Florida Bull Redfish: Catching the Fall Run

Every fall, the biggest redfish most Florida anglers will ever touch push out of the bays and stack up in the passes. Florida bull redfish — the over-slot spawners that run 30 to 45 inches and pull like a truck — show up in September, peak through October, and hang around into November. If you have only ever caught slot reds on the flats, hooking one of these is a different sport entirely.

Here is where they stage, when to be there, what to throw, and the one regulation that trips up more anglers than any other rule in Florida inshore fishing.

What Counts as a “Bull” Redfish

A bull red is simply a mature red drum that has outgrown the harvest slot. Redfish spend their first three to five years inshore as slot fish, then move out to the passes, inlets, and nearshore beaches to spawn — and they stay out there for the rest of their lives, which can be 40 years or more.

Size: 28 inches and up. A 40-incher is a good one; low-to-mid 40s is a trophy.
Weight: A 40-inch red goes roughly 25–30 pounds.
Look: Deeper, broader shoulders than a slot fish, coppery-bronze backs, and often multiple spots along the tail.

The Regulation Everybody Gets Wrong

Here is the part that costs people citations: Florida’s redfish slot is 18–27 inches total length, and no region currently allows an over-slot fish. That means every single bull red you catch is, by definition, a release. There is no “trophy tag,” no one-over-per-vessel allowance. It goes back. Period.

The other trap is the per-vessel cap, which is separate from the per-person bag limit. Four anglers in a Tampa Bay boat do not get four fish — they get two, total.

Management region	Slot	Per person	Per vessel
Panhandle	18–27″	1	4
Big Bend	18–27″	1	4
Tampa Bay	18–27″	1	2
Sarasota Bay	18–27″	1	2
Charlotte Harbor	18–27″	1	2
Southwest	18–27″	1	2
Southeast	18–27″	1	2
Northeast	18–27″	1	4
Indian River Lagoon	Catch-and-release only — no harvest

Seasons are open year-round in every region. Rules change, so confirm before you keep anything at MyFWC.com. We break the regional system down further in our complete Florida redfish guide.

When the Run Happens

The bull red run is driven by water temperature and the spawn, and it overlaps almost perfectly with the fall mullet run — which is exactly why it fishes so well.

Late August: First fish start staging near the pass mouths. Hit or miss, but the early birds get uncrowded water.
September: The run turns on. Full and new moons are the tell — the strongest tides of the month move the most fish.
October: Peak. Mullet are pouring through the inlets and the reds are sitting under them.
November: Still good, thinning out as fronts push through and water temps drop below the mid-70s.

Best window: the last two hours of an outgoing tide, three days either side of a full or new moon, first light or last light. Outgoing pulls bait out of the estuary and the reds set up on the down-current side of the structure to ambush it.

Where to Find Them

Northeast Florida — the St. Johns jetties

The Mayport jetties and the mouth of the St. Johns River are the most reliable bull red water in the state, and the Northeast region holds big schools from September into November. Fish the rocks on the outgoing and work the beaches north and south of the inlet when it is calm. More detail on the area in our Jacksonville & Northeast Florida guide.

Ponce Inlet and Mosquito Lagoon

Schools push into Ponce Inlet in October right behind the mullet. Note the regulation split here — the Mosquito Lagoon side sits in the Indian River Lagoon region, so it is catch-and-release regardless of size.

Sebastian Inlet

A land-based angler’s inlet. The north jetty catwalk gives you access to moving water without a boat, and fall is when the big fish are there. Also in the IRL catch-and-release region. If you are fishing the rocks rather than the catwalk, read how to fish a Florida jetty first — footing and landing a big fish on granite are the two things that go wrong.

Boca Grande Pass and Charlotte Harbor

Famous for tarpon in spring, but the pass and the surrounding beaches hold big fall reds too. See our Charlotte Harbor & Boca Grande guide.

Tampa Bay — Egmont Key and the ship channel

The bay mouth around Egmont Key, the Skyway, and the ship channel edges concentrate bull reds in fall. Full details in the Tampa Bay guide.

The Panhandle passes

Destin Pass, East Pass, and Pensacola Pass all produce, and Panhandle bull reds often show up right on the beach where you can sight-cast them from the sand. See the Panhandle guide.

Tackle: Step Up From Your Flats Setup

A 3000-size inshore rig will get spooled or broken off. Bull reds in moving water next to rocks demand real drag and real backbone.

Reel: 5000–8000 class. A Penn Spinfisher VII 5500 is the value pick; a Shimano Saragosa 8000SW is the buy-it-once option if you also fish nearshore.
Rod: 7’6″–8′ medium-heavy. The Penn Carnage III handles bait weight and pass current without being a broomstick.
Line: 30–50 lb PowerPro braid. Thin diameter matters when you are fighting current.
Leader: 40–60 lb Seaguar Blue Label fluorocarbon, two to three feet. Jetty rock will shred anything lighter.
Hooks: 6/0–8/0 Owner Mutu circle hooks. Non-negotiable — see the release section below.

Best paired with: our picks for the best braided line for Florida saltwater and the best inshore spinning rods, plus everything else in the gear guide.

What to Throw

Cut bait — the highest-percentage play

A fresh chunk of mullet, ladyfish, or menhaden on a fish-finder rig with 2–4 oz of lead, pitched into the current seam and left alone. This is not glamorous fishing, but on a jetty in a hard outgoing tide nothing beats it. Fresh matters far more than the species — bloody and cut that morning.

Live bait

A finger mullet or a big pilchard free-lined or fished under a float in the wash. During the mullet run, match what is swimming past you. Our live bait guide covers keeping it alive, and throwing a cast net is how you get it.

Lures

When the fish are visible on the beach or crashing bait on the surface, a heavy jig gets down and stays down in current. A 1–2 oz SPRO bucktail is the pass standard. Big paddle tails and swimbaits work when reds are up in the water column chasing mullet — the same approach we cover in our topwater lure guide for the surface bite.

🎥 Watch: Finding Fall Bull Reds

Video: Salt Strong

Releasing a Bull Red Properly

These are the breeders. A 40-inch red is likely 15–20 years old and is the reason there are slot fish to catch at all. Since every one of them is going back, how you handle it is the whole ballgame.

Use circle hooks with cut bait. They hook in the corner of the jaw instead of the gut. This single choice does more for survival than everything else combined.
Do not hang it vertically by the jaw. A 25-pound fish held by the lower lip damages its own jaw and internal organs. Support the belly with your other hand.
Keep it wet and keep it short. Get the photo in under 30 seconds. If the fish is not out of the water, it is not on the clock.
Revive it in moving water — hold it upright facing into the current until it kicks off on its own. In warm September water this can take a couple of minutes.
Skip the gaff and the fish grippers on the gills. A big rubberized net or wet hands only.

Bottom Line

Bull reds are the most accessible big-game fish in Florida — you can catch a 25-pound fish off a jetty catwalk with a spinning rod and a chunk of mullet. Get to a pass on a strong outgoing tide around the September or October moon, bring heavier tackle than you think you need, use circle hooks, and put every one of them back. It is the best month of inshore fishing the state offers.

Keep Reading

Disclosure: some links here are paid. Buy or book through one and we earn a commission at no extra cost to you — it never affects which gear or captains we recommend. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.