especially with calm seas for the past 5 days days. I've put fishing the flats for trout on hold and have been out in the gulf searching for some nice red snappers. The gulf has been so flat, that you practically glide across the water to your fishing hole. I haven't caught any monsters yet this year, but we have caught some good quality red snappers along with some stud black snappers. I've been fishing a few of my #'s from last year, and let me tell you they have been producing well. I'm very pleased with my new Cabo trolling reels; they have been great for snapper fishing. I purchased them for this year's king fishing as well as snapper fishing. I wanted a rod and reel combo that could handle both king and snapper fish, and these combo's are perfect. I'm using the Cabo 20's and 16's with 30lb mono on the 20's and 20 lb mono on the 16's. The drags on these reels are awesome; we turned a few fish that I didn't think we would turn.
The king bite the past few days has been hit and miss on the wrecks. One day the bite is great, and you can put out a live cigar minnow and you're on, but then the next day you can't give a bait away. I have found that drifting baits out has resulted in more kings than trolling.
Although I have been booking a bunch of snapper trips, I did make it out to the flats a couple of days last week, and the trout bite was still very good. The bite ended around 9am for me, so I suggest you beat the sun up, and get out there early. I'm still catching my trout on a lot of the same things I mentioned in my last report. A friend of mine fishes a lot at night and he was telling me that the late afternoon bite and night bite is red hot, and fishing the dock lights has yielded some quality fish.
I have a few more offshore trips next week, and will be fishing for kings and snappers and a few more trips that will be on the flats. Check back to see my next report and see what we're hooking up.
Here are some pics from my latest trips.
Tight Lines.
Capt. John Rivers
Mega-Bite Inshore Charters
850-341-9816
Mega-Bite Inshore Charters
Thanks to my sponsors:
Mann's Lures, Power-Pole, SPRO Fishing Tackle
Gamakatsu Hooks, Fenwick Rods, Pure Fishing - Berkley,Stren,Quantum
