SPECIES SUMMARIES
Like school yard bullies, amberjack patrol deep water wrecks and springs, challenging any and all to test their resolve against one of the sea’s toughest opponents.
A highly valued food fish whose firm, mild filets finish nicely on a grill, amberjack beckon anglers more interested in an unforgettable struggle. A crushing strike, followed by a relentless tug-of-war defines an “AJ” battle. Use a rod belt and hold on with all you’ve got and you might just wrestle one of these brutes to the surface.
An amberjack’s strength is equalled only by its powerful appetite. Therefore, bait options abound. For artificials, 6- to 8-ounce jigs are best, with elongated, silver Diamond Jigs topping the list. But for an absolute amberjack assault, drop a frisky live bait into the strike zone and hang on. There’s not much an AJ won’t eat, but live blue runners, threadfin herring, pinfish, mullet and any other shiny sided baitfish won’t last long in this neighborhood.
Fish live baits on stout rods with 4/0 class reels loaded with 50-pound line and 80-pound leaders. Rig the bait on an 8/0 heavy live bait hook and present your offering on a downrigger, set at 10-15 feet above the structure. When an AJ strikes, you’ll know it, so plant your feet and by all means, try to stay in the boat!
“Speed with teeth” summarizes king mackerel and, thereby indicates the necessary tackle and technique. With a formidable set of choppers, kings can easily slice monofilament, so savvy anglers rig 2- to 3-foot, #3-5 wire leaders to withstand the bite.
Wire is also used in the standard “stinger” rig, which is designed to keep the aggressive kingfish from cutting baits in half and missing a single hook. With stingers, a #4 or #6 treble hook attaches to a single lead hook (2/0 - 3/0) with a 3- to 4-inch piece of wire. Stinger rig length should match bait size and additional trailing sections can be added for mullet, ribbonfish and big blue runners. Other effective baits include shad, threadfin herring, cigar minnows and Spanish sardines.
After a strike, the angler takes the rod to the bow and the captain turns the boat toward the fish. A big king will rip off 100-200 yards of line on its first run, so just maintain smooth pressure by holding the rod tip high. Gaff keeper kings in the back for optimal control with minimal bleeding. But don’t relax with the fish aboard, because even when you put the brakes on his speed, the king’s teeth still work just fine!
Considered the most graceful of the billfish clan, sailfish are a seasonal favorite on Florida’s east and west coasts. Anglers often connect with these spirited fighters by trolling dead ballyhoo rigged with colorful skirts, but for optimal sailfish action, try an aerial attack. Known simply as “kite fishing,” the practice of suspending a live bait at the water’s surface strongly appeals to the sailfish’s predatory instincts.
Kite fishermen loft a water-resistant fishing kite from a short, stout rod carrying a heavy conventional reel loaded with 100-pound braided line. A baited line runs from the fishing rod to a release clip affixed to the kite line, and down to the water. Adjusting the fishing line keeps a lively bait just below the surface where its desperate thrashing broadcasts a message of vulnerability to nearby predators. On a strike, the line pops from the release clip and the fight is on.
Experienced sailfish chasers fly twin kites and run two or more fishing lines off each kite line. Careful attention to placement and clear communication between the captain and mate allows for seamless reaction to a strike. When sails are thick, this efficiency bears testing as kite fishing often yields multiple hookups
Optimal kite bait candidates are mullet, blue runners (west coast) and goggle eyes (east coast). Sailfish will eat other baits, but few have the necessary strength and endurance for the frantic surface show that rings the sail’s dinner bell.
They’re don’t jump, they won’t run very far and they’re not particularly attractive. But slap a big piece of fried or grilled grouper on a toasted bun and you have a sandwich worth every ounce of your effort.
And a considerable effort it is. Far from fancy, a grouper packs plenty of pulling power and its propensity for diving into a rocky fortress, ducking behind a coral reef or sliding under a ledge when hooked makes its capture a difficult undertaking. Considering a grouper’s strategy of wedging himself deep into the structure and flaring his cheeks and gills for maximum leverage, you can plan on donating plenty of rigs to your quarry’s stronghold.
This explains the heavy artillery. The standard tackle consists of a heavy boat rod, sturdy conventional reel filled with 50- to 80-pound test and three feet of 80- to 100-pound leader. A 4- to 8-ounce slip sinker slides onto the main line before tying to a barrel swivel, which connects the leader finished with a 4/0 to 6/0 hook.
Florida fishermen mostly target black, gag and red grouper. All will eat dead sardines and squid, but live pinfish, threadfin herring and juvenile mullet draw plenty of attention when anchored on the grouper’s doorstep. Strikes are sudden and the grouper already has his escape route planned before he bites, so quick reaction is key. Best bet is to drop the bait to the bottom, reel up a couple of cranks and hold the rod high so you’re instantly in the fighting position. When you feel the fish take the bait, don’t jerk the rod — line stretch minimizes the effect and you’ll spook the fish into dropping the bait. Rather, just start reeling to gradually increase the pressure and pull the hook into the fish’s mouth.
Don’t expect an easy fight, but if you win the first 30 seconds and keep your opponent from reaching his shelter, firm, steady pressure will eventually raise him to the surface. Expect sore arms, but you won’t need much strength to lift that grouper sandwich for dinner.
Prepare for a spectacle with few rivals. Megalops atlanticus, “silver king” — they both mean tarpon and that means sheer excitement.
Favoring crabs, shrimp and baitfish, such as threadfin herring, finger mullet and pinfish, tarpon are abundant throughout coastal and inshore waters along the central Gulf coast from April through October. They go where the food goes, so if you locate large bait schools, you’ll probably find tarpon.
Two of the best spots to find silver king action is at area bridges, and on the beach. Bridges provide tarpon great feeding opportunities, as tidal flow washes a bountiful supply of forage through a channeled area. As opportunistic feeders, tarpon often sit in the slack water on the downcurrent side of a piling and zip out to grab a passing meal. At night, the fish will cruise the bridge’s shadow lines and pick off unsuspecting prey.
Bridge fishing usually means anchoring under the bridge and drifting live baits past the downcurrent pilings. We attach a float to our anchor line, so we can detach on a hookup, chase the fish and then return to our anchor spot. We also idle along the bridge shadows and cast jigs or sinking plugs to cruising fish.
On the beach and in nearshore coastal waters, tarpon move in large schools, sometimes several hundred strong. The best way to find the fish is idling along in 15-20 feet of water and watching for dark, subsurface masses or bright flashes of silver scales. Because tarpon can supplement their gill breathing by gulping air from the surface, you might also see the fish “rolling” at the surface.
It’s very important to avoid spooking tarpon, so once we locate a school, we’ll position ahead of them, cut the engines and let the school come to us. When the fish are in range, we’ll cast live baitfish on float rigs and prepare for battle.
A hooked tarpon will instantly rocket skyward in a spectacular aerial display of gill-rattling fury. Keep your cool, maintain steady pressure and focus on keeping your footing for maximum leverage. Gulf coast tarpon will average in the 60-90-pound range, but plenty of fish in the 100- to 175-pound range, with the occasional 200-pounder roam the area. So, when that line comes tight, you could be in for the experience of a lifetime.
Anyway you fight them, tarpon are pure silver sensation.
They may never win a beauty contest, but when it comes to tremendous fights and superb table fare, cobia are tough to beat — literally and figuratively.
We find most of our cobia in two main scenarios: 1) Offshore wrecks and reefs and 2) Channel Markers. In deep-water environments, cobia readily grab live pinfish or threadfin herring dropped near the bottom structure they patrol. Very often, these powerful fish are a bonus bycatch of grouper or amberjack missions, but no one ever complains.
Cobia also take heavy jigs fished with erratic action. Lead heads of 2- to 6-ounces — depending on depth and current strength — are fitted with white, chartreuse or yellow plastic tails in the twin or swirl design. Also effective is the flashy diamond jig that amberjack love. With any model, tipping the hook with a chunk of dead baitfish of squid will help convince indecisive fish to strike. Usually, though, a rapid, side-to-side jigging action is all you’ll need to bring a hungry cobia charging headlong toward your bait.
Good thing about cobia is that their fleshy mouth usually holds a hookset well. That means, once you connect, you’re in for an an all-out battle with one of the sea’s toughest fish. In deep water, cobia will make several short, but powerful runs and stretch your arms in a relentless tug-of-war.
Expect the same intensity around channel markers, only this approach usually yields sight-fishing opportunities. During summer and fall, cobia spend much of their time patrolling channel markers in and around Tampa Bay. Often swimming with their dorsal fins breaking the surface, cobia look a lot like sharks, but their chocolate brown color and broad, white mouth are dead giveaways.
Easing up to a marker, we’ll put you in position to toss a live baitfish, crab or jig toward clearly visible cobia. Judging current, wind and the fish’s rate of motion is important for casting ahead of your quarry. Usually, when a hungry cobia hears something splash nearby, it will instantly spin around and gobble whatever it sees.
Highly curious and perpetually hungry, cobia often appear very close to the boat, obviously checking out the vessel for a possible meal. For this reason, we always keep a medium-heavy spinning rod rigged with a jig or live bait rig.
When opportunity knocks, the Mega-Bite is ready.
This is a quick-draw shootout where lightning reflexes reward anglers with one of the sea’s tastiest entrees — mangrove snapper.
Unlike their human opponents, snapper love to be “between a rock and a hard place.” Therefore, we find these fish around various solid structure, such as reefs, rock piles, bridge pilings and piers. That said, we might find our snapper anywhere from the Sunshine Skyway out to deep water structure in 60 feet or more.
Snapper respond best to live baits, such as pinfish, pilchards (whitebait) and threadfin herring (greenbacks). The frantic fluttering of a frisky bait creates vibrations and flashes that accelerate the snapper’s appetite.
We use small hooks, usually a No. 1 or No. 2, just enough lead weight to sink a bait and light line and leaders. For optimal stealth, fluorocarbon leaders help us fool the suspicious snapper. Snapper will also take 1/4-ounce jigs tipped with cut shrimp or with a whole shrimp threaded onto the hook in place of a plastic tail.
Because snapper hide around rough, jagged structure, break-offs are always a high risk. That’s why we make every effort to coax the fish away from their fortress and into open water for easier capture. We do this by chumming, which simply means giving the fish little samples of free food in order to convince them there’s a bigger meal closer to the surface. Frozen chum blocks, which melt in the water, or freshly chopped baitfish chunks will do the trick.
When snapper decide to feed, they’re absolute masters as picking a bait off the hook and avoiding capture. That’s why anglers must remain alert and ready to react. The sneaky fish will generally swim up to the bait, carefully inspect it and, if convinced, snap with blinding quickness. The standard attack is peck, peck, wham! As soon as you feel a sustained tug, set the hook and start cranking.
Once you boat your fish, don’t drop your guard. Snapper have a wicked set of teeth punctuated by a pair of dagger-like canines in the front of their top jaws. Any finger that ventures too close is getting pierced. No worries, though, as the Mega-Bite crew will show you the safe and secure way of handling your catch. We’ll even offer tips on how to prepare this tasty fish!
Few creatures strike awe in the hearts and minds of their would-be captors as a marlin. Powerful, elusive, majestic; this is a fish of legends. But aboard the Mega-Bite II, the legend can become your reality.
Marlin are deep water fish, which hunt the canyons, ledges and undersea peaks, where strong, upwelling bottom currents deliver various forage species. Billfish often feed at or near the surface too, and that’s how we find them.
Now the Gulf of Mexico is a vast body of water, so it may seem like guesswork when deciding where and when to start trolling. However, the experienced crew of Mega-Bite II will have a solid game plan in place prior to launching. Factors such as sea surface temperature and weather patterns offer strong indications of where productive fishing will occur.
Additionally, we’ll keep watch for tide lines, which mark the boundaries of converging water masses. One mass will always be warmer than the other and billfish will usually be on the balmier side. Also, tide lines typically congregate baitfish, which, in turn attract predators like dolphin and tuna, which eventually attract marlin. Other promising signs include weedlines, which also hold a food chain of species and high-flying frigate birds, which follow predators in hopes of picking up a free scrap during a feeding period.
We’ll break out the heavy rods and powerful reels loaded with 50- to 80-pound line. We’ll troll a variety of artificial lures designed to chug, slurp and create enticing bubble streams known as “smoke trails.” We’ll often troll hookless lures called “teasers” which are designed to attract a marlin’s attention and draw the fish into the lure spread.
On the strike, we’ll move you to a firm, comfortable fighting chair, where you and the rod are strapped in securely so the marlin doesn’t take anyone for a ride. Billfish battles are intense and often stretch for an hour or more, depending on the size of the fish. But you can count on having a patient, professional angling coach at your side the entire time. We’ll keep you on track to capturing your quarry and make sure you remain cool and hydrated during the exhausting fight.
Marlin fishing requires long runs of 100 miles or more offshore. But aboard the Mega-Bite II, you’ll ride in comfort and have plenty of time to brag about catching your legend on the way home.
Speedy, high-strung and given to rapid relocation — that’s a blackfin tuna. So, how do you keep such restless fish in one area? Simple, with a free meal.
Tuna find such a treat behind anchored shrimp boats. After hauling in their crustacean catch, shrimpers settle in to cull out their bycatch of juvenile bottom fish, crabs and mangled crustaceans. All this chow goes overboard and tuna know this. Therefore, an anchored shrimp boat is an absolute magnet for the pelagic predators.
Anglers on the central Gulf Coast get mostly blackfin tuna up to 30 pounds, but the occasional yellowfin of 50 pounds or more can also turn up in the mix. We usually find shrimp boats about 25-40 miles west of Pass-A-Grille in 100-130 feet. Before launching, we’ll load the livewell with pilchards (white bait). We’ll grab about 1,000 pieces of bait because we need plenty for live chumming, as well as for hooked baits.
When we locate an anchored shrimper, we’ll idle up to the back of the boat, deploy 2-3 baits (hooked through the eye sockets or noses), cut the motors and drift. On the first strike, we’ll anchor and free line baits with heavy chumming from a frozen bag and live chum baits.
Often accompanying tuna, the brash bonita usually show up first, but blackfins are rarely far behind. We’ll often get the bonita chummed up so thick, they’ll instantly run to our baits, while the more skeptical tuna wait and watch. When this occurs, we’ll chum hard in one spot to congregate the bonita, then toss a topwater or subsurface plug in the opposite direction and you’ll usually find a willing tuna.
When a tuna strikes, he’ll rip off a good run of 50 to 100 yards, try a little back-and-forth action, dive deep and then end with a stubborn death circle at boatside. When you boat the fish, bleed it thoroughly and toss it under a layer of ice. When handled properly, a tuna provides some of the sea’s finest table fare.
We fight tuna on 7-foot G. Loomis rods and Shimano Trinadad reels loaded with 30-pound test. A super sharp 3/0 Owner live bait hook is best for quick hooksets and tuna-taming strength.
Mix an insatiable appetite with stunning aerial displays and top-notch table fare and you have Coryphaena hippurus — the dolphin. Some confuse the name with the friendly mammals, but we’re talking about the sport fish that’s often called mahi-mahi.
We find dolphin anywhere baitfish congregate. That could be tide rips, weedlines, or flotsam such as pallets, tree limbs, or anything else that falls overboard or blows into the Gulf. Using 20- to 30-pound conventional gear, we’ll troll ballyhoo at about 6 knots, either naked or with blue/white, green/yellow and neon orange plastic skirts, which add visual attraction and help keep the bait running straight. Dolphin will also hit a variety of artificial trolling lures, so we’ll mix up the spread with 2-4 baits on flat lines and two on outriggers.
During summer months, dependable dolphin fishing starts around the 20-fathom line, some 35 miles off Central Gulf Coast beaches. Likely areas to work are springs, wrecks and steep ledges with strong upwellings. Sea signs indicating dolphin proximity include showers of flying fish, skipping ballyhoo and high-soaring frigate birds. With broad, slanted wings and deeply forked tails, these long-range navigators will follow pelagics for hours, waiting for a feeding frenzy to drive baitfish topside for easy pickings.
On a hookup the colorful dolphin will blast skyward, dashing and dancing with boundless energy. With big “slammer” dolphin, we’ll clear the untouched rigs to avoid fouling with the hooked fish. However, with smaller fish, we’ll leave the baits in the water and often score a multiple hookup. Dolphin travel in big schools and feeding competition ensures aggressive bites.
If the first dolphin is small, we’ll crank it to within 15 feet of the boat, set the rod in a holder and leave the fish in the water. Often, the school will rush to the thrashing fish to investigate feeding opportunities. Here, they’re easy targets for ounce size white or yellow bucktail jigs, ballyhoo or bonita chunks or rapidly-retrieved diving lures.
In the Gulf of Mexico’s deep blue expanses one of the premier players is a tiger-striped speedster known as the wahoo. The largest North American member of the mackerel clan, Acanthocybium solanderi hunts over deep water wrecks and reefs, as well as open waters.
We begin looking for wahoo around the 40-mile mark, but find the most reliable action starting at the 60-mile range in depths of 240 to 260 feet. May through October typically is prime time off Florida’s central west coast as the Gulf of Mexico’s Loop Current leans shoreward. The action often continues through December if the water stays warm and baitfish remain abundant. (Wahoo will eat year-around, but fall and winter cold fronts make for uncomfortable rides to the fish’s deep water abodes.)
When seeking wahoo, we look mostly for weed lines, which harbor thousands of juvenile triggerfish, blue runners and jacks, which, in turn, attract wahoo. We’ll troll baits and lures close and often pass into or across the line for aggressive presentation. Another trick is to swing in close, throttle down to let the baits sink like dead or dying prey, then punch it and yank them out again. This fleeing simulation often stimulates a wahoo bite.
Other likely wahoo hangouts are bait-laden bottom structure like reefs and wrecks and any floating object offering shelter for oceanic forage. Also, shrimp boats that have recently culled their nets in deep water create giant chum stations that occasionally attract wahoo.
Popular wahoo lures include softhead in a black and purple, black and blue or black and pink pattern trolled at 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 knots. Wahoo also hit large spoons with yellow feathers, C&H Stubbies and Wahoo Whackers, 100-series MirrOLures and Magnum Rapalas in the Fire Tiger pattern. The all-time favorite, though, is dead ballyhoo dressed with Sea Witches, C&H King Busters or bullet head Islanders. Same color schemes as with softheads.
We battle our wahoo on conventional reels loaded with 500 to 600 yards of 30- to 50-pound mono and stout rods with fast tips for strike sensitivity. Quality Gulf wahoo will average about 30 pounds, but this tackle will handle the studs of 50 pounds or more.
On the grill, or in the oven, wahoo steaks and filets cook up pearly white — a tasty reward for taming this tiger.
These snarling, fearsome fish are widely regarded as reef thieve that delight in stealing hooked snapper and grouper from an angler’s line as it ascends. However, when it comes to sportiness, barracuda are one of the most underrated fish in the sea.
These smelly villains with the wicked set of choppers will gladly give anglers a spirited battle that’s nothing short of a blast. They’re may not be as fast as a kingfish, but once a cuda feels the hook, it’ll take off, launch a handful of defiant leaps and strip off a respectable amount of line.
Cudas patrol the mid-depth zone between the top of the reef and the water’s surface. That means a hooked reef fish must travel right in front of a cuda’s nose en route to the boat. Of course, if cudas will hit rising fish, they’ll certainly attack descending baits. Options are dropping a frisky baitfish with a small weight to force it deep, or setting baits at the proper depth with downriggers and criss-crossing the spot until a cuda spots the meal.
We’ll fish with 7-foot, fast-tip rods with conventional reels loaded with 20- to 30-pound mono. Just like kingfishing, cuda pursuits require wire stinger rigs and a couple feet of No. 3 or 4 single strand wire leader to repel formidable teeth.
Live bait choices are vast, as cudas are indiscriminate diners. However, threadfins, pilchards, Spanish sardines, cigar minnows and blue runners top the list. Unlike the often-finicky kingfish, cudas don’t require chumming, but can’t hurt to toss out a half dozen livies or a handful of chopped baits over a good hard bottom structure.
Barracuda will also hit artificials including spoons, large plugs, jigs and the ever-popular tube lure. For the latter, cut a 7- to 10-inch piece of surgical-style tubing (neon colors are best) and run a length of leader wire through the center. To the tail end, attach a No. 2 or 4 treble and at the top end, slide on a 1-ounce egg sinker, then affix a barrel swivel. Haywire twists connect wire to hooks and swivels.
During the summer months, reefs are loaded with cudas in the 10- to 20-pound range, but bigger fish are out there. So don’t be surprised if you come face-to-toothy face with 50 pounds of chewing attitude.