Capt. Philip Watson
March opens up to some amazing Springtime Fishing! For the next couple of months, the warmer the water gets, the better the fishing is. Big bait schools start to migrate, which brings out the mackerel run with cobia and black fin tuna to follow. Red grouper remains closed past the 20-fathom mark, but there will still be some decent grouper fishing inside that. Just fish the bait stacks and the grouper will be there.
During the first part of the run I will be looking for kings on the popular wrecks, like Fin and Docs barge, flat lining live baits. My favorite is a live Spanish sardine, but when they fire up, they will eat just about anything. But, don’t forget to set out your flat lines while bottom fishing. During the run, more times than not, you will have some sort of pelagic in your chum slick.
This month, the trip that I would like to highlight was a split charter that included 3 different parties. In these pictures we have Kathy and Greg holding a couple fire truck Red Groupers. The trip started off in 75’ where we picked away at mangroves, lanes, vermilions, and grouper. Most of the grouper in this range were right under the limit, but we ended up with 3 nice ones that were over 23”. After that, we moved deeper, to about 105’ and we were able to snag us few really nice red grouper ranging from 28”-33”.
When targeting red grouper, I like to fish the bait stacks. I find most of these bait stacks moving from one spot to another by watching my bottom machine. In these stacks of bait, you will find a variety of fish including squirrel fish, tomtates, big red grouper, and red snapper. The real trick is in the anchoring and you need to be right on top of them. Once you can get the snapper species fired up, the grouper are sure to come eat afterwards. I like to use big dead baits, such as butterflied squirrel fish, or grunt fillets.
March through July are busy months, so make sure to get your trips booked. We are also excited to find out that this year’s Red Snapper Season is June 1 – July 31, so give us a call and we will get you out fishing with Just Kickin Back Charters.
Captain Philip Watson
Just Kickin Back Charters
941-226-1100