ABSOLUTE FLORIDA
FLATS FISHING also does fishing charters nearshore on our artificial reefs and
wrecks, rock ledges, coral out croppings, good defined bottom depth changes
with scattered rock piles mostly within sight of land, no more than 1 to 9
miles from our white sandy beaches. Depending
on season and migration patterns of certain reef and wreck fish species you can
either anchor on good structure or slow troll huge areas of live rock bottom,
hard bottom, chasing schools of bait on the surface, and dipping, diving,
birds, that show you where there is activity when tides are slow and to cover
ground on the hunt !
Capt. Rich is convinced that
anchoring and chumming is the most effective tactic for all species as long as
there is good moving water (tides). Slow
trolling sometimes works best, and slowly pulling big live bait like a full
blown pilchard, Spanish sardine, threadfin herring, finger mullet, blue runners
and even ladyfish helps find fish and has accounted for many record big fish. It’s also a top tactic when the tide is dead,
as your chum block and cut bait chum, and live scaled sardine chum fish, won’t
spread out behind the boat without a good tide current. Mornings are usually
most productive for this type of fishing!
What
we catch on our nearshore reef and wreck fishing charters often depend on water
temperatures, bait fish migration, quality of water (clean), and seasons with
year round fishing.
FISH SPECIES WE CATCH!
KING MACKEREL FISHING ; are found in the entire Gulf
of Mexico from inshore beaches 100 yards off the beach to deep blue water. Adults are heavy bodied (6-30 lbs. to larger)
with large mouth and razor teeth. The elongated
body is bluish to greenish on top and mostly silvery and unmarked. Kings are big and fast and usually
cooperative. They offer tremendous
attraction as a gamefish. They can strip
200 yards off your reel in a matter of seconds.
At any size they are strong and sizzling fighters.
SPANISH MACKEREL FISHING; the kingfish cousin
average 2-6 lbs.; much of what we’ve said about kingfish applies here except
they can be caught right on grass flats fishing charters to the deep blue. Spanish are distinguished from kings by
yellow and brown spots on their sides.
Catch these speedsters with a long shank hook due to their top and
bottom row of razor sharp teeth. Great
light tackle fishing with spinning or fly tackle is perfect for Spanish
fishing. If you like rich, rather pink filets, they are great broiled or
skinned and fried, blackened or baked.
AND these are very good smoked.
COBIA FISHING; may be found anywhere from
shallow inshore flats to the deep sea wrecks and reefs. Dramatic runs sometimes launching their whole
body out of the water and head shaking maneuvers like tarpon is what you get
with cobia fishing. Brown or gray above,
with a dark stripe from gills to tail, and whitish underneath, cobia can look
like a shark in the water. Generally
they run 12 lbs. To 50 lbs., though they grow to 100 lbs. or more. Cobia love to hang around nearshore reefs and
wrecks where they swim both at the surface and down deep. They also invade inshore flats and
beaches. Other favorite spots for flats
fishing them are around floating and stationary objects like inshore navigation
buoys, tripods, beacons, channel markers, pilings and piers. They are often seen escorting and riding on
the backs of big stingrays and manatees waiting for them to flush a free lunch
on the inshore flats fishing waters only a couple of feet deep. They are great table fare cooked the way you
like your fish.
MANGROVE SNAPPER FISHING; These snappers on the reefs and wrecks spawn
there in warm waters usually nearshore in the warmer months. Absolute Florida Flats Fishing likes to fish
for these hard fighting great tasting fish on light tackle. They are very leader shy and we must use small
hooks like a #1. As they grow, they
become more difficult to fool especially in daylight. Best bait are the pilchard hatch, scaled
sardines, live chumming and cut bait chumming with them is best. Sometimes you can bring the school right to
the surface with heavy chumming techniques.
When hooked mangrove snappers make strong runs, the wage a bull dogging
battle all the way to boat side. They
are gray or pinkish above and light on the underside, usually with an overall reddish
hue that can range from coppery to brick red. They have a black line from snout
over the eye which darkens when they’re in the mood. They are great tasting white filets, cooked
y9u way.
GRAY GRUNT OR WHITE SNAPPER FISHING ; are very
strong when hooked on double hook dropper rigs on light tackle. They are found up and down the entire Florida
Gulf coast. These tasty fish stick to
hard bottom from close in nearshore rock piles to a 100’ deep. The color usually is light gray, almost white
with small blue and yellow lines marking the head. They will bite on the hottest of days and
high water temperatu4es. Strong fighting
white grunts don’t like leaving their rocky bottom and will double over your
light tackle. They are very good food
value especially fried whole medallions of fish and especially as part of the
historic dish “Grits and Grunts.”
SHARKS SPECIES FISHING;
Dozens of species of sharks roam the Gulf of Mexico, FL Gulf coast,
artificial reefs and wrecks and reach good size. Some species also are caught and often swim
the inshore flats fishing areas from the mail shoreline out. Sharks are often referred to as “poor man’s
gamefish,” but even the smaller sharks put up respectable battles up against
medium tackle. Some of the more
prevalent species we catch are the Black tip shark, Bonnet head shark, reef
shark, spinner shark, nurse shark and even bull sharks. Some of these not give-up, high flying sharks
will take your breath away. We do not
keep sharks as there are many conservation issues on some species and food
value are questionable; however they are great reef and wreck fishing targets
and battles so bring your camera!
There
are many fish species we may not have
mentioned that we may run into while doing a reef and wreck fishing charter, including
barracuda, mahi- mahi, and gag grouper.
The more the better!
