Inshore Fishing Report
Trout action is hot in the shallower back bay water grass flats, edges and mangrove shorelines. We are seeing some around the dock lights and bridge lights at night too. Hwoever, fishing during the mid morning time frame once things warm up a bit has been helpful lately. Remember, you want to try and find those shorelines that were wind protected during the night and they will be a bit more warm and ready to hold more actively feeding fish. Sun drenched shorelines will radiate a bit more heat as well too. Dark bay muddy areas will hold and radiate heat too. Look for these areas while targeting most any inshore species as a little temperature gradient will go along way in helping you be successful while fishing inshore.
Redfish are active right now and they seem to thrive in the cooler times while other fish flounder due to temps. The more cold tolerant redfish are around our docklines right now hunting shrimp and crabs, but we also see them around the oysterbars and flats too doing the same thing.
Snook are back up in the bays, sounds, and bayous hiding from the cool waters. They can be found up rivers and creeks and back into the back country areas right now. We are still seeing a few in the shallows around the flats too, but they are moving slow and really opportunistic right now.
Flounder action has been decent around the area as they return to the flats, islands and inshore areas fro near shore.
Pompano are still around the edges, cuts, passes and beaches in sporadic action. Sticking and moving and using those pompano jigs are a great idea for them.
Triple tail are around the buoys, balls, and floating debris too. Keep your eyes peeled while you run around between areas for a chance to sight fish one of these unique inshore predators.
NEarshore Fishing Report
Hogfish action has been a bit tougher this past week than expected but were hoping the upcoming week should allow us to dial back in on them heavily. Going to really calm and clear up and give us a chance to find the biomass. This past week we only had three days of decent weather in a row, and we struggled to get decent periods of action. Tuesday right behind the weather was tough and only had one period of the day they fed well. Wednesday should have been great according to weather and trends, but the bite was extremely tough, and we really had to work for a catch that day by trying different depths. Thursday (yesterday) should have been spectacular ahead of the front today, but unfortunately, they only fed well for a few hours and then the bite shut off quickly. We’re hoping now that weather looks more stable next week, we will be able to find the depth they are feeding in and stay there hammering down as much as we can. We’re getting to that time of year when the water will start to warm up and the mackerel will start to return while the hogfish thin out and spread out and become less and less common to get in decent concentrations. We can get hogfish all year, but as the water warms and spring and summer sets in, its much trickier to get good numbers via hook and line fishing. So come join us this upcoming week where we see the good weather window to get on these hogfish before the water starts to warm up in the coming weeks! Were focused on the hogs, but still seeing good numbers of lane snapper, mangrove snapper and a few red groupers. The painful thing lately is the nice gag grouper that will sporadically show up and must be caught and released quickly so they can live another day till their season opens up hopefully this upcoming September. However, this time of year they are super aggressive and commonly being caught on a variety of trips, depths, and baits. So, make sure you are prepared with a venting tool or descending device if you’re going deeper than near shore waters, and regardless of the depth you will always need a good pair of dehookers so you can get them up quick, dehooked quick, and back in the water as quickly as possible. Remember, for each second at the surface and out of the water their survival rate exponentially decreases, so be prepared and do you best to ‘return them right’.
Offshore Fishing Report
The 12 hour extreme right now is seeing some fat red grouper and so are the long range 39 hour and hopefully the 44 hour that’s out now is piling them up too. We are seeing the red grouper on the live pinfish, big dead baits, and also the threadfins. I would be using a big threadfin or two or a threadfin with a squid strip. Also, a big bonita strip is a great option for the red grouper as well. We are fishing primarily around that 110-140ft area inside the 20 fathom closure line. However, its easiest to remember you have to be shallower than 120ft of water to keep yourself clear of issues. There’s plenty of good area to work and the fish are there too. However, like near shore we are encountering a lot of those gag grouper while targeting the red grouper. So be ready for a fight if you drop a big bait and accidentally get hooked up with a gag instead of a red grouper!
Mangrove snapper fishing is going well for us, that first 39 hour of the year absolutely crushed the big mangrove snapper. Were hoping were able to do that again on this 44 hour that is out too. However, the 44 hour is dealing with some weather which will make holding bottom and feeling those quick biting mangrove snapper more challenging. The 39 hour had great weather since we were able to leave a day earlier and they absolutely smashed big mangroves in astounding numbers. Most any anglers who had some experience limited out quickly on mangrove snapper and others who struggled more to get the feel for those smart, quick biting fish, were able to dial in or get helped hitting their limits too by the end of the trip. Big mangroves were taking pinfish, but most of them were caught using the cut threadfins on the double snell rigs.
We are seeing plenty of heads and tails out there too with the occasional mutton, decent numbers of yellowtail, big vermillion, porgies, and more. It’s a great time to enjoy a long range adventure before the chaos and heat of the summer time red snapper season. Plus, there’s plenty to be caught and kept too!
