Inshore Fishing Report
Sheepshead action has really stepped up around the area with sheepshead starting to really proliferate around virtually any dock, pier, bridge, jetty or rock pile around the area. We are seeing them heavily around the pass and biting well on fiddler crabs and small pieces of shrimp. Using a scrapper to clean up some pilings and dropping down your bait along side a piling with minimal weight is a great idea to target the sheepshead.
Mangrove snapper are still around but definitely down in numbers, but seeing some nice ones coming up from our deeper areas inshore still. We are seeing them mostly on the bigger docks, bridges and rock piles of the bay.
Flounder action is going well on the edges, potholes and around the structures of the area. They are always going to be in sandy areas hanging on the bottom waiting to ambush prey. However, this is the time of year they are closed due to spawning protections so if you do happen to catch one you have to release them until December first.
Redfish action is hot around the area still, and it remains kind of peak redfish time here for a few more weeks. Great time to get out there and capitalize on your opportunity to find concentrations of the redfish around the area. They love to follow the big black mullet around the area, but you can find knots of fish on the flats if your looking at low to mid tide especially if you have a tower boat or someway to get up higher to sightfish with more ease.
Trout action is going well around the area we are seeing a lot of the trout biting well on the flats, around the islands, or even around the bridges. This new moon should really fire up the trout action at night around dock and bridge lights. Typically, around johns pass we have super active speckled trout feeding on the new moon.
Snook action has been a bit more quite in the area as we had that big front or two, but you can find them in the back and upper bay areas if your looking hard. Now that we should have a big warming trend this weekend, you have a good shot for some snook action around the pass even as often we will see the fish poke back out to the spring and summer time styles for a brief period if the water warms back up enough.
Triple tail are active around the inshore waters right now on the buoys, markers and floating debris. Even along our beaches we are seeing lots of these great eating fish too! Keep your eyes peeled as you cruise to spot you a great eating triple tail.
Mackerel are thick right now around the inshore waters especially around deeper bridges, piers, and fast moving water where bait is present. You can even run into them on deeper flats where there’s ample bait supply. They love some fast moving flashy lures and they feed very aggressively throughout the area.
Nearshore Fishing Report
Mackerel are thick around our area near shore and we are catching plenty while trolling on our way out and back on the 5 hour half day, 39 hours and 44 hour trips. We are even seeing the occasional kingfish, but the big numbers of kingfish just haven’t flooded our near shore waters. We are seeing some big girls being caught but they are mostly up in the bay around the channel and markers.
Hogfish action is going extremely well right now on our ten hour all day fishing trips and private fishing charters. If you have ever wanted a chance at a hogfish, now is the time to get yourself a solid chance at catching these unique looking and very good eating fish. They are biting best on the 30lb leader with 3-4ot hooks and around 1-2oz egg sinkers rigged knocker rig style on a 3000-4000 series spinning reel. We see people use our roggie’s rigs banana jigs with great success too!
Lane snapper are going really well near shore right now too and we were concerned about a potential closure coming on the lane snapper, but it seems we are now out of danger on that which is great news for our industry. They are great eating fish and we are seeing more and more in more areas and in a larger average size. They love shrimp, squid, sardines and virtually anything we put down there too!
Mangrove snapper action is steady near shore. We aren’t seeing huge numbers or huge sizes but they are impressive in both number and size for near shore waters. We are seeing them mostly on the shrimp while targeting hogfish, but if you go out there with the double snell and smaller cut threadfin chunks like we use on our 39 hour trips just scaled down significantly and a spinning rod on a ten hour you would crush the big lanes and solid mangroves with ease.
**Don’t forget, that we have some great videos on our fishing tips and tricks page here to show you how to target and rig for the hogfish -> https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/fishing-tips/
Offshore Fishing Report
The mangrove snapper action is going really well right now offshore and we are crushing big numbers of some nice mangrove snapper offshore. The 39 hour that came in yesterday had a HUGE pile of mangrove snappers with some in the 7-9lb range and plenty in the 4-6lb range. They are loving the cut threadfins and the double snell rig and we are seeing endless numbers. The 12 hour extreme trip this past Wednesday had a big pile of mangrove snapper too and its great to see the fishing going so well on these good eating fun to catch species.
Yellowtail snapper continue to be pervasive and impressive even in shallower waters and even north of west we are seeing plentiful yellowtail snapper in some impressive sizes. Just a few years ago, we would have to fish pretty far south of west in deeper waters to have a shot at yellowtail and it seems more and more often we are seeing them throughout the area to our west in the gulf. They are even starting to become more common shallower too!
Mutton snapper like the yellowtail seem to be shifting more into our area with more regular numbers of mutton snapper being caught on our 12 hour extreme and 39 hour trips. We are seeing them on the cut threadfins and the live pinfish for the most part but we never know when they might start up. We are seeing sometimes as many as 20-30 on these 39 hour trips!
Triggerfish remain open and we are seeing some nice big triggerfish around the area. They are biting well on smaller strips of squid or cut fish like bonita. We see them while targeting the smaller snapper like yellowtails or vermillion most commonly.
Scamp grouper and strawberry grouper still coming up too. Mostly while targeting the mangrove snapper are we seeing numbers of these yummy grouper being caught too.
Vermillion snapper, porgies, almaco jacks and plentiful other fish are rounding out our big catches of fish despite many of the main reef fish being closed we are still putting together mountains of fish!
