Captain's Corner

By LARRY HOFFMAN Times Correspondent
Published March 4, 2007

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What's hot: Mangrove snappers, white grunts, amberjacks and blackfin tuna are filling the 30-day grouper closure gap. Amberjacks continue to be the big fish to go for this time of year. Springs and shipwrecks are holding good numbers of amberjacks. Tuna have shown up southwest of John's Pass in 90 to 110 feet. Find the occasional shrimp boat anchored and you'll find tuna and kingfish.

Tactics: On a calm day two to three days after the weather front, leave one hour before daylight and bunch offshore. Getting to the shrimp boats first is key to ensure you will have your best chance at the tuna. Use 40-pound test and 3- or 4-ought live bait hooks tied to your line. Reels need smooth drags. A fighting belt is useful. Spanish sardines, pilchards or sand perch should get tuna to feed. Free line your live baits as you drift off the back of the shrimper. For amberjacks, the bigger the live bait, blue runners, spadefish and large pinfish, the better. Sixty-pound class tackle handles most jacks, and we can also grouper fish with the same gear allowing us to take less tackle offshore. Use 6-foot leaders and just enough weight to get live bait down. Jigs are another option when live bait is not available. Diamond jigs, worked up and down the water column properly, also will catch jacks.

Tips: When fishing off shrimp boats, approach slowly and quietly. Shrimpers work all night and sleep during the day.

Larry "Huffy" Hoffman charters out of John's Pass, Treasure Island. He can be reached at 727 709-9396 or huffyl@tampabay.rr.com.