Dropping in over gulf springs yields a plentiful mixed bag

By LARRY HOFFMAN
Published July 7, 2006

[Photo: Larry Hoffman]

Ray Green of Treasure Island and his godson Jake Hawk pose with a pair of 50-pound amberjack caught at a freshwater spring 45 miles offshore.

We fish further offshore during July in an effort to find cooler water and multiple species over springs.

We fished Friday in 130 to 145 feet of water and had an outstanding day. The winds were light, and all the fish were cooperative.

We started early and stopped at the South County Reef, where we filled our livewell with blue runners, jumbo threadfin herrings and huge Spanish sardines. It took us about a half-hour using gold hook rigs to get our bait.

On our way offshore, at about 23 miles, we stopped by a shrimper to see if any blackfin tuna had taken up residence behind the shrimper. Instead of tuna, we caught two nice kingfish. Ray Green and his godson, Jake, were busy catching the kings while we did a little bartering with the crew of the shrimper.

Six shovel-nose lobster and 10 pounds of shrimp later, we landed two nice kingfish and moved offshore to the planned stop - one of my favorite springs.

We reached 145 feet of water, and sure enough, the fish were stacked up over the springs. The amberjack were of good size, more than 50 pounds, and they were aggressive. As soon as the live blue runner went into the water we were hooked up.

We were using 50-pound-class tackle with smooth drags. We needed 6-ounce leads to get the big blue runners down to where the amberjack were circling the springs. Both Ray and Jake worked hard, and after catching a half-dozen 50-pounders and drinking four bottles of water, we changed tactics.

Anchoring near the springs we used cut-up frozen sardines and fished on the edge of the springs to catch mangrove snappers and grunts. The use of flat lines was futile because the amberjack would take any live bait we threw off the transom. We were able to purchase some frozen sardines, cut them into chunks and get them to the bottom past the amberjack for the snapper fishing. Forty-pound-class tackle was the trick to catching mangrove snapper up to 5 pounds.

Summer fishing over springs is outstanding. The possibility of catching multiple species in one location is a great advantage. Even though we caught three species on this particular trip, we have caught as many as seven species fishing over springs. The only downside to spring fishing is that you need lots of tackle: Light tackle for flat lines, heavy tackle for the amberjack and medium tackle for the snapper. We had hoped to get American reds off of the spot, but we were unsuccessful.

To get American reds, we moved inshore to a pipeline mitigation area and fished it for a couple of hours. We caught mangrove snapper, red grouper and a few grunts, but no American reds. American red snapper have been feeding in 85 feet to 95 feet along the pipeline, but we could not find them.

Blue-water fishing is in full swing. We fished for three days about 130 miles offshore along the "Steps," trying to catch blue marlin. The crew was made up of Sid Rice, Dr. Bob Fedor, Joe Stedleman and myself. We were aboard Rice's 50-foot Hatteras, The Marlin Hunter.

We caught a couple of black fin tuna, numerous barracuda and bonita and five dolphin. We had one billfish up in our spread. The fish hit a blue-and-white jet head on the short riggers and knocked a few baits around, but that was the sum total of the billfish action.

The dolphin hit pink-and-silver-skirted jet heads and green-and-yellow-skirted soft-head lures. Two of the dolphin were bulls, more than 25 pounds, that put up a spectacular aerial show with multiple jumps.

We were a little disappointed that all the weedlines offshore were still broken up from Tropical Storm Alberto. We spent a lot of time clearing our lures from Sargasso weeds.

We tried sword fishing at night with big underwater lights on the boat, and drifting and chumming, but we had no results.

When fishing deep blue water, logistics and good equipment are a must. Float plans, Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons, life rafts and satellite phones are key safety equipment to have on board. We carried more than 500 pounds of ice to keep the fish properly iced. We ordered and received a fishing forecast from Roffer's that helped us to determine where the temperature breaks were and where the good fishing areas might be. The Roffer's report was right on, and we were able to find action where the report predicted the fish would be.

Larry "Huffy" Hoffman charters out of John's Pass, Treasure Island. Call (727) 709-9396 or e-mail him at huffyl@ tampabay.rr.com.

[Last modified July 7, 2006, 09:55:52]