Strong winds and cold fronts have made fishing opportunities slim. When we have made it offshore however, the fishing has been good. We continue to catch grouper and large mangrove snapper in 90-110 feet and the amberjacks seem to cooperate at every stop on springs and shipwrecks. Two scenarios have helped us: When the tide changes and when we've worked a spot for more than 20 minutes.
The small fish start the bite early with dead bait, preferably squid and frozen sardines. The bigger mangrove snappers and grouper take over the bite. Small live pinfish and pilchards have worked extremely well on mangrove snappers up to 7 pounds. And large pinfish have saved the day for gags - some more than 14 pounds. Light tackle is key. We have downsized our grouper rigs to 40-50 pound fluoro-carbon leaders to catch the gags and 20-30 pound leaders to catch the snappers.
The downside is you will lose more rigs. The fish will feed more aggressively however, and the action seems to be non-stop once you get the bite going. Big bruisers this time of year are amberjacks. And they have cooperated all winter. The key is big live baits - they'll help you get the big horse jacks more than 50 pounds. Diamond jigs have produced a few nice jacks but that's after using live bait. If the jacks don't seem to want to bite, try throwing six live baits in. We release the big jacks and keep the 25 pounders.
They seem to have a better flavor and smoke up well. Save the back strap for grilling and use the rest of your jack for smoking and making spread.
- Larry "Huffy" Hoffman charters out of John's Pass, Treasure Island. Call 727 709-9396 or email him at Huffyl@tampabay.rr.com
