I have done a lot of bottom fishing running both private boats as well as my boat this month. Running Private boats we have been running 50-70 miles offshore and finding a great Scamp bite! Most of the scamp have been 10-15 pounds and have been caught in 260-300ft of water. Shimano Butterfly jigs and live bait have both been productive while looking for the scamp. The Red Snapper bite in 300ft of water has been steady as well.
While running several trips in my boat this month we have found that the Mingo Snapper have been giving it up on almost every spot we have been at. It is a challenge to get away from the “nearly extinct” Red Snapper, but if you can get away from them you can expect to catch your limit of Mingo Snapper very quickly. Cut Bait and small hooks will do the trick for catching the Mingo Snapper. The triggerfish have also been biting well this month but it seems like when you find one that is 13 1/2 inches you will find 1,000 that are 13 1/2 inches. Just keep at it and you will find a few legal ones.
The 2010 Cobia Migration has been one of the better ones I can remember during the last 5-6 years. There has not been a 100 pounder caught yet this year, but the amount of 50-60 pounders has been rediculous. We have had plenty of days when we have caught 10 or more fish this month. The migration will come to an end during the next 2 weeks or so, but there will be plenty of cobia taking up residence on wrecks. While bottom fishing keep an eye our for that cobia that is curious and comes swimming up to your boat to check you out. You should always have a rod rigged and ready for this to happen.
The month of April has proved to be a great month for inshore fishing! The Sheepshead bite has been as good as it has ever been. The bait started to show up on time this year for a change bringing catches of Spanish Mackerel as well as some nice King Mackerel. The Big bull redfish bite has been on fire as well, especially in Pensacola Pass. Live Pinfish have worked well for the redfish in the pass. If you cannot find the pinfish, live shrimp works too. Reports of Black Snapper being caught around dock pilings in the bays have been steady. Use live shrimp for the black snapper as well. The month of May will bring increased catches of King and Spanish Mackerel. The Redfish bite will remain Steady and the flounder bite will pick up as well. Get your reels ready! Things are just going to get better from here!!
Here are a few pictures from some of my recent trips. Today was really cool. We caught sheepsheads first and then decided to go look around in the gulf since it was so nice. We went 2 for 3 on cobia from my bay boat with no tower! One was small and we released the little guy unharmed, one was 40-45 lbs but I couldn’t get him to eat, and the one we kept was about 30 lbs.
Capt Matt Mcleod
850-418-5333 matt@hotspotstackle.com
www.hotspotscharters.com
www.hotspotstackle.com
I must say that today was the smoothest day of the year thus far. There wasn’t even a breath of wind as we glided across Pensacola bay to the first location that began our very eventful afternoon. Today, I got the pleasure of having George Converse on my boat. George is a local Dr. from Pensacola who has a passion for fishing as many of us do.
We arrived destination number one, a bay rock which has been a go to spot for me over the last few weeks. I frequent this area because it is usually immediate action for my clients. Catching 6 or 7 different species is not out of the ordinary for this location, but the target fish today was sheepshead. George has a boat of his own and was eager to learn the ins and outs of Pensacola bay sheepshead fishing. With a much stronger current than normal, I rigged George up a carolina rig with a 3oz egg weight. I pulled him over the spot and told him to drop. GAME ON! George hooked up with a monster 6lb sheepshead on the very first drop. After that it was constant action for a solid hr.
George got his fill of huge, Pensacola pass sheepshead so we decided to go target monster bull reds in the bay. Over the last week I have found a school of 2 to 3 thousand bull reds directly in the middle of Pensacola Bay. The redfish have been chasing large schools of pogies to the surface of the water which makes these fish very easy to spot. Birds will also give these fish away. If you see a group of gulls and pelicans diving in an area it is always a good idea to check it out. More times than not you will find large schools of bull reds underneath them. Since these fish are in a frenzy they tend to eat anything thrown there way. I have a friend that once caught one on a banana peel! Talk about crazy!!
As we approached the area that the redfish have been concentrated in, I spotted 20 or 30 seagulls circling above. I slowed the engine to idle speed and told George to watch the birds as I watched my depth finder. A lot of times you will run over the top of these huge redfish schools. If you don’t have our sonar on you will never know they are there. Afer looking for no more than a couple minutes my sonar turned blood red from top to bottom. George dropped a jig down and hooked up within seconds. After a 10 minute battle he landed a beautiful 37″ bull red. We revived the fish and he was released unharmed.
George decided soon after, that he wanted to catch a bull on a top water lure. I tied on a pink Skitterwalk and the hunt began. We followed the same group of birds and watched the reds on the sonar. I new any minute they would come to the top. About that time George spotted them 50 yards from the boat going crazy. I rushed over and positioned the boat to where George could make a perfect cast. The reds were so aggressive that he would tease them by reeling the topwater to the boat as fast as he could. Everytime he would have 30 or more fish follow it in. Finally he let one eat and caught another giant bull. Soon after we called it a day. I had sheepshead to clean!
Great Job George! Another great day on the water!
Brant Peacher
www.fishtheemeraldcoast.com
Here are a few pictures from my charter on Saturday the third. We had a great time with some nice sheepsheads and some bull reds. The reds were on fire for a while, we couldn’t get a bait past them to the sheepsheads! But that was a good problem to have. All fish caught on live shrimp.
Capt. Matt Mcleod
www.hotspotscharters.com
www.hotspotstackle.com
Fished with Bryson Bratcher, His niece Elissa, and her friend Jessica today. We started the day in the sound, pitching baits around a few docks that have held good fish as of late. Elissa was the first to hook up! After battling with a fish that wrapped her several times around a pilon, she managed to reel in a fat 24″ red. The fish ate a live shrimp around a broken dock. It took everything she had to pull that fish out lol….We pitched 5 or 6 more docks and averaged about 1 red per dock.
After we got several keepers in the boat we headed out to find the big bulls in the bay. Those girls just thought the slot reds pulled hard! When we arrived in the middle of the bay, I found my buddy Shawn looking for the same school of fish we were. We sat for about 15 minutes and finally spotted them about a quarter mile away. We rushed to the school and got a quick double hookup before the fish went down. It was truly a blast watching those two girls battle the biggest fish of there lives. We netted them both, snapped a quick pic, looked up, and an acre of fish were right in front of the boat. They stayed there for over and hr….
After we had our bull red fun we ran to the pass and caught 10 big sheepies then called it day. We tried for grouper a few times but had no success. Today was the best weather day of the week by far. Hopefully the weekend is nice!
