Drift fishing is always fun in the summer. The action on the reef is better in the summertime than during any other season. The summer months are known for hot weather, calm seas and lots of bigger fish on the reef. Kingfish are biting great on the drift boat, with some of the kings actually peaking over the 20 pound mark. Kingfish are a fun, big, decent eating and great fighting fish to catch on a drift boat trip. The best drift fishing technique for kings is using the good ole’ 2 or 3 hook drift rig. Each long shank hook is hooked into the eye of the next hook, making a chain of several hooks. This keeps the razor sharp teeth of the kingfish from cutting the line. The hooks are measured against the baitfish and hooked into the bait so that they don’t bend the bait and make it spin. You can fish this rig with any size egg sinker and you would adjust the sinker weight to get your bait to the desired depth where the kings are biting. Using this rig, you can catch any of the larger pelagic fish that are cruising the reef including bonito, tuna, cobia, mackerel, barracuda and sailfish. While this rig/technique isn’t the best way to catch numbers of fish, it can often yield the biggest fish of the trip.
The guys drifting baits along the bottom are catching some good fish too. As the water gets warmer, many surface fish will journey down to the cooler waters near the bottom. A few cobia were caught over the last few weeks on or near the bottom. Red groupers are hitting bottom rigs with regularity. Mutton snapper are biting very strong on both the day and the night trips. Yellowtail snappers are also biting during the day and night trips, however they are biting the best on the night trips, which is my favorite time of the day to fish the hot summer months. Fishing for these bottom fish species is generally the best method for catching the most fish and getting the best action on your trip.
Good luck to everyone fishing this July. Sea you on the water.
Capt. Paul Roydhouse
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