LOWER LAGUNA MADRE

Reported by CAPT. BRIAN BARRERA

Chasin’ Bigs

 

SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER ARE truly two of my favorite months to fish. Our fishery shows off its versatility this time of year and you can almost target any species that our fishery has to offer. The kingfish are in at the inlet, big tarpon are hanging out, little tarpon are around, schools of bull reds are plentiful around the jetties and deeper areas of the flats. Our speckled trout and red fishing is great this time of year. Big snook and mangrove snapper are eating topwaters, and the weather is calm enough to get out and enjoy some nearshore wrecks for red snapper, ling and more!

Although most species are plentiful this time of year you can find me and my clients  “chasin’ bigs” at the inlet and nearshore wrecks. We are almost primarily after bullreds, king fish, and tarpon on my charters.

For the bull redfish, I like to use live bait such as mullet, pinfish and crabs. I’ll also use artificial lures, like a D.O.A. Bait Buster or a 2 ounce jigging spoon for dropping down or sight casting into big schools of boiling redfish.

When king fishing, the preferred method by most anglers seems to be trolling at a slow rate of speed, using a wire leader and big Rapala Rattle Traps, and other deep diving lures. Another fun way I like to do is free lining ribbonfish into the current or casting big swim baits that are heavy enough to get down in the water column. Sometimes when we really wanna have fun, we’ll throw topwaters at them, but the hook up ratio isn’t as good.

When tarpon fishing, we hook most of our fish on artificials, but we land most of our fish probably on live bait mainly because of the circle hooks. When throwing artificials, I use a D.O.A. Bait Buster or an A.M. Fishing Lure in the 5-7 inch size range depending on how deep the fish are. Most times they are in 30 to 40 feet of water so having something heavy to get down in the current really helps out. When live baiting, I make sure to try to have a variety of different baits just in case, but mainly it ends up being mullet, pinfish, and live skip jack rigged with a big circle hook and heavy leader. 

Here are a few LLG Hotspots for you: Jetties, nearshore wrecks , SPI Causeway , RGV Reef; Species: Kingfish, Bullreds, Tarpon; Best Baits: D.O.A soft plastics, topwaters, live mullet, live pinfish, big rattle traps Pro tip: It’s easier to feed ‘em than it is to fool em’… Don’t be afraid to send a live one out there on those hot days.