October is one of my favorite months to fish. Things are cooling down and fish are settling into their fall and early winter homes. Bait is pushing to deeper water and getting thin on the flats. With water cooling down and our first few cold fronts starting to come through, the action in the shallow water really starts to heat up. Many fish really start to turn on as they start to feed to get ready for the cold winter.

Redfish is the highlight of October. With big schools in full force roaming the flats in search of crustaceans, shrimp, chubs, greenbacks, and any other type of bait that might be an easy meal of the flats. Schools can range from just a few fish to as big as a football field. I have seen fish from 15inches to 25lbs on the flats this time of year. You can still land the big Bull Reds with your typical light tackle rigs but they definitely test your angling skills and put your tackle to the test.

Redfish are very spooky fish unlike many other species. One slam of a hatch, stomp, bang on an anchor or any other noise will spook Redfish especially when they are schooled up. The further away from the fish you can stay the better, which is why 8 ft rods matched with ultra light braided line is a great advantage when fishing for redfish. When rigging for redfish I like to use 20lb Ohero fluorocarbon for leader, #10 Ohero braided line matched with a 1/0 Eagle Claw Sea Circle Hook will be a deadly combination.

I like to use live bait as my first choice, but since Redfish love crabs, shrimp and many other small baits, there  are a bunch of artificial baits that will perform just as good as live bait.  I like to match the bait that is in the area. Finding an artificial that mimics the bait in the area will increase your chances of catching more fish.

After you have found the correct rig and found your favorite bait, now where do you find the fish? Well I can give you some basics that you can put together matched with time and you should be able to find a few good spots. First thing is tides and water movement. Get a tide book and pick a day to fish that has good tides. This is going to fall around your new and full moons. Once you have moving water you want to start looking for points, cuts, healthy grass, oyster bars, banks and creek mouths just to name a few. After finding a few good spots, setting your boat up in the right spot is critical. This can vary depending on the situation but one rule that will get you started is you want to always position your boat up tide and try to let your bait look as natural as possible.

Redfish are one of my favorite fish to target. Finding schools of fish can be very time consuming but the reward is worth every minute! Putting common sense and basic knowledge together and you will soon be catching Redfish one after another.

Captain Jason Prieto is a native resident of Tampa and has fished Tampa Bay and its surrounding waters for the past 20 years. He is owner and operator of Steady Action Fishing Charters which is based out of lower Tampa Bay. To book a charter, you can reach him at 813-727-9890 or www.steadyactionfishingcharters.com. If you would like to catch him on the radio tune into Outdoor Fishing Adventures Saturday mornings from 7AM to 9AM on 860 WGUL talk radio. Tight lines!!!!