Kingfish and big Spanish mackerel are all the talk right now on the fishing scene. Loads of big Spanish mackerel made their insurgence this week after last week’s cold front.
Along with the big mackerel have been some quality-sized kingfish. Target hard bottom areas within a couple of miles of shore. Bringing huge quantities of live pilchards that can easily be cast netted right along the beach to the fishing grounds has provided some awesome feeding frenzies right behind the boat.
Using a quality chum block also will make a big difference in action. Light rods loaded with braided line and long shank hooks with a short wire trace are all you need on the terminal end of things.
Inshore redfish are shadowing those big black mullet as they prepare for their upcoming spawn. This is prototypical redfishing. Follow the mullet as they make their way on and off the flats and you’re in the game. Cast top-water plugs early and late in the day and gold spoons when the suns high. These fish will be aggressive with the cooling water so move quickly through productive looking areas until you find the concentration of fish.
With gag grouper season coming to a close, the weather was post-card perfect for a couple of days last week and many anglers made the trip offshore for some of the fantastic grouper action that we’ve been having this fall. I received plenty of reports of anglers catching limits of gag grouper in relatively shallow water. Most people have been hitting the 50- to 60-foot depths, but we’ve been catching quality-sized fish as shallow as 30 feet. The key is to find those small breaks (3 feet or less will hold gags). Use frozen sardines to start but have plenty of live pinfish, as the bigger fish favor the live stuff.
Until next week – get bent!
Tyson Wallerstein can be reached at capt.tyson@hotmail.com. To get a fish photo in the paper, send the photo along with your name, when and where it was caught to editorial@TBNweekly.com or mail it to Tampa Bay Newspapers, 9911 Seminole Blvd., Seminole, FL 33772.
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