It’s October: Don’t Be Caught Indoors!

Could there possibly be anything more exciting than great weather and great fishing? If there is I haven’t found it yet. Pleasant temperatures and reduced humidity put a bounce in our step that leaked out during the dog days and game fish seem as eager for the change as humans.  

So much happens in October. Tides swell and water temperatures decline while annual migrations of shrimp and mullet headline the change that leads to greatly increased feeding activity. There will be days when we need look no farther than flocks of wheeling gulls and pelicans executing death-defying plunges to locate rod-bending action. The time-honored saying; find the bait and find the fish, was never truer than October on the Texas coast.

Eric Ozolins and Curtiss Cash give us a peek into what is about to bust wide open in nearshore waters and the surf zone in coming weeks. Name a species; state water snapper, tarpon, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, speckled trout, slot and bull redfish, sharks and more – October offers a veritable smorgasbord.

Columns from our writers that focus on the bays are equally optimistic. Jay Watkins is predicting the best fall fishing in Aransas and neighboring bays in many years while Rowsey is calling for more predictable trout patterns. Down in the Lower Laguna Madre, Wayne Davis and Ernest Cisneros are calling for a banner season. Ernest expects the best summer of snook fishing in many years to continue well into early-fall. Gary Gray believes everything from surf to mid-bay reefs, back lakes to protected bay shorelines, will be in play on any given day. Bink Grimes says all you need to get bit in October around Matagorda is to get on the water.

Caleb Harp and Steve Hillman are anxious for fall patterns to develop, with plenty of hints and advice for finding the bite. Galveston anglers tiring from months of deep-water plugging channels and reefs are always keen to follow the schools into wade fishing depths on shorelines.

Up in Sabine country, Dickie Colburn and Chuck Uzzle report hordes of redfish “getting in the way” as they search for specks. What a problem! And the flounder run on Sabine Lake…it’s something you almost have to see to believe.

Remarkably, there will be many fishermen heading to the hills while all of this is going on. I get that, because hunting seasons are also cranking up. Nobody struggles more than yours truly when it comes to deciding whether to grab a fishing rod or shotgun. The only way I stay sane during October is a daily dose of dove hunting or wading a San Antonio Bay reef. Some days I do both.

So there you have it folks. A day of outdoor fun in October is too precious to pass up, and I certainly don’t want anybody saying I’ve been guilty of not practicing what I preach. Schedule a couple of vacation days. Heck, use a sick day. Just get out there…and take a kid or two!