Outdoors Column | A great day on the Gulf of Mexico ends with a box stuffed with fish
There are no sweeter words to a west coast Florida offshore angler than “light east winds.” The only way it’s better is when combined with “and a red snapper mini-season.” Then you’ve got the makings for a busy day in the Gulf of Mexico.
That scenario came together the three days following Thanksgiving. A second red snapper season extension arrived as a result of October’s rough weather, giving anglers one final opportunity to get offshore for the popular bottom dweller. After very few calm days over the past few months, a light wind was finally predicted for all three days of the long weekend.
I joined Tom Howard aboard his new 32-foot Andros for the first day of the extension. Our plan was to head out to around 120 feet, where we knew red snapper would await us, and then search around from there for mangrove snapper and grouper species as well. After finding a school of bait we had shrimp, threadfin and big scaled sardines ready as we headed west around 9:30 a.m.
At our first stop we tossed out a few freelined rods while getting bottom fishing rigs ready. Howard’s first bait was hit as mine was as well. His fish jumped. A late season mahi mahi! Mine stayed deep. Behind his mahi was a school of about 20 that we kept interested with a few rounds of chum while rigging more rods.
The fish I hooked, a 40-pound amberjack, kept me out of the mahi action for about 10 minutes. After I got it unhooked and released, I soon got a mahi hooked. We caught four out of the school, each around 10 pounds, a great start to the day and surprise for late November.
However the bottom fishing started slow. With nothing to show after 30 minutes we moved south a few miles to a ledge where the Garmin depth finder showed more fish below. It wasn’t long before the first of our eight legal sized red snapper would come to the surface. The best bite came on an 1/8-ounce jighead with shrimp.
Howard’s friend, Dale Edwards, fished heavier tackle with a chunk of bonita. A few smaller gag and red grouper were caught before Edwards found himself with something bigger. A fat 30-inch red grouper was hoisted into the boat.
Sticking with light tackle Howard managed a big mangrove snapper, 21 inches, on an 1/8-ounce Hogball. My 1/8-ounce jig would also soon land a big mangrove. After hitting our red snapper limit, we once again moved south to get away from them.
On a new ledge we set up a chum line and got the flatlines going once again. In the distance we could see football shapes jumping out of the water. We hoped for tuna, and almost immediately both lines started screaming once again.
As the silvery shine came closer to the boat a slight disappointment hit us when a pair of 20 pound kingfish were landed. I rigged again, only to be cut off on the next bait. This occurred for about 15 straight casts making me feel like I was banging my head against the wall, losing Owner hook after Owner hook. The toothy kingfish were cutting off every bait immediately.
On the bottom yellowtail snapper were caught and a few more big grouper as well. After a couple bigger break offs we decided to make one more stop on the way home.
Coming back in shallower to 90 feet, the fishing turned into something amazing. Every bait we dropped, now using 1.25-ounce Hogballs, resulted in a mangrove snapper, scamp grouper, gag grouper or other quality fish. Josh Bibler landed a cool true black grouper and on the last bait he tangled with a 40-inch cobia! The fishing was literally on fire, but with the sun setting we decided to head east with an absolutely stuffed fish box.
With the great weather and so many anglers heading offshore there were reports similar to ours. Great fishing, flat seas and a beautiful day to work off Thanksgiving calories. Once we started catching fish we didn’t stop. The Gulf was proving once again why it hosts some of the best offshore fishing in the world.