By Capt. Chris Johnson
Typically, February is the coolest month of the year, with water temperatures ranging from lows in the mid-60’s to highs in the mid-70’s. And, thanks to the solid cold fronts that rolled through during January, our wintertime fishing is living up to its reputation as being quite good for the species that love cooler water.
Off the reef edge, the action for sailfish, kingfish and blackfin tuna should remain on par as long as the good, clean water is intact. Live baits are key to attract bites from these species. We use pilchards and cigar minnows as well as ballyhoo, when we can find them, drifted around known wrecks and rough bottom areas.
It often pays to deploy one bait deep – on or near the bottom – to pick up mutton snappers plus big yellowjacks and amberjacks. Keep in mind, all AJ’s must be released as the season is closed until March 1.
To catch the kings and occasional wahoo, you need to run a short piece of wire in front of your hook to prevent bite-offs. We like to use #5 wire. You’d be surprised at how many sailfish and blackfins we’ve caught on wire. But, when targeting these, 40-pound fluoro is the way to go. And, we match our Owner hook to the size of the bait, anything from a 3/0 to a 5/0 hook.
During the warm periods between cold fronts, fish the deeper reef waters in 50 to 90 feet for yellowtail snappers.
This time of year, you don’t need nearly as much chum as you do during the warm months, as the yellowtails require less food in cooler water temps. We find the best bait to be fresh shrimp. If the fish are shy to eat, sling some YellowtailUp mixed with oats. This will spur them into feeding more aggressively.
These same areas should hold plenty of king and cero mackerel. Larger live baits, such as bluerunners, cigar minnows and pilchards, fished off the side of your yellowtail slick should provide strikes from these silver speedsters. Again, that same #5 wire should be sufficient to prevent bite-offs.
Hawk Channel is a winter wonderland of fishing, offering a wide variety of fun-catching and good-eating species. You’ll find plenty of king, cero and Spanish mackerel, cobia, all the snappers, Florida pompano, porgies and throw-back hogfish and groupers. You just never know what you’ll catch next.
As long as the water temps are in the high 60’s to low 70’s around the bridges and in Florida Bay, you should be able to find loads of mangrove snappers and Spanish mackerel. You might even pick up some seatrout.
Shrimp or small pilchards are your baits of choice, and we most often fish them on 3/8-ounce jigheads. We find shrimp work best when the water is 60 to 70 degrees and chunks of pinfish or ballyhoo are better when the water gets into the low 70’s.
Free fishing seminars In partnership with the Hyatt Place/Faro Blanco Marina and The Tackle Box, we are hosting monthly fishing seminars. The topic for February is Yellowtailing 101, and the seminar takes place on February 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Faro Blanco. Check our Facebook page for the complete schedule.
Capt. Chris Johnson specializes in offshore, reef/wreck, gulf/bay, sailfish, shark and tarpon fishing with SeaSquared Charters, docked at Faro Blanco Resort and Yacht Club in Marathon.
305-743-5305 | SeaSquaredCharters.com