Mullet Run Mayhem: Tarpon, Snook, and Reds Blowing Up the Passes on the FL Gulf Coast

It’s Artificial Lure coming at you with your Wednesday, September 10th, 2025, Florida Gulf of Mexico fishing report—fresh off the water and straight for the diehards, locals, and weekend warriors alike.

First light cracked at **7:13 AM** this morning and you’ve got daylight until **7:41 PM**, plenty of time to work those tides. Speaking of tides, we’re seeing a decent swing today—the first high tide rolled in early at **3:26 AM** and gave way to a super skinny low tide at **10:31 AM**, turning again to a solid high around **4:23 PM**. That’s moving a lot of water, perfect for stirring up bait and hunting opportunity, especially near points, seawalls, and mangrove cuts according to the latest tables from Tide-Forecast.com.

Weather’s a mixed bag: persistent northeasterlies, 20 to 25 knots early, easing a tad later. Seas kicked up, 5 to 7 feet, with a rough chop—so if you’re running offshore, be ready for a wet ride. Inshore and protected pocket fishing? The wind’s pushing bait and the fish are eating. NOAA forecasts say storms could pop through, so bring your rain gear and keep an eye skyward.

Now the real juice: the **mullet run** is in full force, said Spacefish’s community updates, piling up bait by the droves along the passes and the beaches. That’s got predators like snook, tarpon, and redfish busting all over, especially around dawn and dusk. Recent catches from Clearwater south to Charlotte Harbor put snook and tarpon in the spotlight—blowups on live mullet, white paddle tails, and silver spoons were steady. Slot reds are hot on the grass edges and oyster bars, especially tucked up in those wind-protected cuts when the tide hits the bottom.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission just re-opened **snook and red snapper** season along most of the coast—so toss ‘em in your lineup. Offshore, captains have been boxing good numbers of red snapper early, then switching over to mangrove snapper and the odd gag grouper on big structure, especially right around those heavy tidal pushes in thirty to eighty feet. Pilchards and pinfish are tops for live bait offshore, but don’t sleep on jigging big bucktails sweetened with squid.

For lures: you can’t go wrong with **topwaters and swim baits** at dawn—think MirrOlures or Rapalas that mimic mullet, or 5-inch paddle tails in pearl and silver. When the sun’s up, switch to jigs worked deep or weedless soft plastics for poking around the docks and potholes. Offshore, vertical jigs are crushing it, especially if you catch the tide change on a reef.

A couple **hot spots**:
- **John’s Pass and Blind Pass**: Tons of bait, tarpon and snook lined up along the deeper edges and bridges on outgoing tide.
- **Clearwater artificial reefs**: The snapper bite’s going strong on the dawn high, especially fishing the up-current side with sardines or cigar minnows.
- **Tampa Bay’s eastern shorelines**: Wind blowing in loads of bait—great for slot reds tailing just as the tide starts coming back in.

Remember, a few advisories in play: there’s a small craft advisory ongoing for much of the coast, so plan your runs smart. And if you’re scalloping—Gulf County’s closed due to red tide, but the rest of the coast is in play.

That’s your bite window, weather, and lure logic for Wednesday, September 10th. Hope you get on ‘em. Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure’s insider report—don’t forget to hit that subscribe button for updates every week.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's artificial lure coming at you with your Wednesday, September tenth,
twenty twenty five, Florida Gulf of Mexico fishing Report, Fresh
off the water and straight for the diehards, locals and
weekend warriors alike. First light cracked at seven thirteen am
this morning, and you've got daylight until seven forty one pm.
Plenty of time to work those tides. Speaking of tides,

(00:21):
we're seeing a decent swing today. The first high tide
rolled in early at three twenty six am and gave
way to a super skinny low tide at ten thirty
one am, turning again to a solid high around four
to twenty three pm. That's moving a lot of water,
perfect for stirring up bait and hunting opportunity, especially near points,

(00:41):
seawalls and mangrove cuts. According to the latest tables from
tide forecast dot com, weather's a mixed bag persistent northeasterlies
twenty to twenty five knots early easing a tad later.
Sea's kicked up five to seven feet with a rough chop,
So if you're running off shore, ready for a wet ride.

(01:01):
In shore and protected pocket fishing the winds pushing bait in,
the fish are eating. Noah forecasts say storms could pop through,
so bring your reindeer and keep an eye skyward. Now
the real juice, the mullet run is in full force,
said Spacefish's community updates. Piling up bait by the droves
along the passes and the beaches. That's got predators like snoke, tarpin,

(01:26):
and redfish busting all over, especially around dawn and dusk.
Recent catches from clear Water south to Charlotte Harbor put
snook and tarpin in the spotlight. Blow ups on live mullet,
white paddle tails and silver spoons were steady. Slot reds
are hot on the grass edges and oyster bars, especially

(01:48):
tucked up in those wind protected cuts when the tide
hits the bottom. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission just
reopened snook and red snapper season along most of the coast,
so toss up in your lineup. Offshore captains have been
boxing good numbers of red snapper early, then switching over
to mangrove snapper and the odd gag grouper on big structure,

(02:11):
especially right around those heavy tidle pushes. In thirty to
eighty feet. Pilchards and pinfish are tops for live bait offshore,
but don't sleep on jigging big bucktail sweetened with squid
for lures. You can't go wrong with top waters and

(02:31):
swin baits at dawn, think mirror lures or rapp allas
that mimic mullet or five inch paddle tails in pearl
and silver. When the sun's up, switch to jigs. Work
deep or weedless soft plastics for poking around the docks
and potholes. Offshore. Vertical jigs are crushing it, especially if
you catch the tide change on a reef a couple hotspots.

(02:53):
The docks carry John's Pass and blind pass tons of bait,
tarpin and snook lined up along the deeper edges and
bridges on outcoming tide. The good clear water artificial reefs.
The snapper bitees going strong on the dawn high especially
fishing the upcurrent side with sardines or cigar minos. Tampa

(03:13):
Bay's eastern shorelines wind blowing and loads of bait great
for slot reds tailing just as the tide starts coming
back in. Remember a few advisories in play. There's a
small craft advisory ongoing for much of the coast. Supplain
your runs smart and if you're scalloping, Gulf County's closed
due to red tide, but the rest of the coast

(03:34):
is in play. That's your byte window, weather and lower
logic for Wednesday, September tenth. Hope you get on them.
Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lores Insider Report. Don't
forget to hit that subscribe button for updates every week.
This has been a quiet please production. For more check
out quiet please dot ai