By: Capt. Bart Marx
We are warming up in Southwest Florida and as the bait starts to migrate north so do the kings and spanish mackerel. The white baits start to come inshore and become easier to find, and the big schools of tarpon may show up. The tarpon are bait fish to some other species better known as the tax collector in the grey suits! That would be the sharks that think tarpon are very tasty and plentiful in our area this time of year, and this action runs up and down the coast from Marco to Tampa. Tarpon are a lot of fun to hook into and get a few jumps for the sport of it, however, they are not good for eating. Growing up in Southwest Florida, I was taught to spend time fishing for fish that are edible, and that is mostly what I do today. I enjoy a blacktip shark that is between 3-4 foot long, and there are the bonnet head sharks they don’t get much bigger than three feet and there is a good amount of meat on them. I also target snapper, lanes, mangroves and yellow tails, which can be found this time of year in 40 to 80 feet of water. Artificial reefs and wrecks hold the mangrove and yellow tails. When anchored, you usually can chum the snappers up to the surface and just use a hook on your line and a piece of bait.
If you don’t have the means to travel out into the deeper waters, there is plenty of action close to and inshore, as there should be plenty of snook as they prepare to migrate and spawn. Snook travel relative to where they live. Snook in the river go into the harbor where there is the proper amount of salt for them to reproduce, and the ones in the harbor travel to the beaches, and the ones around the beaches they travel out into the Gulf to 45 or 50 feet of water on reefs and ledges. I learned this information when I was teaching a class. A snook biologist would come and talk with the class and I was able to ask questions and gather some good information, which I share with fellow anglers. Trout, pompano, and reds will be hunting along the mangroves and out on the grass flats, and the reds may even hideout in the sand holes in the edges of the grass waiting for a snack to swim into range for food. If you are shark fishing, there may be the opportunity to catch a cobia, they roam the same areas as sharks. If you would like to come along with Capt. Bart Marx and learn some of these methods of harvesting fish, call 941-979-6517 or e-mail me at captbart@alphaomegacharters.com