The gag grouper have closed as of January first, but the lane snapper have opened back up for harvest. Plus, right now we are doing very well on some nice hogfish action around 40-70ft of water. Also, a few mackerel are still around right now too. Biggest problem near shore this time of year is timing your trips around the weather. We get these large low pressures, strong high pressures and pre frontal activity that can really affect our abilities to get out on the water to get after these hogfish.
Lane snapper love the small pieces of squid or live shrimp on the lighter tackle like mangrove snapper. These guys are great eating fish and they are typically fairly thick in an area and tend to cooperate well. I like to use around 20-40lb test leader with around 3-4ot hooks and lighter leads with a 4000 series spinning reel. They are most commonly found a little deeper in our near shore waters from around 60-100ft of water.
Mangrove snapper action has been a little hit and miss mostly due to weather, but when they are biting well we are seeing some larger fish being caught in the 2-3lb range. The true big boys 4-9lbs are out deeper but we can get some nice near shore mangrove snapper action closer to 60-100ft of water but the deeper you go the bigger and more prolific they seem to get this time of year. These guys need the double snell rig, cut threadfin and around 30lb floro leader with 4ot hooks.
The hogfish action is on point right now near shore around 40-70ft of water. It’s a great time to get out there between these weather ridges and fronts to enjoy some hogfish hunting on our 5 or 10 hour trips or a private fishing charter or you own boat! The best way to target them is using live shrimp or very fresh dead shrimp on lighter tackle and lighter weights around ½ an ounce to 1 oz weights. The 4ot hook seems to be the best size to use when hog hunting but the 1-2oz Nekid ball jigs are a great secondary option if you aren’t comfortable using the knocker rig style set up.
Red grouper are biting decently too, but they are little difficult as of late as they can be spotty and tough to find in good numbers. They love squid strips, small octopus, live pinfish and also whole threadfins. I typically use 40-60lb test and a 6-7ot hook when targeting these red grouper near shore. Closer to 80-100ft of water is where I would suggest starting to look for red grouper this time of year on the flat hard bottom, potholes, rock piles or smaller ledges where the gags are not as thick.
