This past weekend was one of the best 39 hour trips of 2019 so far! The gag grouper bite was off the chain according to our first mate Will McClure and the mangrove snapper bite was hot as well. Plus, we saw the kingfish, tuna and some other pelagic action out there in deeper waters too!
The fronts have the gags very active and aggressive as the waters cool down and the pressures change. We are doing very well from around 120-180 foot of water and in that depth the mangrove snapper have been large and consistent. For gag grouper, the best bait has been the threadfins, pinfish or pigfish on the bottom with 60-100lb test leader and 7-10ot hooks. However, this past weekend we found the bonita strips were a great dead bait options to get the big gags excited on the bottom. Essentially, the bigger the bait the bigger the fish so you want to also step up the size of your leader, hook and reel if you are dropping down a bigger live or dead bait for those aggressive hard fighting gag grouper.
The mangrove snapper are always loving the threadfin or sardine plugs near shore and offshore. The best method, like near shore fishing, are those double snell rigs with around 6ot double circles hidden in a single chunk of meat. Highly recommend you brine up your precut pieces of dead bait to get them extra oily and smelly with added rigidity to ensure your bait isn’t mushy and easily picked off your hooks at the first nibble.
There’s been some big vermillion and even a few lane snapper out there mixed in with the mangrove snapper, and its been great bottom fishing lately when the weather allows us to get out there to the fish. We are looking forward to a great weekend of fishing on our light load 44 hour that is heading offshore as you read this report. Check into our Hubbard’s Marina Facebook page or YouTube page Sunday morning to see the video showing off their catch with a full fishing update from this special 44 hour full moon long range overnight fishing trip!
