Captain Greg's Fishing Report for September 2016
Port Canaveral, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Orlando
Last Month's Action
Last month did not disappoint and we ended the summer with red hot action.
Offshore action was great and I can’t remember ever having a complete summer with such great fishing every day. We had fantastic king mackerel fishing, phenomenal cobia, amberjack were literally eating from our hand. A few bonus african pompano, nice mangroves, and the occasional mahi. It really was an epic month.
Near shore the shark fishing was really good overall until the very end of the month. Honestly, other than shark fishing, we didn’t and I don’t know of anyone that did much along the beach. The fishing and sea conditions were so good offshore no one stayed close.
September's Near Shore Fishing Forecast
Even though we will lose our water clarity, September in my opinion is one of the very best months for great near shore action. We should see huge schools of spanish mackerel that are always willing to strike small lures on light tackle. We will have blue fish and jack crevalle. Slot size red drum, black drum and sheephead should also be abundant along the beach, jetties and port basins. We should have a great shot at seeing the big red drum show mid to latter part of the month. I know the big red drum are close because I have already seen them a few times further offshore while looking for cobia. Shark fishing will be solid because of all the spanish mackerel and blue fish. Also the tarpon are here! I counted 20 or more while on anchor shark fishing 2 weeks ago. I think the water was too clean. Expect good things near shore this month!
September's Offshore Fishing Forecast
We will be looking to the deep water for answers in September. I say this with tropical storm conditions on my head as I write this so it is influencing my report quite a bit. Not all is bad when this happens. We can get awesome color changes offshore that depending on what depth can produce phenomenal fishing. I will start with the obvious, dolphin fish fishing can be really good after these conditions and I expect to see a handful caught this month along with the occasional sail fish, wahoo and black fin tuna. We may see more color changes closer in and this could give us some extended cobia time. I think the real home run for the month will be working the bottom in 140 ft or better. The snapper will be thick as they always are these days but the real way to produce a great bottom catch for the dinner table will be to target the trigger fish, sea bass, porgies and vermillion snapper using chicken rigs with small pieces of cut bait and squid. Of course always lower at least one big bait for that bonus grouper or nice amberjack. If the water has a chance to clean up to a clean green within 60 to 100 feet of water September is a good month for king mackerel but for some reason my gut is telling me we may get on a pattern this September that will keep that water dirty inside of a 100ft but I hope I am wrong. We have lots of options and I am excited to get back out there to try it all.
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.