By John Piotrowski
September and October experience the highest tides of the year, known as King Tides. It can be pretty alarming to witness water levels rising above bulkheads, causing flooding in streets and yards. Exercise caution when passing under bridges where your boat typically fits, as these King Tides can be several feet higher than normal tides.
When I see these abnormally high tides, I think of how much more water must be rushing in and out of our inlets. I wonder if our pelagic fish notice anything different? Do more baitfish get washed out of the inlets during king tides? In early September, when the king tides started, the wahoo bite out front sure seemed to pick up. It seemed like every boat targeting wahoo managed to catch one. I also noticed several reports of dolphins being caught close to shore and around the inlets. Coincidence?
I’m not sure if it’s related to king tides or not, but typically in October and November, the wahoo bite gets good on the edge in the Bahamas. I like north of Bimini up to and around Isacs Lighthouse and south to around Orange. Some avid wahoo fishermen love to fish the drop-offs when the tide is rushing off the reef. It seems to make sense. If that’s the case, it’s probably good to fish with lures that mimic the baitfish your target species is eating. For wahoo, my favorite colors are black and purple, blue and white and just because it’s usually around Halloween – black and orange. I always liked about 12 MPH – slightly above average normal trolling speed, but not quite up on plane. It all depends on where your boat likes to troll fast. The trick is getting a good rhythm for your snake track, and when you find them, I would suggest doing figure eights in the area a few times before moving on.
For most of my life, all around the coast of Florida, fall has meant prime time grouper season. The grouper congregate closer to shore. Trolling lures, such as the “Stretch 30,” were once an excellent strategy for catching big black and gag grouper over the shallower reefs in the fall. I know there were some fishermen having success with this in the Keys and up around the Panhandle. We used to troll what looked like huge rapalas over the natural swiss cheese bottom on the Panhandle in November, and we could catch our limit of grouper trolling in 35 – 40′. Man, was it fun to see them hit, and then they would come up to the surface with their mouths open, throwing one heck of a rooster tail. I will have to see if there are any charter guys in Miami still doing this, and go on a trip of two this winter. I have been reading the reports from my diving buddies, and they have been seeing a lot of good grouper on the reefs while looking for lobster. I don’t think a lot of folks bottom fish out front much. It isn’t easy with the current and the weather. You have to get yourself a good anchor ball set up and rig your anchor with zip tie breakaways. The idea is that the zip ties will hold the chain in a normal position in most conditions. However, if the anchor gets stuck and you pull on it with enough force from the boat, the zip ties will pop, and your anchor will be pulled from the top and come loose.
If you want to learn more of these rigging techniques or fishing strategies, I encourage you to check out the Lighthouse Point Saltwater Sportsmen’s Association. We meet on the last Wednesday of the month at Galuppi’s from 6 – 9pm. Visit [www.LHPSSA.org](http://www.lhpssa.org/) for more information