Night snapper fishing getting hot. Yellowtails and mangrove snappers are really starting to bite great on the 2nd and 3rd reefs off Fort Lauderdale. Not just in one or two spots, all the spots seem to be holding more fish these days. Yellowtails are coming up closer to the boat in the chumline, and they have been nice fat ones too, 2-3 pounders. Grovers are staying near the bottom but are also biting good. It can take the mangroves a while to respond to the chum, but don't let up. The more chum, the more fish you'll catch. A few muttons are also biting on the night anchor trips. And the muttons we catch this time of year are big ones, not like the small muttons we catch in the winter. For muttons, a long leader, fluorocarbon is best, and my favorite bait is a ballyhoo plug butterflied with 2 hooks. A few schools of bluefish are also jumping us at night. They are the small 'snapper blues', like 3-5 pounders. They come through and eat every bait they come across. Loner cobia are also biting out there. Last night we caught a pair of cobias, both 25 pound fish. Groupers are biting too out there, but they're still out of season, so not worth talking much about. May 1 is opening day of grouper season. We're going to do some grouper trips during the first week of May. Night fishing has been the hot bite fishing in Fort Lauderdale these days. A lot of action and a lot of good eating fish out there.
Capt Paul Roydhouse
Fishing Headquarters
www.fishheadquarters.com
(754)214-7863
