week

Full-on migration brings fish to our doorstep

By LARRY HOFFMAN
Published October 13, 2006

Fall fishing conditions have arrived on our coast with the migration of kingfish, Spanish mackerel, cobia, blackfin tuna and nearshore sailfish. Our biggest challenge this time of year is deciding what we want to catch - a nice problem to have.

One of the great places to get multiple species are offshore springs, which have lots of live bait pods that attract migrating fish. Grouper and snapper will hold close to the bottom, amberjack will be in the middle of the water column and kingfish, cobia, and blackfin tuna will be around the surface.

It is essential that you have dead bait and as many species of live bait as you can get your hands on. A live Spanish sardine, day in and day out, is the best live bait in the Gulf of Mexico. You can use the live Spanish sardines for grouper and snapper, and they are also great baits for kingfish, blackfin tuna and sailfish.

Anchor near the spring and deploy a frozen chum bag. Chum bags attract fish from long distances and will bring the fish to your live baits. Strong tides work best when chumming.

We use light tackle with steel leaders and stinger rigs for surface baits. Kingfish, Spanish mackerel and barracuda will cut your lines if you're not using steel leaders. Deploy two to three baits at different depths to cover the water column. We have caught as many as 10 species in one stop over an offshore spring.

Grouper and snapper fishing have picked up, and good catches of gags and mangrove snapper have been taken in 85 feet of water this week. Dead bait got the action going, but live pinfish and sardines have produced most of our keeper gags. While bottom fishing, make sure you deploy a flat line with a live bait off your transom. More often than not you will get plenty of action this time of year.

Mangrove snapper fishing is outstanding right now and should stay hot for the next six weeks. Thirty-pound class tackle and cut frozen sardines works for us. Live jumbo shrimp are great snapper baits. If you cannot get small live whitebaits, go for the live shrimp, snapper cannot resist shrimp.

Amberjack are starting to show up on shipwrecks in 90 feet of water. Live blue runners are your best bet for the amberjack. Slow-troll around the wrecks with down riggers and 60-pound class tackle. We have been catching amberjack in the 30-pound range, but the catches should increase in size as the water cools.

Kings have arrived and are being caught in 60 feet of water. The kingfish we have caught have been from slow-trolling live baits or on flat lines. While bottom fishing on the Pipeline, we were able to catch 40- and 35- pound kingfish on flat lines. We also saw some smaller kings working bait pods in 60 feet of water. We prefer to slow-troll live bait for kingfish. The advantages are that you get to fight the fish all the way to the boat and you catch bigger fish. Big fish are smart, and it takes a good presentation of bait to get the big ones to bite. While slow-trolling live bait you also have a fair chance of hooking a sailfish. Sailfish show up each fall and can be caught in 55 to 70 feet of water.

Nearshore action for kings will pick up this month, so Reddington Pier and the North Skyway pier are great locations for trying to catch large kingfish.

Blackfin tuna have started to move inshore and will be around bait pods in 60 to 90 feet of water. Live baits work best for tuna and a live Spanish sardine is like dessert to tuna. The shrimp boat fleet makes a run south this time of year and you will be able to target tuna, kingfish and sharks off the transom of the anchored shrimp boats. The shrimpers anchor at first light and discard the bycatch, which produces a huge chum slick. This chum slick attracts a lot of fish. Never pass up a shrimp boat when they are in 90 feet of water and deeper.

Larry "Huffy" Hoffman charters out of John's Pass, Treasure Island. Call 727 709-9396 or e-mail huffyl@tampa bay.rr.com.

[Last modified October 13, 2006, 10:01:40]