August is a very different month of the fishing year. You can troll all you want in the stream, inshore and nearshore, but for the maximum yield, I would suggest bottom fishing, regardless of water depth and keeping irresistible light line baits out for anything you would hope to catch while trolling. Even though I sell trolling tackle, I don’t troll anymore. I will keep a live bait out and troll up and down a ledge surveying for new bottom holding bait looking for another spot to bottom fish, but I don’t troll.
We have to pay attention to and abide by the rules that are handed down to us by the unelected bureaucrats that regulate our recreational and commercial fisheries.
Now that Gag grouper are no longer available to legally harvest, we must change gears and adapt to different species to come home with a box full of organic groceries. The Scamp and Red grouper are extremely vulnerable to the Decoy Jig and live pinfish combination. This will require you to go to a littledeeper water. After you have harvested your legal amount of grouper, it’s time to change gears and target Beeliners, grunts, triggerfish, and jolt head porgies.
I may even suggest skipping this step and going much deeper to target the deeper grouper with jigs. The 4-ounce artificial squid jig is good up to a couple hundred feet while drifting, but I’ve also made some personal prototypes I have shared with friends in different parts of the country that are heavier and obviously work great as seen in the photo.
If you drop down to 20- and 30-pound braid for a main line and a short fluorocarbon leader, you can fish in the 400-to-500-foot range with the 6-ounce jack and plastic squid body combo. This produces large specimens. As I spoke about earlier, wherever you are, regardless of water depth, I would keep a beautiful live light line bait out behind the boat or in front of the boat if you’re drifting. A little bit of chum will not hurt anything either. Depending on the wind speed and direction and current speed and direction, a kite might be a great option.
Based on the size of Dolphin and Wahoo being caught lately, I would not put a light line out on a small spool rod and reel combo. If you’re in deep water, chances are you could hook up with a large Dolphin, Wahoo, tuna or Marlin depending on the size of bait you put out. A fresh inshore Spanish mackerel drifted under a kite or on a light line is a great option. There’s no telling what will eat this offering, so be prepared. I said all that to say this… keep a live bait out the back and stay focused on the bottom for filling the cooler.
Also, be aware that law enforcement is now using drones. This is serious stuff now folks. These drones are completely silent, and you have no idea they are there. On our last trip we saw two drones fly up on us, check us out, and move on. Even though I think they have bigger fish to fry, we need to be law abiding, and patient as this eventually will pass.
Adjust your tactics to target different species to accomplish our goals and enjoy!
All the best fishing,
TIM BAREFOOT
barefootcatsandtackle.com