Lack of Florida hurricanes brings good news for Gulf anglers. Here’s how

After a lack of tropical systems in the Gulf, a dry end to summer and a strong early cold front during November, the shallow waters west of Central Florida are as clean as I can remember in my lifetime during this time of year.

Last year, it took months for water to clean up after the pair of hurricanes and record rainfall associated with them.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, I was able to join Jay Travis along with son Cayson and friends Matt Brower and his son Blake, where the shallow clean waters were better than those deeper. Travis is normally one to fish as far west as he can, chasing deep fish in depths most anglers won’t ever see. But Wednesday, we wanted to focus on shallow waters and started around 90 feet in search of snapper and hogfish.

The first spot was slow, mainly smaller fish and grunts. The second spot, we were greeted with a hogfish on the first drop, then most certainly hooked another large one that was promptly eaten by a shark.

The third and fourth spot showed some sign of life, but the presence of more sharks made landing anything of size nearly impossible. Our optimism for the day was getting tested.

Heading shallower, we wondered if starting deep was a mistake. Back in around 70 feet, we found a bigger hogfish around 18 inches and some keeper-sized scamp grouper. But the grunts were relentless, and we kept bouncing around shallower, hitting some historically good spots

After six hours of fishing, we had a limited box. Travis and myself weren’t dejected quite yet. We know that the last 90 minutes of sunlight in the cooler months are typically the best. We kept looking for the best spot to be during this time.

Finally, around 4 p.m., we got to a spot of rocky bottom around 45 feet of water. It was the shallowest spot we had visited all day. I sent a GoPro camera down to inspect the bottom and on the next drop with a 1.5-ounce Hogball XL, got a beautiful hogfish.

Travis then got one immediately after me, and our optimism was raised. I brought the GoPro up and noticed beautiful, clean water and ample fish when checking the footage. Snapper, grouper, hogfish and more porkfish than I’ve ever seen before.

Was our timing correct where the fish became more active or did we just settle on the best spot of the day?

Either way, we kept fishing, sending shrimp down on Hogballs. Every few minutes another hogfish was landed. Cayson hooked a big hogfish that we saw a shark eat below the boat. Another fish that Blake hooked was chased by a shark and a goliath grouper — the taxmen were hungry.

To counter the sharks, I gave Cayson a bigger spinning reel, a 6000 Picifun, which was bigger than the 3000 size he was previously using. This allowed him to crank his hooked fish much faster.

Bigger hogfish fight hard, and shortly after the change, he hooked the biggest hogfish of the day, and was now able to crank to the surface without taxing. When sharks become an issue you need heavier tackle for speed. He swung it into the net and smiles lit up the boat.

This last spot made the day. Like many winter trips I’ve experienced in my life, the daytime bite was slow, but the afternoon and evening were phenomenal.

We ended up with about a dozen keeper hogfish, half a dozen scamps and a few snapper, porgies and other by catch. I couldn’t believe how clean the shallow waters were, which I contribute to the lack of rain and no prolonged bad weather. This most likely has fish coming shallower, meaning longer runs aren’t needed to find a good meal for the table.

It looks like we may be in for extended dry weather with no big rain events. This will mean continued great shallow water fishing for hogfish and other bottom species. However, snapper fishing in very clean water can be difficult as they are wary.

The best mangrove snapper and yellowtail snapper bites are usually in murkier water when they aren’t quite as finicky after cold fronts. Lighter leader and hiding baits well will be required in this situation. Until then, hogfish and the bycatch associated when fishing for them will be a good target.