By Tim Barefoot
There are a lot of other species out there, besides the heavily regulated gags and red snapper, to fill the “organic grocery cart”.
For example, this is the perfect time of year to specifically target triggerfish during the daylight hours and vermillion snapper (beeliners) at night. The best time for the beeliners is at night on a full moon in the 100+ ft water depth. They will chew it up at night, but as soon as the sun peaks over the horizon, the bite is OVER. Get used to it. Yes you may get a few stragglers after daylight, but the vast majority of them have a serious case of the lock law after the sun comes up. That’s ok, now it’s time to target the triggers, grouper (scamps and reds) and all the other usual suspects on the bottom out there in the deeper water.
I did not mention anything so far about keeping someone tending the lifeline rod during the night. This is or can be a major contributor to the “grocery cart”. The first wahoo I ever caught was at night from an anchored up boat. I saw him swim past the boat in the bright lights and put an (almost ) dead beeline out on a big (hooked) style king tackle. It wasn’t but a few minutes and the ole Penn 6/0 was screaming!
The kings are much more active at night, but not on top like they typically are during the daylight hours. My (commercial) king mackerel tackle was a piece of #9 wire about 18 inches long twisted on a 10/0 eagle claw 084 hook and a frozen cigar minnow, and a 1 oz egg weight to get it down 30 to 50 feet depending on the current.
If you’re in deep enough water the chances of a yellowfin bite at night are pretty good. Right there at daylight the dolphin that have been hanging around under the boat all night will all of a sudden begin to get an appetite. It’s funny but I’ve never caught but just a few dolphin at night, but if your lucky enough to have a few flying fish jump towards the lights and land on the deck of the boat, this is a guaranteed bite on the liteline for everything out there, including those highly intelligent dolphin (laughing). Back to the bottom bite—the grunts, pinkies and seabags are still available and are absolutely delicious.
Look, I said all this in a very short article to say this: Go out there and change gears a little. Have at least one or two people on the boat fishing a “chicken rig” for all the grunts, pinkies and seabags, while another person or two keep some scamp baits on the bottom and tending the liteline.
This is a great time of year to go at night and be out there at daylight when the bite is on and fillip that “organic grocery cart”. Check out the YouTube channel for videos explaining some of this.
All the best fishing,
Tim Barefoot
Barefootcatsandtackle.com