Huge schools of cigs and sardines will be shadowed by the inshore/nearshore gags in an all-out free-for-all buffet. This is when the one-gag limit could turn your fishing day into something as brief as a coffee break, if you don’t have the stomach to catch and release these beauties. It will often look like a small city marking on the recorder, but don’t be fooled… there will be gags (and everything else) under and around these stacks of bait that often rise 40 to 50 feet off the bottom. It’s a good idea for a number of reasons (never mind the obvious one) to drop a sabiki into these bait balls. First and foremost, for bait, but also to check the size of the bait. If you only catch tiny cigs (about the size of your little finger), move onto another ledge/bait ball. If you come up with a full house of big fat cigs and/or sardines, it’s on!!!!
This is the stuff that my dreams are made of. The water temps are too cool inshore to be worried with the light line, but that’s a blessing in disguise. This allows you to spend your time strictly going up and down for gags, however, if you will run just a little further offshore, you find the “temp break” that will be on fire with life. Everything, I mean almost everything, will be there, including wahoo, kings, cobia and more…all will be enjoying the stacks of bait and warm water, so keep the light line loaded up with pretty bait (live, fresh dead or frozen) and there is no telling what you will sling over the rail. The red and scamp grouper will be there with the “feed bag on.” And all the big snapper will be there, and will be most vulnerable to a live cig or sardine on a Decoy Jig… they just can’t help themselves.
I said all that to say this: don’t overlook a live grass grunt (one the size of your hand) as a bait for more than one reason…
1) It is a larger bait that keeps all but the largest sea bass off of it long enough to let the grouper get it.
2) These are what the larger grouper are looking for, and they can easily inhale them.
Dress the kids warm, and get them out there to enjoy this world class bottom fishing we have here off southern North Carolina.

All the best best fishing,
Capt. Tim Barefoot