Capt. Philip Watson
Welcome to Red Snapper Season everyone! This is an awesome time of the year to be offshore fishing. Most of my fishing this month will be past the 120’ mark. In our neck of the Gulf Coast we have to dig a little deeper for red snapper than our panhandle friends. Our sweet spot to find plenty of fish is anywhere from 130’ – 200’ of water. With the opening of gags at the same time, it really may require a larger cooler for your offshore trips. Make sure you plan these deep trips accordingly and pay attention to the afternoon thunder storms. Sometimes you will have to do a little running and gunning in between thunder heads.
This month, our highlighted trip was with a good buddy of mine, Captain James Vadas where we went out on a consulting trip. Our clients for the day wanted to learn about hard bottom fishing for lane and vermillion snapper in the 80’ to 100’ range. We started the day checking safety gear and engines on the client’s 26’ Proline. Once everything checked out, we pushed off the dock and headed out. We made our first stop in 100’ on a small ledge and quickly started pulling in a bunch of snapper. We even had a couple nice porgy’s mixed in. We then made a short move to some productive hard bottom about a mile east and had 3 fire truck red grouper and a kingfish in the boat fairly quickly.
We then moved inshore a little to 85’ to find some mangrove snapper and along the way we marked a nice ledge with fish all over the place. Soon after we anchored down and started to chum, it did not take long to get them eating. Mangrove snapper typically start off slow but the more you catch, the more they eat- until they just shut off completely. All in all, it was a great trip with new clients. Fishing is great right now and business is slow, so give us a call. We would love to take you out to get some fresh air and some fresh fish. Red Snapper season is short, so give us a call to get in on the fun!
Captain Philip Watson
941-226-1100
