Sunshine and Saltwater: Fishing the Florida Gulf for Fall Favorites

This is Artificial Lure with your Gulf of Mexico, Florida fishing report for Sunday, September 14, 2025. First light was at 7:15 this morning, with sunset set for 7:36 tonight. The tides are moving nice and strong: we kicked off with a low tide just after midnight, saw the morning high at 5:36 AM around 4.3 feet, a soft low around 2:44 PM, then another bump up to a 2.8-footer just after dark. That’s a real sweet swing for active morning and late evening bites, especially with the moonset wrapping by mid-afternoon—prime conditions for those targeting early and sunset feeders, according to Tide-Forecast.com.

Weather’s been pretty cooperative out here. National Weather Service Tallahassee is calling for steady northeast winds around 10–15 knots all day, tapering just a bit in the afternoon, keeping seas at 2 to 3 feet and the bay waters sitting at a light to moderate chop. Add in clear skies and comfortable air, and it’s a fantastic Sunday to be on the water. That northeast breeze is pushing a little cooler, cleaner water into the estuaries and grass flats and helping with morning surges just off the beaches.

Fishing has really turned the corner the last couple of days—fall patterns are showing up strong. From Apalachicola to Sarasota, anglers are reporting steady action on inshore species: redfish are banging the mullet schools along the bars and creek mouths at high tide, and snook are staging along shadow lines and dock pilings, especially with that stronger tidal push on the morning high. Live pilchards and finger mullet have been the hot baits, but if you’re working artificials, gold spoons and paddle-tail soft plastics in a natural baitfish color are crushing it right now. Topwater walking baits have been drawing explosive strikes just after sunrise, especially in the quieter back bays.

Offshore, the reefs and wrecks have been loaded with mangrove and yellowtail snapper. Recent catches from Panama City and down toward Naples are including plenty of decent keeper mangroves, with a bonus of lane snapper and the occasional grouper mixed in. Sardines and cut squid are producing well, but for lure anglers, bucktail jigs and slow-pitch jigs in glow or white are worth dropping.

If you’re looking for a big pull, the bridges and passes are still delivering steady tarpon action—dawn and dusk have been most productive, with crabs and jumbo live shrimp doing the work. According to Daily Fish Report for the Florida Keys, mahi action offshore remains steady on weedlines and rips, especially in the bluewater stretches south of Destin and out west of Tampa, with trolling ballyhoo or bright skirted lures pulling hungry mahi and the odd blackfin tuna.

For hot spots today, check out the flats around St. George Island and the marsh around Keaton Beach for skinny water reds, and the grass edges near Crystal River for slot trout on popping cork rigs. Offshore, hit the public reefs 10–20 miles out of Steinhatchee and the shipwrecks south of Cape San Blas for a shot at grouper, snapper, and if you're lucky, a cruising cobia.

That’s the scoop for today. Thanks for tuning in to your Gulf coast fix with Artificial Lure—don’t forget to subscribe for tomorrow’s action and more local insight. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is artificial lore. With your Gulf of Mexico, Florida
fishing report for Sunday, September fourteenth, twenty twenty five. First
light was at seven point fifteen this morning, with sunsets
set for seven thirty six tonight. The tides are moving
nice and strong. We kicked off with a low tide
just after midnight, saw the morning high at five thirty

(00:20):
six am around four point three feet, a soft low
around two forty four pm, then another bump up to
a two point eight footer just after dark. That's a
real sweet swing for active morning and late evening bites,
especially with the moonset wrapping by mid afternoon, prime conditions
for those targeting early and sunset feeders. According to tide

(00:42):
forecast dot com, weather's been pretty cooperative out here. National
Weather Service Tallahassee is calling for steady northeast winds around
ten to fifteen knots all day, tapering just a bit
in the afternoon, keeping seas at two to three feet
and the baywater sitting at a light to moderate chop.
Add in clear skies in comfortable air, and it's a
fantastic Sunday to be on the water. That northeast breeze

(01:05):
is pushing a little cooler, cleaner water into the estuaries
and grass flats and helping with morning surges just off
the beaches. Fishing has really turned the corner of the
last couple of days. Fall patterns are showing up strong
from Appalachicola to Sarasota. Anglers are reporting steady action on
inshore species. Redfish are banging the mullet schools along the

(01:25):
bars and creek mounts at high tide, and snooker staging
along shadow lines and dock pilings, especially with that stronger
tidal push on the morning. High live pilchards and finger
mullet have been the hot baits, but if you're working artificials,
gold spoons and paddle tail soft plastics in the natural
baitfish color are crushing it right now. Top water walking

(01:46):
baits have been drawing explosive strikes just after sunrise, especially
in the quieter back bays. Offshore, the reefs and wrecks
have been loaded with mangrove and yellowtail snapper. Recent catches
from Panama City and down toward Naples are including plenty
of decent keeper mangroves with a bonus of lane snapper
and the occasional group are mixed in. Sardines and cut

(02:06):
squid are producing well, but for lower anglers, bucktail jigs
and slow pitched jigs and glow or white are worth
dropping if you're looking for a big pull. The bridges
and passes are still delivering steady tarpin action. Dawn and
dusk have been most productive, with crabs and jumble live
shrimp doing the work. According to Daily Fish Report for
the Florida Keys, Mahi action offshore remains study on weed

(02:30):
lines and rips, especially in the blue water stretches south
of Deston and out west of Tampa, with trolling balihu
or bright skirted lures pulling hungry mahe and the odd
black fintuna. For hot spots today, check out the flats
around Saint George Island and the marsh around Keaton Beach
for skinny water reds, and the grass edges near Crystal

(02:51):
River for slot trout. On popping cork rigs offshore, hit
the public reefs ten to twenty miles out of Steinhatchie
and the shipwrecks south of Cape San Blas for a
shot at grouper snapper and if you're lucky, a cruising Kobeia.
That's the scoop for today. Thanks for tuning in to
your Gulf Coast fix with artificial war. Don't forget to

(03:14):
subscribe for tomorrow's action and more local insight. This has
been a quiet please production. For more check out Quiet
please dot ai