By: Capt. Bart Marx
It’s a new year and a great time to go fishing. Inshore, you should be able to find plenty of sheepshead around the edges of the near shore reefs. I like to use a 1/0 hook or something close to that with a piece of shrimp and use a 20lb. leader if the water is really clear. This is the time of year that they move offshore to spawn, but they also can be found near the pilings of any structure bridges or docks close to the Gulf. They will get thick on some of the natural ledges around the 50 ft. range. I have a State of Florida for hire fishing license that allows me to go as far as 9 miles offshore, so these are the areas that I am referring to. Another species that travels in a similar way is the flounder, as they tend to migrate to the sandy areas close to the Gulf up and down the coast of S.W. Florida. They are less picky about what they eat they will eat frozen sardines and shrimp too. You can use a similar rig to harvest these guys 1/0 hook and 20 lb. leader you may use a fish finder rig, or a knocker rig works well. If you are fishing in shallow waters, I use a jig and a shrimp and slow retrieve sliding along the bottom. The flounder are aggressive feeders, have a mouth full of teeth, and if you have some smaller pinfish, they will eat them. Hogfish are around but are a bit more of a chore to locate. They like the natural ledges in the 40 to 50 ft. range, and they only like to eat crustations, shrimp, small crabs like fiddlers etc. They will eat small blue crabs too. I have witnessed them eating broken off legs from a spiny lobster while diving in the Florida Keys. There is good white meat on these that makes a great meal. And if you are looking for some fish for the table, while you are looking in these areas there should be plenty of white grunts and lane snapper. Always check the FWC regulations. Red fish along the mangroves and around the edges of the oyster bars scattered all along the S.W. Florida coast. They are not too picky they will eat dead stuff as well as live bait. Remember this time of year shrimp is naturally in the harbor and close to the beaches and larger this time of year than in the summer. Fishing on the flats where there are grass beds you can find some nice sea trout as they don’t mind the cooler waters and like to hang out on the edges of the grass where they blend in. I have found that is a great ambush spot for the bigger trout.
If you are one of the newcomers to our area, call or email me as I provide training sessions on your boat to help with your learning curve!