Captain's Fishing Report
SNAPPER CRUSH
The red snapper bite is wide open in 100’. On the 27th Capt. Betty of the Sea Love
her limit of 24 snapper, and on the 29th Capt. Seth aboard the Sea Love II had his limit of 54 snapper. Some were nice fish up to 15 lbs. There was also a couple of nice mutton snapper and several big amberjack up to 30 lbs. Vermillion were also plentiful, but still did not out number the snapper. Who says the red snapper are becoming endangered? Please contact your congressman to prevent a permanent closure on this important species. We’ll know in several weeks what actions Marine Fisheries will take. On a private trip out to 100’, a school of cobia swam around the boat like mullet for several minutes before one fell for a chartreuse jig. This 30 lb. cobia added to a mixed box of almaco jacks, amberjacks, and vermillion. Monster barracudas are thick, so wind fast.
August 10th - 20th 2009
HALF
The barracudas are still hanging around on the inshore reefs, but are getting harder to catch on the tube lures. A free lined live bait on wire leader accounts for most of the catches. The cudas are big, averaging 30-50 lbs. The crew enjoys hooking the fish and handing them off to the kids. They certainly make excellent mounts. There is plenty of live baits (sardines and cigar minnows) on the inshore reefs and a sabiki rig ensures a bucket full of live ones. These are the key to catching a keeper fish. A thermocline has started to move in, meaning cooler water on the bottom. Thus the sharks have moved in. Some big tiger sharks have been hooked. Still, not a whole lot of snapper being caught.
The thermocline has definitely moved in. This has forced the amberjack and almaco jacks to the surface where they will eat anything thrown at them. Dozens of jacks up to 40 lbs were recently caught on a recent sea Love II all day. The Sea Love
SPORT FISHING
Barracudas are the annoyance on the troll. Several trips out to 60 miles resulted in 7 barracudas, even at high speeds. Needless to say, it has not been worth trolling. Last week we started deep, 150’, but a strong current forced us to 130’ where we caught a red grouper of 15 lb and a beautiful 30 lb gag. Pink porgies up to 4 lbs. were wide open and we had no problem getting a limit.
Live baits resulted in several nice amberjack. A recent trip on the 15th started slow in south 21 fathoms. The thermocline resulted in a vacancy of life on the bottom and a mass of amberjacks and almacos on the surface. Using lures we had fun catching our limit of jacks. We then headed deep, 170’-190’, and got our limit of 4 lb vermilions. We ended the day with our largest snapper of the year of almost 30 lb. We also landed a nice scamp of 15 lb on a double rig, a red grouper of 20 lb and another snapper of 15 lb. We’re looking to get back offshore for another sword fish trip, but the weather still is not cooperating. Hurricane season is in full swing but we do not anticipate any problems this weekend with Hurricane Bill passing 600 miles to our east. Just a rolling ground sea will make things fun.
August 1st - 14th 2009
HALF
The ½ day fishing trips have been hit or miss. On one trip we caught four keeper gag grouper with a number of undersized fish. On another trip we caught 20-30 croakers at four mile reef. Recently the sharks (sharp nose, silky, and tiger) have shown up, making things interesting. The barracudas, up to 40 lbs., are still hanging around on the 9 mile reefs and wrecks giving the kids an opportunity to catch them on tube lures and free lined live baits (grunts, pigfish, and blue runners). Spadefish are plentiful and the occasional one will be caught using squid. Light line, small hooks, and free lined bait can result in a hookup and a long fight. Spadefish feed on jellyfish, so if the jellies are scarce, we can get the spades to bite. Of course the bait stealers (grunts, pigfish, and ringtails) are always plentiful, so keep checking your bait. If you are not getting a bite, you typically do not have any bait. There have been no keeper red snapper on the ½ days. We’ll have to wait till the weather starts to cool to see the bite improve. We’ve been seeing cobia swimming up to the boat and have hooked a few, but haven’t gotten any in the boat. A free lined sardine can result in a kingfish bite, but it is hard to get them to the boat without loosing most of the fish to the cudas.
The bite on the all day trip has been exceptional all summer. With the vermillion snapper bag limit lowered from 10 to 5 per person it is not difficult to catch a limit of 1-2 lb. fish. Other stringer fish being caught include triggers, black sea bass, and amberines. Capt. Betty had a very nice trip on Aug. 7. She ended up with 22 keeper red snapper, with plenty of lost fish. Get your red snapper now before they decide to close the fishery. No word yet on when or if fisheries managers will close the fishery. Amberjack up to 50 lbs. are still thick and are being caught on a regular basis on the 100’ wrecks and reefs. Live baits are key so use a piece of squid to first catch a grunt to drop on down. Hook him in the lips, drop him half way down, wait, and then hold on. Now is the season to see wahoo and dolphin patrolling the reefs. Keep an eye out and get ready to pitch a bait. Not many grouper being caught on the all days.
SPORT FISHING
Our sport boat “Reel Therapy” has had no problem limiting out on amberjack and vermillion snapper. On the troll we’ve been catching plenty of kingfish, bonita, and cudas. Last month we caught a 70 lb. swordfish on an overnight trip out to 60 miles and 1200 feet. Please call if you are interested in a swordfish trip. The trip is almost 20 hours and we feel our chances are better than 50/50 in hooking a fish of a lifetime. The offshore troll is still slow for wahoo and dolphin but should get better as fall approaches.