Finally great weather allowed us to venture offshore and several old adages came to mind including. The grass is always greener on the other side; You have to have a bait on the hook and the line in the water to catch fish, and don’t leave fish to catch fish.
Because of the smooth seas and little wind, we ventured offshore to the 95 to 102 foot depths with the expectation of catching red grouper, Lane, vermillion, and mangrove snapper which are normally found in these depths at this time of year. Results were dismal at best and after several stops on good bottom that had produced in the past, we spent the time without a bait in the water and fuel to return to the 60 foot depths where we should have started. Getting the bite started by the use of frozen squid and sardines on 2 hook snapper rigs led to larger fish moving in which included several gag grouper that were caught, photographed and released because of the closed season. Keeper red grouper and numerous white grunts, porgies and some sea bass contributed to a box of great eating reef fish.
Amberjack season is closed, but that does not mean we can’t catch and release them. Most of the wrecks and the high profile structure on the mid-water artificial reefs are holding them. Large deep diving plugs can be slow trolled with success, but the best bait right now is large pinfish There is not a lot of pressure on the jacks because of the closed season and now is a great time to target them with light kingfish tackle.

ntaylor
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