By: Capt. Bart Marx
The waters are warming up and the fish are getting more active. The mackerels should be migrating north following the bait balls. Troll for kings, Kings fishing with live bait. Most of the time I like to put out a bonus rod. When I am bottom fishing for snapper and grouper I will setup a rod to go out behind the boat. Usually a spinning rod with 30 lb. braid and a same pound leader of 6 or 8 feet. Then I use a wire leader for the mackerel they have lots of sharp teeth. Live threadfin hearing work well, but you can use spanish sardines or most small fish for bait, like pin fish or others. While you are catching the bottom fish they on the way to the boat are purging trying to spit the hook out. This creates an underwater chum slick that will attract the kings. Cast the bonus rod out behind your boat about 20 yards. This also requires a bobber of some sort, you could use a balloon or a popping cork bobber whatever, about 6 feet from the hook. Some of the fish to target while fishing for the kings would be mangrove snapper and lane snapper, along with some porgies and grunts all of these are good table fare. If you are able to get out to 100 feet of water on some artificial reefs you could chum up some yellow tail snapper. The way I like to get set up on a reef is figure out the current and wind. When you figure this out, travel out far enough away as to drop your anchor being able to motor back to the edge of the structure. This way you chum and pull the fish away from the structure. This will help with predictors goliath, sharks etc. When you are drifting your baits out you need to use a spinner with the bail open and let the line go out as smooth as possible. When I do this, I use an extra-long leader to keep the hook away from your colored braid like a leader on a fly rod. The leader could be as small as 15 lb. test so it won’t spook the fish, and you get more bites. Also, from 80 to 100 feet there should be some nice red grouper to harvest. Most of this has been for offshore fishing let’s talk about in shore. The trout and reds should be plentiful to catch, look at the FISH RULES I have herd they might be opening reds soon in our area. This would be awesome it has been a long time that I have had red fish to eat. Have not heard anything about snook, they usually send e-mails if they are going to open or close a species of fish. Keep up with the FWC regulations so you are in compliance.