Trout - While the marshes and holes that hold fish in September and October still have plenty of fish, almost all of them are going to be spikes. the short trout have begun their invasion and will be found in plenty. The small fish are plenty fun to catch if you are looking to do just that, however anglers should turn their focus to the creeks and rivers if they plan on finding keeper class and larger trout. Mud Minnows fished on float corks and light line Carolina rigs are the best live bait options for the specks heading into winter. In the way of artificial, hard and soft baits both produce well when fished slow. Mirrolure 17MR and 18MR baits are hard to pass up for trout. Swim baits, Jerk baits, and slow sinking shrimp imitations work well on the soft side.
Black Drum - The same deep holes and creeks that are holding the trout are also starting to put up numbers of black drum. While the sizes of the black drum are usually small when caught as by catch from trout fishing, anglers using shrimp on light modified carolina rigs with fresh frozen shrimp will be able to catch them more effectively and begin to search for the target keeper size fish.
Red Drum - Not too much has changed on the Redfish front over the past month. Reds are schooling heavily across the barrier islands in the area. From the beach, anglers should be looking for sloughs in the surf and shoals that tend to be favorite areas for reds to sit. It is important to remember that most of the time reds are going to be in or just outside of the breakers on the beach. Making incredibly long casts on surf style combos might produce a few fish, but not consistent numbers. Wading out with a 7’6” to 8’6” spinning rod and casting down the beach until you find these schooling fish will produce the most quantity of reds. Using heavier jig heads and picking calmer days with north winds will help anglers put eyes on the fish as well as better and longer casts. Z-Man Minnowz in bright colors like white or pink are always surf candy for reds. The Z-Man baits are super durable and can withstand the abuse of surf fishing and multiple redsfish. Scenting the baits with procure saltwater inshore is a great way to help improve your number of strikes and hook ups. On the inshore side of things you can find smaller puppy drum hanging around the same structure and marsh areas as you would in the summer months. You also might find yourself a small school of them as the days keep cooling and the water temp falls.