I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a safe New Year. The last few weeks have been great near shore and should continue for a little bit till the weather gets colder and chills the water off.
Cobia and triple tail have been hanging pretty close to the beach. For triple tail, I like to use a small bucktail tipped with a piece of squid or a live shrimp with just a small shot of weight on it. Tease them with it a little and most of the time they will eat it. Triple tail make some of the best eating around. You will find them free swimming and holding to pieces of weeds and anything else you can find floating. Cobia have been hang- ing out in the same areas as the triples so have the bucktail with squid ready. There are many things you can use for them. If they are hungry they will eat, so to speak. A bucktail from Handler Fishing Supply tipped with a whole squid has been the best for me.
Pushing a little farther out, Pelican and 8A have had some decent kings on them. I have been using many different baits since live bait is a little hard to find this time of year, so have your dead sardines handy. If you can’t find any bunker, try sabikying some of the buoys or wrecks on the way out for some blue runners or threadfins. Live bait will definitely be better.
Pushing a little farther offshore, the Mahi, wahoo and sails have been doing much better. Al- though there is specific tactics and ways to target each spe- cifically, I use smaller Islander lures with small ballyhoo. All three species can be expected this time of year. Wahoo can be targeted with a little more speed in your troll. This is the time of year they are around in greater
numbers.
Keep things simple. We catch more hoo and maui kingfishing than targeting them:).
Captain Chris Cameron
firedupcharters.com
407-222-3573