[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith the worst of the weather behind us and the best of the fishing to come, what’s not to like about May? The opening of grouper season will definitely be one of the highlights, but tales of monster mahi, great cobia fishing, a steady permit bite, yellowfin tuna and even the occasional blue marlin, will all be topics of discussion at the fillet table this month. With the exception of big numbers of sails, May is your month. Run the beach and hit the sandpile, bull shark barge and other shallow water rock piles looking for cobia. Use live baits with a lead above the leader, an 80- to 100-pound leader and a big hook when targeting them blindly. Use heavy drag, because the sharks have been fierce. Gulfstream Cobia Slayers and RonZ Jigs have been the tickets when sight casting to them, and picking off the followers. The shallow reefs from 60-to-80 feet of water, from the loran tower to the power plant, offer great fishing for mutton snapper, grouper, and cobia. Use leaders ranging in size from 50- to 125-pounds, depending on what you’re targeting and as far as length goes. Everyone has their own opinion. Bait also congregates here, so kings, dolphin, sails and the occasional wahoo will be cruising the nearshore reefs this month. Live baiting and trolling will both work well, but whichever you decide to do, I strongly recommend stopping and getting some live bait from John or Dave at the mouth of the pocket. Even if you’re going to catch some, it’s nice to have a few on hand in case something pops up over the course of the day. Lately the cobia have been following our bait stringers of horn bellies and we’ve been pitching them the pilchards we’ve been buying.
Moving offshore along the pinnacles, the hill, peanut, and 40 fathom curve, big dolphin, blackfin tuna, wahoo, and the occasional marlin and sail, will best be targeted trolling skirted ballyhoo and lures. A downrigger or planner rod is a must during these hot calm days when targeting wahoo and kings, but don’t be surprised when you catch a nice mahi or a sail on your down bait. I use a Cannon 10TS Downrigger because it offers so many great auto features that it actually triggers reaction bites from lazy fish, common in hot summer Florida months. Focus along weed lines and color changes trolling between 6 and 8 knots. Chain teasers work well this time of year. It’s hard to beat a squid chain with a Canyon Gear Dredge Head over a ballyhoo or mullet behind it. Can you say “Dolphin Magnet”? Whichever species you do decide to target this May, I hope your outings are safe and exciting. And may all your bites be Off the Chain.
