By: Capt. Bruce Andersen
I often write about the wide variety of fishing that we have in the Florida Keys and this month I’ve been thinking about one type of fishing we do that’s particularly good in the winter. Targeting deep water snapper like vermillion snapper, yellow eye snapper, and queen snapper have always been my favorite targets.
Although all three of these species can be caught year-round in the Keys, I’ve always found that the wintertime provides some of the best deep water snapper fishing of the year. Dropping multiple hook rigs, or “chicken rigs” as we call them, baited with various cut baits like squid and bonita, can yield some of the prettiest and best eating fish you’ll find anywhere in the world. All 3 of these species are open year-round in the South Atlantic. While many of the types of grouper and tilefish that we deep drop for are closed until late spring, the deep-water snapper are fair game all year long.
I target vermillions and yellow eyes over hard bottom, ledges and rock piles in depths anywhere from 200 feet all the way out to 500 feet of water and usually find the queens on deeper ledges in depths between 500 and 800 feet of water. All of these fish can be caught hand cranking with manual reels, but I prefer to use electric reels when fishing deeper than 350 feet and hand cranking on the shallower spots. I generally like to use three hook chicken rigs, usually with a 5/0 light wire circle hook on the hand cranking rods, or a 7/0 medium wire circle hook on the electric reels. I’ll try to get away with 1-pound leads when in the shallow water and sometimes have to go up to as much as four or 5 pounds in the deep water. That’s definitely where the electric reels come in handy!
My favorite days to target these fish are the calmer ones. Light winds and calm seas make dropping to the bottom in deep water easier and more enjoyable. I try to save the rough, windy days for reef fishing and kite fishing and will do the deep-water snapper fishing on the nice ones.
If you get a beautiful calm day this February and you’re looking for some of the best eating fish available, I’d highly suggest trying to target some of these deep water snapper. There’s nothing like dropping to the depths and catching fish so pretty they’d be appropriate to hang on a Christmas tree! I would love for you all to come out with me on the Captain Easy sometime this winter and experience it for yourself.
— www.captaineasycharters.com
You can reach Captain Bruce Andersen at Capt. Easy Charters,
MM 85, call 305.360.2120 or email at: captbrucekey@comcast.net