July is HOT in more than one way!
July will not only offer all the “tropical” grouper and snapper, but the light line can also yield all the usual suspects like kings , dolphin, cobia, blackfin and wahoo…and sailfish will be all over the nearshore and offshore bait holes!
The key to finding the sailfish will be to find the bait. The key to catching the sailfish will be the leader. Chances are, if you have a steel leader, you will get a good look from a sail on a pretty (live) bait, but you won’t get many bites unless you have fluorocarbon connected to the hook. The game plan is really pretty simple if you are trying to catch sails… find the bait, and then use a 60-pound fluorocarbon leader snelled to a 7/0 circle hook with a (big) live sardine or cigar minnow. My style of fishing is to anchor, so I like to keep a couple baits under the kite, and/or a bait or two under a float or free-lined. All the while, we are sitting on bottom fish that are very co-operative with the Decoy Jigs and the same live or frozen minnows or squid. I have said this in several of my forecasts before, but always start the bite with at least a half box of frozen squid on the Decoy Jigs. This will get the ENTIRE neighborhood (on the bottom) worked up to a “feeding frenzy”, and as all this activity is heard and smelled, more fish will come to investigate.
July is also the time to spend the night offshore… for more than one reason. Not only will the temperature be better at night, but you get the ability to fish the two most productive feeding periods of the day, daylight and dusk. I still take the frozen bait, but when you anchor on top of an area full of bait and put over a HYDRAGLOW light stick, you draw thousands of baits under you that are highly vulnerable to a sabiki. Baits include sardines, cigar minnows, Boston (tinker) mackerel, and last, but most important, squid. I have to warn you of the squid, and how they will “ink” you. If you choose to catch them, use a LONG-handled dip net (with fine mesh), be sure to hold them out away from the boat for a minute, giving them a few dips back into the water to finish “inking.” If not, prepare for the black ink all over the cockpit.
If you try this, it not only will fill your live well for the daylight bite, but you will certainly get a few bites at night, both on top and on the bottom.
Decoy up and get after it!
Capt. Tim Barefoot
Barefoot Fishing
910-617-7637
[easy-social-share]