I love spring and summer fishing, but let me say this loud and clear: I live for fall and winter fisheries!
It is the time of year that can make even me look good. The large male gags have started staging on nearshore structures, wrecks, and traditional bait-holding bottoms. The scamps and large snappers have started a transitional move to their deeper wintering grounds. Water temps will soon draw a line in the water that clearly shows you where to fish.
Ahhhh, yeah! It is the time of plenty. Now is the time of year to have a community-sized fish stew to clear out all the vacuum-sealed stuff in the freezer. You’ve got to make room for freezer-stuffing grouper, snapper, and seabass.
Starting in October, the larger gags will be so close that they’ll shock you. Don’t run too far, or you’ll run over some of the year’s biggest fish. Go wherever you jig up your cigar minnows and sardines, and the gags will be right there. When you get a few baits in the well, it’s good to have someone put a bait right back down.
After all, that is why the gags are there. They are eating the same baits that you’re catching. They come inshore to a place that holds bait so all the smaller females have plenty to eat while they are discussing the possibilities of spawning. But, of course, the same areas will hold large seabass, as well. I love to eat grouper, but the way I grouper fish also produces large seabass, which I think is even better than grouper in texture and flavor.
Scamps and snappers hold a special place in my heart. Starting right now, they should be going off! It’s time-consuming to stop on the way out a jig-up bait. However, a 15- or 20-minute bait stop could distinguish between a good day and a great one. When you find the bait in numbers, it doesn’t take long to rack up. I like to keep a Sabiki angler on each side of the boat handing me baits to dehook into a bucket in the center of the boat. Once I get about 20 baits in the bucket, I pour them into the livewell and repeat until I have enough.
I also like to take pinfish from the marina as a “bird in hand” for bottom fishing. The beauty of putting a live sardine on a jig and sending it to the bottom is that EVERYTHING down there eats them. The beauty of sending a pinfish, grass grunt, or sailor’s choice to the bottom is that everything down there would love to eat them but can’t. They can’t get their mouths around the bigger baits, but the ones that can are the fish you want to catch.
Go enjoy the bounty of the season!
SALTWATER TACKLE YOU MAY WANT TO TRY:
7/0 and 11/0 J-Hook Chin Weights: Target fish include Tuna, Wahoo, Mahi or Common Dolphin, King Mackerel, Wahoo, and more. Easy to rig!
4 oz. Crab Decoy Jig: Target fish for Striped Bass, nearshore Drum, Snook, Grouper, west coast bottom fish, and more.
4 oz. Tuna Squid Decoy Jig: From the eastern, western, Alaskan, and gulf coasts, target fish include: Tuna, Dolphin, Wahoo, Fluke, Flounder, Striped Bass, Seabass, Amberjack (east coast), Yellow Tail (west coast), California White Sea Bass (west coast), Grouper, Snapper, Halibut, Ling cod, and all Alaskan bottom fish.
8 oz. - 12 oz. 10/0 Squid Decoy Jig: Catch BIG Grouper, Amberjack, Giant Stripers, and more.
