig heads. Around 30lb floro and 4ot hooks is a great way to start hunting to find them on those smaller ledges, flat hard bottom with sea fans, or that shell bottom adjacent to rock piles or ledges. 

Gag grouper action will also get better and better as the water cools in shallow. We are doing well on the gags out deep beyond 140 feet of water right now, but they are getting better already near shore up to the far north of our area in shallower.

We are starting to see them bite well around the shipping channel in the bay and were catching a few near shore on our HUB 10 hour all-days and private charters. The Flying HUB 2 is also seeing some on its private charters as shallow as 100 to 130 feet of water.

This near shore and inshore gag grouper bite will only improve more and more as those gags move shallower out of the deep water as the water temps drop. 

Besides the changes near shore and offshore, we are still seeing a good red grouper bite around 80 to 140 feet of water. They are mixed in with some nice lane snapper, vermillions and the occasional nice mangrove snapper. Great way to target them is bigger piece of cut dead threadfin and around 6-7ot hooks or even squid strips. 

For more information from Hubbard’s Marina, head over to their website.