Fall fishing not just about the big species

The fall fishing season sends most anglers in search of grouper, kingfish and mackerel as they reside in local Gulf waters. Grouper are moving into shallower waters and schooling up, while kingfish and mackerel are screaming drags in their yearly southern migration.

But anglers shouldn't forget about a few less targeted -- but still extremely tasty -- species that begin to turn on in the fall.

Cobia have been making a strong presence as the days have begun to shorten. A big push of cobia migrate much like kingfish and mackerel yearly. If you want to target them, now is a great time.

The most common locations are wrecks and reefs offshore. If you're anchored up and fishing for other species, it's always a good idea to have a pinfish, blue runner or big whitebait free-lined, as cobia have a hard time resisting. They will often curiously swim up to boats that are chumming heavily. Cobia enjoy floating structure, much like another forgotten fish -- tripletail.

On calm days, keep an eye on the surface and check around crab trap floats as you run from spot-to-spot, because tripletail have already made a strong appearance this fall. Capt. Brett Norris landed 15-18 on one day alone this week.

"On the beach, I'll look for them around the crab pots. In the bay, I'll look around the buoys and towers," Norris said. "Even throwing blind with a split-shot and a shrimp or whitebait, you'll know if they're there because they eat pretty quick."

Not known for being smart, tripletail will also attempt to eat a bait multiple times if they aren't caught on the first or second pass. Norris fished with Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Desmond Jennings and Jennings' friend Yoyo when a tripletail insisted on going home for dinner.

"Desmond hooked a tripletail, and we knew it was a big one. It got wrapped up on the structure and broke Des off. 10-minutes later, Yoyo casted again, and hooked the same fish. It came in with the other hook still in his mouth." That triple tail was almost 17 pounds.

One other species to consider fishing for this fall is hogfish. In recent years it seems anglers have really began to dial in the hook and line hogfish tactics, and it's extremely fun and active.

The big thing is bring shrimp, and a lot of them. Use small hooks (1/0-3/0), light weight (1-2 ounces), and tackle similar to fishing for mangrove snapper. I use half shrimp and let it sit right on the bottom of rocky areas or ledges in depths between 40-70 feet. There's tons of bycatch between the grunts, porgies, snapper, grouper and more.

Hogfish are extremely hard fighters for their size, and make excellent table fare. They should bite well over the next three months or so as they school up and prepare for spawning.

This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 11:50 PM with the headline "Fall fishing not just about the big species ."