Hey, it’s Captain Austin back again giving you the local report for the New Smyrna Beach area. It’s September and that means snook season is open! In our part of Florida, the season opens from September 1 through December 15. If the mullet run is strong, expect the fishing to be good. Snook have a regulated fishing season mostly to protect their populations during sensitive periods like when they are spawning. Here in Volusia County, snook gather in large numbers in and around Ponce Inlet in the months of June, July and August. During these times they can be susceptible to overfishing so they are protected.

Many people love catching snook because they are known to be elusive and challenging to locate and catch, making the pursuit more thrilling. Their behavior can change based on water temperature, tides and other environmental factors, making them a worthy adversary to even experienced fisherman. One huge advantage of being on the water every day is that I can see the gradual changes from day to day. In the past couple of weeks some of my charter clients have hooked some real monsters that could not be stopped and hung us up in structure. Some of these fish are 40 inches or bigger and as they say – they don’t get big being stupid.

An added benefit of snook fishing is that often they are in the same place as big redfish and can be caught side by side. The redfish will start preparing for their spawn and starting soon there will be huge numbers of large fish in and around the inlet. The redfish will also be keying in on the large influx of mullet and other baitfish that get washed in and out of Ponce Inlet.

Let’s hope we don’t have any major storms hit us like last year. The fishing was great this time last year and then we got hammered by two hurricanes. Let’s hope for the best! As always, let us know if you’d like us to take you out and put you on some big snook and reds.

Thanks for reading and make sure you check out the report next month.

– Captain Austin

Ponce Inlet September Tide Chart

CHEWS WISELY FISHING CHARTERS
Capt. Austin Campbell
(386) 689-9056
ChewsWiselyFishingCharters.com
@CaptAustinCampbell