FORECAST BY:
Capt. Tim Barefoot
www.BarefootCatsandTackle
Even though we can’t fish for and/or possess any of the grouper, that doesn’t mean we can’t go harvest other forms of dinner!
For example, right now is a great time of year to run to the 125+ foot water depths in search of some fat triggerfish and other bottom fish. Keep an eye out for fish busting on the surface. Bonitas are out there, but some of the activity may very well be blackfins…if you are close enough to the stream.
If you have kids, this would be a great trip offshore for them, if you can catch the weather right. I can speak from experience that it’s worth every penny it takes to outfit the kids with properly fitting clothing… including an external shell of good fitting rain gear. As long as they stay warm and dry (and get steady bites) LIFE IS GOOD! If you let them get cold and/or wet, it isn’t as much fun. Hook ‘em up with the right-sized tackle and sit back with the camcorder for some of the best footage you could ever hope for. Once you anchor up on the fish, chances are, you can load up on some poundage. A medium (heavy flounder size) level wind reel like a Abu 6500 loaded up with 50-pound braid, with a heavy (stiff) flounder rod, a three-ounce bank sinker on a chicken rig with a pair of #1 or 1/0 circle hooks, some small pieces of cut squid, and let the video tell the story later. Often the larger triggers will be suspended off the bottom. Mark the line where you are getting the best bites and go back to that exact depth over and over to be most effective. Don’t be surprised if the best bites aren’t 30 -50 feet off the bottom! Keep an eye on the recorder to see where they are. Just let it go down slowly with your thumb on the spool. Where you start feeling the “tick, tick’” bites is where you want to mark your line.
This is also the same place that dad needs to keep a “big boy” bait out the behind the boat, for a wahoo or king (if you’re in 68+ degree water). Put a decent-sized live beeliner or small pinky out on beefy king tackle using a 2/0 or 3/0 nose hook and a 4/0 or 5/0 treble hook for a stinger. You may not get a bunch of bites, if any, on this bait, but one or two good ones will be entertaining at the very least, and could be the ‘hoo of a lifetime . Sure, keep a cigar minnow out for the kings and blackfin, but one nice wahoo is worth the effort. There’s no telling what may jump on the light line bait this time of year.
Once you catch a limit of triggers, grunts and those endangered sea bass, come on home to clean vacuum seal and freeze many wonderful dinners… AND to preview the footage from the day. That film footage of the kids catching fish will be priceless one day. Enjoy the offshore temperatures, weather, fish–and most of all your kids–as they will grow up faster than you think