Miami, Florida - Offshore

I went fishing the other day and could not believe the unbelievable heat we were encountering, even on the water. The ocean was flat calm, and we did fill the box with schoolies, but we needed to run the boat to keep cooled down. Next, on the way back home, we were blasted by fifty knot winds and dodged nearby lightening strikes. This is a regular occurrence offshore in the summertime, but is doesn’t have to be this way. Many anglers are avoiding the heat by wetting a line at night. The months of July and August are well known in south Florida for the best months for Snapper fishing. Snapper spawn in July and August and even September and they concentrate in heavy schools both offshore and inshore. This time of the year you will primarily find Muttons, Mangrove, Yellowtail, and Cubera Snapper congregating on the offshore reefs. On a typical night of fishing you can usually be back home and in bed by one o’clock in the morning. Anglers have found that if you leave the dock at dusk, you still have enough light to travel safely to your spot, set up, and be ready for the “bite” which can start almost immediately as the sun sets to the west. The best action of the night can occur just after dark. If they haven’t started to bite by midnight, there is a good chance they are not going to bite at all. The typical method of fishing for Snapper is by anchoring and chumming on the reef. That reef may be a patch reef in twenty feet of water or it may be the drop off that runs north and south up and down our coast in 60 to 90 feet of water. Patch reefs in the shallower water may have smaller Mangrove Snapper and an occasional Mutton. The deeper ledge will harbor large Mangrove’s, Yellowtail, and Muttons. A good depth finder comes in handy to locate fish hovering over a ledge or drop off. I usually head south along the drop-off until I read a school of fish over the bottom. I will make a couple of passes over the spot to confirm they are there. Anchor a good distance ahead of the spot figuring current and allowing for a good length of anchor line. Throw out a block of chum and start fishing. It may take thirty minutes or so for the chum to sink and get the snappers attention. A stout twenty pound spinning rod works well. While you are chumming you will notice live bait swimming in your boat’s light. These will usually be Pilchards which make excellent baits for snapper. Use a knocker rig which consists of a sliding egg sinker on your line and allow it to slide down to the hook. About a one ounce sinker will do but it depends on the current. You may have to go up in weight if you can’t get your weight to the bottom. I use a short shank 3/0 L194 Eagle Claw hook with no leader. Catch a live Pilchard with your cast net or Sabiki rig and hook it through the nose and let him go to the bottom. It shouldn’t take long for a strike. While someone works the bottom, someone else could fish the top of the water column behind the boat. Use the same rig but without the sinker, however, while fishing on top, I might fish with a fresh cut bait to entice a different type of snapper to hit. Try different style of baits both on top and along the bottom, you may catch a nice variety of snapper in both areas. Typically you will find Yellowtail behind your boat in the chum line after the chum line gets established. The larger Mangrove Snapper will usually be below the smaller one’s you may see in your chum line. There is an area north of the whistle buoy off north Key Largo that large Cubera Snapper frequent, especially during the times of the full moon. These fish look in every way just like a Mangrove Snapper, however, they can grow to very large sizes. The largest fish I have ever caught was in the eighty pound class. These fish prefer live Florida Lobster for bait. They can inhale a whole lobster in less than five seconds and have you pinned against the gunwale holding on for dear life before you have time to set the hook. You’ll be wondering....what the hell did I get myself into? A two pound Mangrove Snapper will give you a good fight. Imagine multiplying that fight twenty to thirty times and that’s what it feels like when you are hooked into these gargantuan snapper. Fifty pound tackle is a must, however some anglers try for them with smaller tackle but will loose plenty of fish to the bottom. If you fish in July, lobster season will not be open and you will have to use other baits. Live, large Blue Crabs work well, and I know of some anglers that have done well using live Mullet for bait. I use a large one to two pound jig rigged with 250 pound mono leader. I wire a short piece of 150 pound wire to a triple strength 10/0 treble hook and then to the eye of the look. The hook of the jig goes through the joint at the base of the lobsters antenna, and the treble hook gets placed in the meat of the tail. If the current is too fast you may need to add extra weight, which I do by sliding an eight ounce egg sinker down to the jig ( just like the knocker rig) until I have enough weight to keep it on the bottom. Use your depth finder to locate the fish. Fish from 120 to 200 feet of water northeast of the whistle buoy. Shut your motors down! The fish will spook with the more boats searching around for them. I spoke with Captain Mike Pellini recently and he fishes the finger channels south of Cape Florida at night. He uses the same methods as we do on the deeper reefs. He anchors and chums in a deeper finger channel and he catches Mangrove Snapper, Muttons and an occasional Grouper. He explained that the Muttons are not as big as what we catch on the deeper reefs but they are usually all legal( Sixteen inches), and just as tasty. If you want to beat the heat, and avoid the daytime crowds, and still get a good night sleep. Give nighttime Snapper fishing a try. Not only will you be putting a sweet dinner on the table, think of the sweet dreams you’ll have.