When fishing for hogfish, find what works and then don’t stop
Capt. Pablo Koch-Schick loves fishing for variety. On a given day he could find himself anchored down digging for grouper and snapper then changing tactics to go jigging for amberjack. The offshore captain knows fishing changes not only during a yearly season, it even changes throughout a given day.
Recently Kock-Schick has been catching hogfish, and big ones at that. For the first few months of the year hogfishing gives him the opportunity to send clients home with a tasty meal when other species seasons are closed.
“I’m not so much about numbers, but more about quality of fish to take home,” Koch-Schick explained. “If I’ve got three anglers I look to get six big male hogfish so everyone can have two. I try to release the smaller legal sized fish and females when I can.”
To prepare for hogfish trips he loads his livewell with up to 1,000 shrimp. That many shrimp ensures he has enough to last through the day knowing that by-catch will eat shrimp in a hurry when the bites good.
“I like to bring at least 20-dozen on half day trips. On full days 35 to 40-dozen or more.”
To find hogfish Capt. Pablo looks to start by targeting fish most other anglers try to avoid. By doing so he says it brings in hogfish that are curious by nature.
“I’m looking for a lot of grunts and a lot of porgies. I fish a lot of coral and hard bottom areas from 40 to 100-feet. I feel like when I fire up the grunts it brings in more fish around them like hogfish and grouper,” Kock-Schick said. “They come in from a distance to see what’s going on and that’s when you’ll get hogfish. If I’m getting squirrel fish or lizard fish, or plucking a grunt every few minutes I move on quick.”
To target hogfish he gives anglers a few different rigs to start then switches everyone to what’s working. He typically starts by fishing a few with 2 to 3-ounce Hogball XLs in different colors and another on a knocker rig. He tells his anglers to fish shrimp right on the bottom to get the hogfish.
“I give a white one and usually a pink or green one. If I see a darker color is working I switch everyone to it. If they’re finicky, maybe try something else. If you don’t try it you don’t know,” said Kock-Schick. “Targeting fish like grunts commercially has made me good at hogfishing. The only way to know if you’re getting better is by doing it a lot, and luckily for me doing what I love has made that easier.”
Kock-Schick says hogfishing should remain good until the end of March. He can be reached at 404-438-8732.