Hogfish is the star of the show near shore right now, they are really biting well and will continue through the spring time while the water is a little cooler. We are finding them best a little deeper this past week around 50-60ft of water which is a little bit of a change. The shallower 40ft areas were producing well but it was a little more picky the past few days. The live shrimp and light tackle approach is king for these guys around 30lb floro leader with 3-4ot hook and a 1oz egg sinker and 4-5 of the 8mm red beads between your sliding egg sinker and your hook seems to be a killer knocker rig set up for the hogfish. Remember to bring plenty of shrimp and make sure your 30lb floro leader is much longer than you think around 15-20ft works well. A very powerful light spinning combo is preferred around 4000 series reel is popular with a rod with a solid backbone and a sensitive tip is great for hogfish.
Lane snapper and a few mangrove snappers have been found while targeting the hogfish along with the occasional red grouper. We aren’t seeing a ton of the red grouper lately but there are a few around ready to eat.
