Outdoors Column | As long as it is cold, the hogfish will be biting
Taking 35 dozen shrimp offshore for a four-hour trip might seem a bit excessive, but for Captain Brian Lambert that was the right amount this past Monday.
“We left the dock at noon with 35 dozen and came back just after 5 p.m. with only two dozen left,” Lambert said. “It was rougher than it was supposed to be, so we stayed in the 19-21 mile area and the fishing was hot.”
As an offshore captain Lambert has been limited by fishing seasons and windy weather when his clients want fish to take home for dinner. Luckily for him, one of the best eating fish in the Gulf has been active and hungry since popular food targets like gag grouper had their season closed at the turn of the year.
“I ask people when we head out, ‘What do you want to catch?’ They often don’t really know and I show them a picture of hogfish. They’re pretty awesome looking and they say, ‘You can eat that?’ That’s when I tell them it’s amazing eating. Right now is prime time as long as the water stays cold.”
On Monday’s trip Lambert armed his anglers with 6000-sized spinning reels, 1.25-ounce pink Hogballs and 10 feet of 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. Each shrimp was sent to the bottom threaded on the hook with the hopes of bringing up the delicious wrasse family fish.
“It was non-stop once they got the hang of it. We caught probably 30 hogfish total, with 13 keepers. Then there were gag grouper, red grouper, porgies, grunts, mangrove snapper, blowfish and more. It was a good four hour trip.”
Fishing out of a 35-foot Contender, Lambert doesn’t have the luxury of smaller boats with trolling motors that are able to move around on spots. Being on anchor, he finds even just pulling in or letting out anchor line can make all the difference in a bite. Or even stranger, starting the engines can sometimes call the hogfish to his location.
“If it slows down I’ll crank the motors up and within 3 or 4 minutes we’ll end up with another 10 minute bite. I used to fish with guys who’d turn everything off, bottom machine, electronics, radio and more,” the Fishhawk Charters captain explained. “When that slows I’ll drop back another 100 feet of anchor line and that will get us another bite.”
Lambert’s preferred locations have been around 60-75 feet deep with small ledges producing good fish. The first week of January a trip produced 22 keeper hogfish in only four hours!
“I think it’ll be good until March. It’s been a real cold January and the wind has been blowing so hard. The only thing I’m afraid of is March is usually the windiest month. If it’s blowing this hard now, how hard will it be blowing then?”
Capt. Brian Lambert fishes out of Tierra Verde and can be reached at 813-355-1424.