Captain Greg's Fishing Report for October 2018
Port Canaveral, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Orlando
Last Month's Action
Not much to be said other than September was almost a total let down. Swells from Hurricane Florence pretty much wrecked our offshore bottom fishing for a good part of the month and the seaweed was all over the place making trolling about impossible. The swells really scattered the bait fish making the near shore fishing poor also. A handful of king mackerel along with just a couple trophy catches was the wham for offshore and a few big red drum and a couple sharks was the wham for near shore.
October Near Shore Fishing Forecast
I am hopeful that October is full of treats and not tricks. The finger mullet should still be in full force making jetty and surf fishing excellent. Snook fishing will be excellent this month and for those that put the time in for croakers and or pogy’s it will really pay off big time on the tide changes. The big red drum will start to school up tight toward the latter part of the month and it is always a blast to sight the mud plumes made by the huge numbers of these fish. You can pretty much cast anything into these fish and they will strike. Shark fishing should be good. Stay very tight to the beach because the sharks will be feeding on the blue fish and Spanish mackerel that are feeding on the finger mullet. We should also pick up some triple tail and occasional cobia along the buoys or with any luck the scattered seaweed will for up and make its way inshore.
October Offshore Fishing Forecast
I think we will see a very slow start to this month. The water just hasn’t been right since Florence passed by and this first weeks forecast is plagued with large swells. We are keeping our fingers crossed that all this water moving will send the scattered seaweed very far away. East wind should quickly clean the water back up and after all this happens we will be ready to play ball. Live bait trolling the reef will produce a mixed bag of king mackerel, cobia, mahi and black fin tuna. Be on the lookout for shrimp boats because they are always worth a quick look in October. Have a handful of chum or live bait ready to throw in the water and see what swims out from underneath. A lot of bonito with a few black fin tuna and large bull sharks with a few cobia will be found behind these boats on a regular basis. It is also a fun relaxing day to troll small jet heads just outside the reef to target the blackfin tuna. I always like to troll a large diving plug or jet head way back for that wahoo and I will run one mono rigged naked ballyhoo just behind my shortest teaser for that occasional mahi or sailfish. This type of day will not produce large numbers of fish but it is easy and can be very rewarding. However if the seaweed is anything like the past several months then throw that game plan right out the window. Bottom fishing will also be off to a very slow start but the vermilion snapper bite is usually awesome in October. Once you get on the vermilion don’t hesitate to recycle one and see if there is a fat grouper lurking ready to inhale it. The way to approach this month is to focus and be prepared to capitalize on the few opportunity’s you get and make sure you capitalize on them. By the end of the month the fishing will be great as long as we don’t get any more big swells from passing hurricanes.
About Captain Greg's Reports and Forecast
Captain Greg has been fishing the waters of Port Canaveral and the Atlantic for over 30 years. He has the largest and most highly rated private charter business in Port Canaveral, Sea Leveler Sport Fishing Charters. Greg and his team of full time captains fish well over 200 days each per year. We have kept detailed catch history for every trip ran since 2010. You can access this history at www.sealeveler.com/reports. His engineer wife, Amber, has analyzed the catch history along with other historical data such as water temperature and weather patterns. Greg uses his fishing experience and knowledge along with his wife’s statistical analysis to bring you the best fishing report available for Port Canaveral. Greg will give you the honest truth on how the fishing has been along with his best prediction of what to expect by using all of this information.