April 19, 2008

The King mackerel had been hot for a week or so but then dropped off, but will return soon! We had nice kings from the beaches out to the “M” artificial reefs.  Point of Rocks was one of the beach hot spots.  Catching live bait like herring and blue runners was the hard part.

Fishing on the bay has been fast and slow, but at the end of the day, some nice fish were in the box.  Sea trout, mackerel, bluefish, and redfish have made up most of the keeper fish.  Pompano, flounder, sheepshead, snapper, and black seabass are also being caught.  Ladyfish, Jacks and under size grouper have kept the action going.  Live shrimp and whitebait have been the top baits.

We have had to move around to find the fish.  Sometimes they are on the grassflats and sometimes in the deeper channels.  Redfish like the docks and deep water close to the docks, same with the snook.  The Sheepshead like anything that will grow barnacles, Sheepshead only eats crustaceans and mollusks.

Most of my fishing on the bay is done on 12 pound test line and 30 pound test mono leader.  Sometimes a small splitshot and sometimes a popping cork.  I use a 202 4/0 gold hook or a stout 3/0 Lazer hook and no swivels, snaps, or wire.  For artificial baits I like the DOA shrimp or pompano jigs.

Enjoy & Protect!

February 24, 2008

The bay fishing has been very interesting over the past month.  Some times the weather fronts would knock us down for a short time, but most of the time the fishing has been good to hot.  Most of the action has been with Spanish mackerel, keeper sea trout, bluefish, redfish, pompano, and some flounder.  The list goes on and keeps the fishing interesting.  The hot fish of the day keeps changing along with the location.  We haven’t had to go far to find fish but they may chew in one place today and another tomorrow.  They could be in the deeper water of Zwicks canal or the Middle Ground grass flats just east of it.  It could be any part of New Pass or Big Pass or any of the flats and holes between them.  That is about as far as we needed to go.

The best bait has been live shrimp on a free line or a small shot when needed to get down in the passes.  Jigs are also working and will cut some of your cost.  Just tip the jigs with a very small piece of shrimp.  All you want is a smell when tipping a jig for pompano. The jig will fall faster and hit the bottom harder, sending up a puff of sand, simulating a crab digging in.  Mackerel and other fish are jigged with a much faster retrieve.  Mackerel love the jigs or spoons tipped with a thin piece of mackerel belly.  On the other hand, bluefish will attack anything you’re using for bait.

DOA artificial shrimp are a favorite of mine and this is a good time to use them, it will help slow down the pinfish and add to the time you have good bait in the water.

Enjoy & Protect

January 19th, 2008

We had a good run along the beach that lasted a few months but it all came to an end a couple of weeks ago!  The cold front had a lot to do with it.  Now it is a few fish here and few fish there with a whole lot of running to find them.  Sea trout, redfish, bluefish, mackerel, pompano, and black seabass are some of the species being caught.

Black seabass is one of the smallest fish we have that is good to eat and it is a favorite of mine.  They are a small but a thick fish.  At the same size as a snapper, black sea bass have much thicker fillets.  You can fry them whole (head and tail attached) or fillet and skin them.  They are just the right size for quick cooking and a good fit for plate or sandwich.  The flavor is very mild so only salt and pepper is needed for seasoning.

Black seabass love rocks or any structure but unless they are running very strong, they are hard to pick out from all the short snapper, grouper and droves of pinfish and grunts.  They love shrimp but will eat small baitfish.  In other words you don’t want to use $30 worth of live shrimp to catch $7 worth of fish, I think J.

Enjoy and Protect!