Big kingfish can be caught year-round in Key West, but in January and February more smokers migrate south from the Gulf of Mexico. With the right timing and tactics, anglers can catch the biggest kings of the year.

“It’s just so cool,” says Key West captain Casey Hunt, who grew up fishing in Pompano Beach, Florida. “Catching 20-pound kingfish here is like catching 5-pound kingfish out of Hillsboro Inlet. They’re so plentiful.”

And these big macks grow really big. A few years ago, Hunt caught a monster that weighed 71 pounds in his boat. He notes that the same fish, gutted, actually weighed 72 pounds on a fish house scale. In a fairly recent Key West Kingfish Mayhem Open Tournament, the winning fish came in at 51.7 pounds; seven other kings topped 41 pounds.

Kingfish Haven

Capt. Ron Mitchell, a well-known Florida angler who has fished Key West king mackerel tournaments for nearly 30 years, has caught many kings over 50 pounds, including a 63-pounder. He also got a firsthand look at a 78.66-pounder caught by another tournament team in 2015.

“There’s so much life there [in Key West], why would the fish leave?” says Mitchell, a member of the Southern Kingfish Association Hall of Fame. “It’s a big old ecosystem that’s holding tons of fish. It just seems like they get a little bigger and maybe they’re feeding a little differently, there are more in an area this time of year.”

Mitchell also thinks that improvements in boats, motors, electronics and tackle contribute to the increase in the number of big kingfish caught in Key West. For example, his boat Bandit, with quad 400-horsepower outboards, allows him to cover much more water. Mitchell says it takes him one hour to get to spots that used to take him three hours, allowing him to fish longer. His boat features six livewells, each with two pumps in case one pump breaks or if he wants to increase water flow to accommodate hundreds of baits.

Smoker Kingfish Tactics

To target big kings, Mitchell emphasizes making the extra effort to select the liveliest baits. “I tell my guys to always find the best baits in the livewell. Look in there and find that bright-eyed, crisp blue runner or goggle-eye or speedo or whatever and put him out. He’ll get hit quicker than anything you’ve got in your spread,” he says.

Hunt uses his Simrad sounder to find bait and slight changes in water temperature. He also uses CMOR mapping on his multifunction display to find wrecks and other structure. “Sometimes the current hits the reef differently and there’s bait that’s balled up there,” he says. “Sometimes the water will get really cold, and when you find it bump up a little bit, even if it changes a half a degree, it can mean fish there.”

Winter weather also plays a role as front after front rolls through. “If you go down there for a week, you’re going to have a couple good days and you’re going to have a couple horrible days,” Mitchell says. Before the front arrives, the kingfish start feeding, and then they shut down. After the front passes and the weather calms the fish start eating. “But I always think that if you put a beautiful bait in front of a kingfish, no matter what’s going on — they might not even be hungry — they see that thing and they’ve got to hit it.”

Finding Key West King Mackerel

Hunt, who runs CN-It Adventures, charters with his 26-foot Twin Vee and also guides anglers on their personal boats. He catches most of his big winter kings about 40 miles south of Key West along a ledge that drops from 60 to 120 feet.

“The bait is holding right where the ledge starts to drop down, and the kingfish are shooting up to eat the bait,” Hunt says, adding that yellowtail snappers also hang on that ledge. “You can fish for yellowtails there as well and hook a big kingfish. Someone caught a 61-pound king on a 12-pound outfit while yellowtailing. There are plenty of wahoos there, too, when the water is clean.”

Mitchell adds that most of his prime spots lie 40 to 45 miles out of Key West. Among his favorites include Tail End Buoy, the Rockpile, the Rocket, the Critter, eastern and western Dry Rocks, Cosgrove Shoals and the current hotspot, the Banana Bar.

Kingfish Tackle and Bait

When targeting big kings, Hunt prefers a 3- to 5-pound live blue runner (his 71-pounder ate a runner) or yellowtail snapper. He bump-trolls the baits, taking the engines in and out of gear to keep the bow edging forward, and fishes only three flat lines at a time. He staggers the lines 30, 60, and 100 feet behind the boat. “The bite is so fast and furious; if the fish are there, they’re going to eat,” he says. There’s no waiting around.”

He doesn’t employ a downrigger line, usually a popular tactic for kingfish anglers, because a deep bait mostly likely will catch a black grouper (grouper season is closed most of the year), an amberjack or a jack crevalle.

Read Next: King Mackerel Fishing Tips

Mitchell prefers to fish five lines: a big runner or bluefish 300 feet behind the boat, two flat lines, and two downrigger lines at different depths. However, when seas grow rough, he might not even set two baits. And when the bite goes off: “You throw a bait out the back of the boat, and it gets hit immediately. It can get that good.”

Like many kingfish tournament anglers, Hunt uses very light drag settings. Still, his 71-pounder took only 10 minutes to land. “We let them zip out 200 yards of line and wear themselves out, then we go after them with the boat,” he says. But even if a king bites through the leader or otherwise breaks off, chances are the fertile Key West waters will deliver many more opps to smoke one.

The post Winter Hotspot: Key West Kingfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

One of the most iconic opening lines from all of world literature comes from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The British author was comparing and contrasting life in London and Paris, but he might as well have been discussing inshore fishing during the month of December in south Louisiana. This is either the best month of the year, or the absolute worst, and sometimes it’s both. It all depends on the weather.

December is the most bipolar of the months. It can’t decide if it wants to be the most docile of falls or harshest of winters. Many years, local residents wear shorts to Christmas gatherings. Other Decembers are legendarily bitter. Take 1989, for instance. An Arctic blast steamrolled the area that year on Dec. 22, bringing snow and freezing local lakes and bays. Baton Rouge didn’t get above freezing for three days, and recorded a low temperature of 8 degrees F on Dec. 23.

Not exactly prime conditions for throwing soft-plastic baits over grass flats. Fortunately, events like that are the exception, but still, December is an enigmatic month, and local anglers can use its ebbs and flows to follow the fish.

Although the extremes can occur, the more general pattern is for cold fronts to push through once every five days or so, with nighttime lows kissing freezing on the second night after the front. For a day or two, winds will be out of the north, barometric pressure will rise and cold-blooded speckled trout will have the mental capacity of a can of spray cheese. Their brains just don’t work properly in cold conditions, and their bodies barely obey their brains, anyway. They’re like the iguanas in South Florida that fall from trees during cold snaps.

In these conditions, the fish stack up in deep-water thermoclines, and if the water there is warm enough, and you get a bait directly in front of their noses, you might get a bite every single cast. But many times, even if you stumble on a massive school, they’ll be physically incapable of biting a bait. That lasts for two or three days following the front, and then winds gain a southerly component, bringing air up from the warmer Gulf and driving daytime highs into the 60s and sometimes 70s. That’s when fishing can get really fun.

As soon as waters start to warm, the fish get frisky. Nature has taught them they have a limited window to get something in their bellies before the next front once again turns them into blithering idiots. Although deep thermoclines held the warmest of the water during the harshest of the cold, that’s no longer true. Flats exposed to the warming air, particularly on sunny days, heat up quickly, and the fish fan out over them searching for bait, mostly glass minnows and remaining white shrimp.

Fish in this mode are more aggressive and far less school-oriented, so the best way to target them is to repeatedly drift productive flats, throwing jerkbaits , soft-plastic paddletails on light jigheads, and shrimp-imitations under popping corks. And actually, if the warming trend is a little longer in duration and water temps on the flats reach the 60s, topwaters can become more productive than any other style of lure, particularly for big speckled trout.

That’s especially true on flats that feature scattered grass, pretty water and even just a few jumping mullet. It’s one of the most consistent patterns of the year, and is the main reason December rates so highly among hardcore anglers who ignore the hunting seasons to focus on the fish. For them, it’s mostly just the best of times.

The post Gulf Coast Wintertime Fishing appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

What does a lingcod eat? Anything it wants. These deep-water reef predators rule the bad neighborhoods where they live, feeding on octopus, sand dabs, rockfish and anything else they can fit in their cavernous, toothy maws. They readily attack prey seemingly too large to swallow, a reason they are often caught by anglers as “hitchhikers” literally lock-jawed onto hooked rockfish as they’re reeled toward the surface.

Savvy Southern California anglers know this and appeal to the lingcod’s ravenous appetite and aggressive nature by tossing super-size swimbaits. The technique has developed somewhat of a cult following: Small groups of swimbait aficionados gather in the bow of partyboats to “chuck the rubber,” while the majority of the passengers deploy dropper-loop rigs with 1-pound weights meant to carry live or cut baits into depths that can reach 300 feet or more. The fall season is probably the best time of the year to target big lingcod in this way. As temperatures cool, lings move into shallower waters and feed aggressively. Smart anglers venture out on skiffs and party boats to meet them, swimbait outfits in hand.

Make no mistake, plenty of anglers catch lingcod on live mackerel, live sardines or even whole or stripped squid fished on “shrimp fly” rigs. Large lings are sometimes taken this way in between reeling up vermillion, chucklehead or any of a wide variety of rockfish species. But if you want to catch lingcod almost exclusively—and the largest ones on the boat—switch to big swimbaits. I say “almost exclusively,” because truly large rockfish of 5 pounds and up sometimes jump on these soft-plastic lures, as well, adding variety and quality to the equation.

California Swimbait Fishing

What do I mean by a big swim bait? Lure companies like Kustom Kraft, Candy Bar and Savage Gear have developed specialized lures for this technique, with beefy, sturdy plastic bodies boasting large paddle tails for maximum action and vibration. Up to 10 inches long, these tails pair with heavy, wedge-shaped leadheads sporting 7/0 to 10/0 hooks. Depending on the depth of the structure being fished, leadheads can range from 4 to 16 ounces. Some lures, like those from Savage Gear, feature molded leadheads designed for use with specific integrated tails.

Working a lure that must be retrieved can be a challenge when fishing craggy, rocky structure in waters up to 300 feet deep. Swim the lure as close to the bottom as possible for as long as possible. Partyboat anglers should stay clear of other anglers fishing bait rigs straight up and down. The technique involves casting your lure from the bow or downwind corner of the stern. Toss it as far as possible and let it sink quickly to the bottom, then work the swimbait with a steady, medium-speed retrieve for about 15 to 20 turns of the reel handle. If you don’t get bit, freespool back to the bottom and repeat. As the boat drifts over and eventually away from your line, you will have to recast and begin the process again.

If the boat drifts too quickly, you might have to use a more vertical presentation. In those situations, I just wind quickly for about seven to 10 cranks, drop back and repeat. It takes some dedication to do this, but the reward is worth the effort. At times, however, conditions just won’t allow for working a swimbait. When this happens, I switch to my second-favorite lingcod lure, which is a heavy metal jig. Fish these lures vertically and bounce them just off the bottom. To create a large target worthy of attracting the attention of big lingcod, I replace the usual treble hooks with a large single siwash hook, onto which I thread a 6-inch plastic or Berkeley Gulp! grub.

Best Techniques for Swimbait Fishing

New anglers trying to master the swimbait method must resist the natural impulse to set the hook. Lingcod often grab the lure by the tail and hold on, and if you swing the rod, you pull the lure out of its mouth (often ripping the tail off in the process). Instead, just keep turning the reel handle at the same speed until the rod loads up and the fish is solidly hooked.

If the fish lets go or comes off after a few head shakes, immediately drop the lure down a few seconds and start reeling. Lingcod hate to let any meal—even a fake one—get away. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sealed the deal after two or three re-bites. Lings are also very competitive, and it’s not uncommon to have one or more free-swimming lingcod accompany a hooked fish on its way to the surface, ready to pounce on the lure should it become dislodged.

To increase the number of solid hookups, I often rig my swimbaits with a simple trap-hook system. I loop an Owner 5/0 Assist Hook over the tip of the main hook and cinch it tight at the hook’s bend. Depending on the length of the swimbait, this provides a large trailing hook near the tail of the lure. I’ve caught plenty of big lingcod on the trap hook alone.

Maintain a slow and steady retrieve when fighting a big ling. They usually make a strong run toward structure once hooked, and after that, it’s usually heavy weight with just enough head shaking to rattle your nerves. If you keep steady pressure, lings usually stay fairly calm until they get near the boat.

Swimbait tails come in a wide variety of colors, and I’ve seen them all work. Shades of red and brown certainly match the natural coloration of juvenile rockfish.

Capt. Mike Nickerson, of the popular Channel Islands-based sport boat Pacific Dawn, likes a custom-poured tail he calls Blue Bass, the common name for the ubiquitous blue rockfish that populate these reefs. At the same time, I’ve caught plenty on gaudy colors like glow in the dark, chartreuse, pink-and-white striped and pearl white. I don’t think color is all that important as long as you work the lure effectively in the strike zone and maximize bites when they happen.

Swimbait Fishing Tackle for Lingcod

It takes a specific style of rod and reel to effectively fish these heavy lures. Relatively stiff, fast-action graphite-composite jig rods of 8 to 8 1/2 feet work best for lobbing lures that might weigh up to a pound. Conventional reels can be either star or lever drag, as long as they hold 300 to 400 yards of 65-pound braided line.

Using straight braid with only a few feet of 40-pound test monofilament or fluorocarbon leader allows lures to sink quickly and keep you in direct touch with the lure and your fish. The short length of leader (joined with a back-to-back uni-knot) provides some added shock absorption and makes it easier to break off if you snag the bottom.

The post Catch California’s Lingcod with Swimbaits appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Capt. Richard Stanczyk stays busy overseeing everything at Bud N’ Mary’s Marina in Islamorada. But this time of year, when the weather cools in the Florida Keys, he always sets aside a few afternoons to take family and friends bonefishing.

Thanks to a combination of factors that has greatly improved the water quality in Florida Bay around Islamorada, flats fishing has flourished. “When I used to take people bonefishing, I would tell them, ‘I guarantee you one thing: a beautiful sunset.’ Now I can almost guarantee them a bonefish,” Stanczyk says. “The flats are better, there’s no question. The overall water quality has been the best this year that I can remember in many, many years.”

Best Flats and Conditions for Bonefish

Although anglers can endure the heat and catch bonefish during the summer, Stanczyk says fall ranks as his favorite time of the year to pursue the gray ghosts. “Temperature is important, and usually we’re just coming off extreme heat,” he explains. “You’ve got to fish real early in the morning because of the cooling effect that takes place overnight, and then there’s a window late in the afternoon.”

However, bonefish become difficult to catch on the flats when water temperatures dip below 72 degrees. When a November cold front approaches, Stanczyk says the bonefish leave Florida Bay and move to the deeper, warmer water on the ocean side of Islamorada.

While Florida Bay’s water temperatures remain comfortable for bonefish, Stanczyk hunts a variety of flats. With more than 40 years of experience fishing those shallow waters, he has a pretty good idea of where the fish should be based on the tides and the wind direction.

He looks for a mix of healthy, green grass and sand and gravel. He avoids flats with brown, matted algae and what he calls “rusty-looking dust,” which indicates low water flow.

“Sometimes you get big broad flats, and you’ve got a lot of sunlight, and those types of flats [the fish] don’t like to commit to them so much, so they’ll stay around the edges, and that’s especially during calm weather. The wind will help you a little bit,” he says.

He also finds fish around what’s called a strip bank—where a narrow strip rises up, and the water churns as it flows over the obstruction. Fish often mill around those locations and want to feed, he says.

Fishing Live Shrimp for Bonefish

When he first came to the Keys in the 1970s, Stanczyk exclusively fly-fished for bones. He’d propel his skiff across a shallow flat and look for tailing fish or the shadows from swimming fish.

Of course, water levels have risen over the last 20 years, he notes. Bonefish flats that once featured 6 inches of water now flood with 2 or 3 feet of water, making the fish harder to see.

Some sharp-eyed backcountry guides still pole across the flats, but at this stage of his life, Stanczyk prefers a technique known as dead-boating or staking out. “Instead of me hunting them down, I let them find me,” he says.

Stanczyk eases his skiff onto a flat where he believes he’ll intercept bonefish, and where the wind and current move in the same direction. He plants his push pole in the sandy bottom and secures the boat to the pole with a rope.

Once settled, he baits two to four spinning outfits with live shrimp and casts them to specific spots on the flat.

Stanczyk thinks of the flat like a road map with one route on and off the zone. With the right conditions, he knows the bonefish will travel that route and find the shrimp.

Rigging Light Tackle for Bonefish

One of Stanczyk’s other keys to dead-boating bonefish involves putting the bait on an edge with grass and sand. That makes it easier for the fish to find the shrimp by sight and scent.

He recommends using light spinning outfits with 12-pound monofilament line. “You don’t want to over-tackle bonefish,” he says. “It takes away the excitement, the challenge and the fun.”

He places an egg sinker weighing 1/8 to 1/2 ounce, depending on the strength of the current, above a swivel tied to 12 to 18 inches of 12- to 20-pound monofilament leader. He completes the rig with a 2/0 Gamakatsu Offset Worm EWG hook. A smaller hook could be swallowed by a bonefish.

Read Next: Bonefish on Artificial Lures

Stanczyk breaks off the tail off a shrimp and threads it tail-first onto the hook, so the entire hook is concealed. After casting the shrimp, he puts the spinning outfits in rod holders and watches the tips for movement.

“What you’re really watching is the bonefish trying to pick up the shrimp,” Stanczyk says. “As he’s nosing down on your bait, he’s sending you a signal. Pick up the rod, but don’t spook him.”

When the fish takes the shrimp, reel, don’t jerk. “If he’s not there, stop reeling. He’ll pick it back up,” Stanczyk notes. “If he is there, he’s going to be off and running. Let him make his first run, because you’re not going to stop him.”

After another run or two, the bonefish tires, and that trophy comes boatside for photos. Once you notch the first fish by letting it come to you, you can try hunting and scouting. Look for tails and shadows. But if you strike out, remember, you can always stake out.

The post Fishing for Bonefish in the Florida Keys appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Thanks to harvest limits and voluntary catch-and-release, anglers have lots of opportunities to catch red drum these days, especially the adults whose tenacious and dogged fight has earned them the well-deserved sobriquet — bull reds.

Tipping the scales at an average of 30 pounds, adult red drum eat voraciously, consuming a variety of fish and crustaceans by quickly swallowing their prey and relying on crushers in their throats to prepare the meal for digestion. This aggressive feeding behavior can lead to deep-hooking and injury when anglers present natural baits on J hooks with weights and long leaders.

However, a veteran North Carolina angler named Owen Lupton discovered a while back that when he positioned the sinker a few inches above the hook redfish hesitate to swallow the rig past the weight. Also, the location of the weight provides leverage, enhancing the function of the inline circle hook.

Inline circle hooks — their points align with their shanks — work better than offset circle hooks, which tend to attach in soft tissues such as the tongue or throat, negating the rig’s ability to reduce deep-hooking. This kind of short-leader-circle-hook rig usually hooks bull reds in the corner of the jaw or in the lip, causing very little harm to the fish and facilitating a quick release. Some anglers opt to flatten the hook’s barb for easier removal. However, in areas with strong currents or turbulent water movement, bait retention on a barbless hook can be an issue.

Bull Redfish Fishing Rigs

Here’s the list of materials needed to build three variations of this terminal red drum rig:

• Mid-wire, non-stainless, inline circle hooks with a gap between the point and shank of at least a half inch.
• 80-pound- and 150-pound-test monofilament
• Double-barrel sleeves for 80-pound-test mono and .080-inside-diameter (size 4) single-barrel sleeves
• Plastic beads to fit 80-pound and 150-pound mono
• Three-way swivels, 70-pound test
• Duo-lock snaps, 1 1/2 to 2 inches in length
• Barrel swivels, 80-pound test
• Sinker slides
• No-roll or egg sinkers, 3 to 6 ounces
• Crimping tool

Snell a circle hook to a 10-inch length of 80-pound mono. Pass the tag end of the mono through one side of a double-barrel sleeve, a plastic bead, a no-roll or egg sinker, a plastic bead, one side of a second double-barrel sleeve and through the eye of a barrel swivel.

Then, reverse the process and pass the end of the mono through the unused side of the closest double-barrel sleeve, back through the beads and weight, and finish by threading it through the unused side of the double-barrel sleeve closest to the hook. The weight and the beads now lie between the two sleeves.

Position the weight so that it is no more than 6 inches from the hook. Pull the tag end of the mono snug, crimp the sleeves, and cut off the excess monofilament. Tie the main line to the barrel swivel at the top of the rig. You can modify this basic rig by replacing the no-roll or egg sinker with a sinker slide that comes with a clip to attach a pyramid sinker, making it suitable for surf fishing.

Three-Way-Swivel Rig for Bull Redfish in the Surf

Snell a circle hook to an 8-inch length of 80-pound-test mono. Use a double-barrel sleeve to connect the leader to one eye of the three-way swivel so there is no more than 4 inches between the hook and the swivel. Crimp the sleeve and remove the excess mono.

Tie the main line to the second eye of the three-way swivel.

Connect a duo-lock snap to the third eye of the three-way swivel, and clip the snap to a pyramid sinker of the desired weight. This version can be used for surf fishing and bottomfishing from a boat or pier.

The Heavy-Duty Rig for Bull Redfish

This variation of the short, circle-hook rig is used by Capt. Greg Hildreth who fishes the Brunswick-Golden Isles area of coastal Georgia and often finds himself tangling with sharks and even tarpon while pursuing adult redfish for his clients. The longer and heavier leader facilitates catching and handling fish weighing triple digits while also reducing deep-hooking of the bull reds.

Snell or tie a circle hook to a 4-foot length of 150-pound-test mono. Pass the end of the mono through a single-barrel sleeve, a plastic bead, a no-roll or egg sinker, a plastic bead, and another single barrel sleeve.

Position the sleeves, beads, and weight so that the distance between weight and hook does not exceed 6 inches. Lightly crimp the sleeve closest to the hook to fix it in place being careful not to damage the mono. Pull the plastic beads, weight, and top sleeve snug against the crimped bottom sleeve. Lightly crimp the top sleeve.

Finish the tag end of the leader with a double-overhand knot to form a loop. Connect the rig to the main line using a 150-pound-test coast-lock snap swivel. If you want to be able to change weights, replace the no-roll or egg sinker with a sinker slide to attach a pyramid sinker.

In most of the coastal Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, adult redfish cannot be kept. That means that each year, tens of thousands, if not more, bulls are released. It is the responsibility of anglers to do everything they can to ensure these released fish survive.

The short, circle-hook rig is so effective that hundreds have been given to anglers and guides as part of the Fish Smart Red Drum Conservation Project. Help make sure we have plenty of redfish in our future by using this rig and asking your friends to do likewise.

The post How to Tie Rigs for Bull Redfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Time to break those old habits. I’ll be the first one to admit I have some when it comes to ­fishing with soft baits. Often those habits take shape after successful trips. I think, “Heck yeah, I’ve got these fish figured out!” Then, on the next couple of trips, I’ll get skunked.

Soft plastic lures come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, making them suitable for targeting a variety of fish species. They can be rigged in so many different ways, with new options being dreamed up all the time. Today’s soft plastic lures are more durable than ever; they can withstand multiple casts and retrieves without losing their effectiveness.

Techniques for fishing with soft baits shouldn’t remain static. The same old baits can stagnate in their effectiveness. Take advantage of better fish-catching opportunities by using different styles of fishing, trying new lures and techniques, or even considering a wider range of target species. Pick up some new habits.

Freshwater Fishing Lures in Saltwater

Daniel Nussbaum, president of Z-Man Fishing, learned the costly consequences of sticking to the same presentations, especially during slow fishing periods. “I was fishing in South Carolina with Drew Reese,” says Nussbaum. Reese is the former tournament bass angler who finished seventh at the inaugural Bassmaster Classic. “Reese caught eight quality seatrout in a row from the back of the boat, while I failed to get a bite on my three staple trout baits.”

Reese had chosen a finesse rig, also known as a Ned rig, similar to the style of bait he uses in summer for smallmouths at Lake of the Woods, Ontario. The rig consists of a ⅙-ounce Finesse ShroomZ jig head and Hula StickZ (a buoyant creature bait with rear tentacles). Nussbaum stuck with his lead-head Trout Eye jig head and ElaZtech soft bodies that imitate baitfish.

“At the next few stops, we quietly poled and drifted across several flats in search of schools of redfish, and Reese proceeded to boat several quality redfish while I struck out again,” Nussbaum says. “Reese expertly played the fish on his light gear with 6-pound braid, 10-pound fluorocarbon leader and light-wire hooks. He was putting on a clinic using Midwest finesse tackle and tactics.”

Nussbaum realized why the bass master’s baits and presentation were so effective. “Reese slowly raised his rod three times before allowing the presentation to settle to the bottom,” he says. “He always allowed the bait to reach the bottom at least once on each retrieve, noting that the bait standing up off the bottom and moving slightly mimics a small minnow dying or feeding.”

Twitch Baits as Soft Plastic Fishing Lures

A growing number of soft-plastic baits now come rigged with trebles, taking up real estate once reserved only for hard baits. Break the mindset that only hard baits can be twitchbaits or topwaters. The most established soft-bait brand to produce twitchbaits with trebles might be the one with Paul Brown’s namesake, now produced by MirrOlure. Some Gulf Coast anglers recognize them as Corkys.

“I think predators hang on to them for a bit longer due to the fact that they’re soft and more realistic in feel,” says Capt. Tommy Thompson, a past executive director of the Florida Outdoor Writers Association. “We use them only in colder weather, when big seatrout are moving slowly and want slow-moving prey that’s easy to catch.”

The Paul Brown line of baits recently introduced topwater models to complement its suspending twitchbaits. Thompson favors the Devil twitchbait model, with a built-in wire harness, ­single treble hook, oversize eye and short “rat tail” at the rear.

“Use a very slow retrieve, just keeping the plug off the bottom. A random twitch will cause the plug to die, and that’s when predators like trout and reds are more likely to attack,” says Thompson. “I’ve caught 60 trout on one, but it takes just a single bluefish to cut one in half. A 2500-class reel on an 8-foot rod with 10-pound PowerPro works just fine for these plugs.”

Use Weedless Lures All Day Long

Fishing with weedless soft baits is and always has been a productive technique in estuaries, creeks and other inshore waters. But for many, the jerkbait is just a single tool in the box when fishing in shallow waters. I propose that the jerkbait become your prized tool, like a hammer that’s used regularly in around-the-house projects. Make sure there’s always a rod rigged with a jerkbait and worm hook whenever you’re fishing shallow waters less than three feet deep.

“If you retrieve the jerkbaits fast, you can skim them on top for surface strikes,” says Adrian Gray, fishing photographer and creative director at the International Game Fish Association. “If you fish them slower, they suspend if not heavily weighted. Plus, they land softer than most hard-body lures and spook fewer fish.”

The inshore scenarios where weedless baits excel illustrate their versatility. You can cast them under mangrove overhangs or docks, on top of oyster beds or grass beds, or even along rock jetties or shore breaks.

“I find that if I have someone fishing with me with little experience casting to shorelines or structure, a weedless jerkbait affords the angler more confidence to cast closer to structure with less risk of snags,” says Gray. “Plus, worm hooks are far easier to unhook and better for releasing fish than a mouth full of trebles.”

Creature Soft Plastics for Saltwater Fishing

Picking the right soft plastic sometimes defies conventional logic. If fish attacked only the most natural-looking presentations, all soft baits would come from the same baitfish molds, utilize the same natural colors, and replicate one another. But colors such as LSU’s purple and yellow are popular in ­places like Louisiana. And at times, the bait that’s shaped like a french fry can ­out-fish the mullet imitation.

“It’s all determined by our dirty marsh waters,” says Capt. Dan Skermetta of Louisiana. “Those darker ­colors show up so much better than light, natural colors.”

Creature baits that mimic crabs, eels and animals that I have never seen on this green earth also generate a profile that’s easier to pick up in murky waters. Often the baits are rigged with a noisy popping cork 2 to 3 feet above the bait.

Anglers who fish tidal zones where fresh meets salt have the opportunity to catch both largemouth bass and redfish at the same spot. Flip a jig-and-pig at reedy shorelines for both species.

In the Florida Everglades, Capt. Ray Van Horn pitches mangroves for snook, reds, black drum, young goliath grouper and tarpon with Strike King’s Hack Attack bass jig coupled with a Strike King Rage Bug (creature bait) or MirrOlure Marsh Minnow (baitfish) trailer.

“It truly is a reaction strike [I’m ­looking for] when flipping to mangroves and undercut banks,” says Van Horn. “I use a 7½-foot medium-heavy casting rod with backbone and large guides to handle the GT knot I tie between my 70-pound braid and 80-pound leader. When fish bite, they hit it with ­authority and don’t let go.”

Catch Swordfish on Soft Plastics

The dirty secret that experienced deep-droppers only recently revealed is that eels are top natural baits for swordfish. Capt. Corey Burlew, a commercial fisher­man from Deerfield Beach, Florida, found that soft-plastic eel imitations are just as productive.

“The first day I ever tried the 18-inch Hogy eel, I had five bites and two swords landed,” says Burlew. “The next day I had five bites and landed three fish. Ever since, I’ve used them with confidence.”

Curlew uses traditional electric gear for the swordfish, but at the terminal end he adds a pink or black skirt to 300-pound mono leader before ­rigging the soft-plastic eel to two 8/0 Southern-style tuna hooks. He sews the Hogy to the hooks the same way he would sew a mackerel.

“What gives action to the eel when fished deep is the current at the surface,” he explains. “I’ll head up-current, say, into 3-knot current at just 2 knots, so the boat drifts slowly back, and that imparts action to the eel at the bottom.”

So far, Curlew has landed up to four swordfish on a single soft plastic, but averages closer to two or three fish per bait. “I’ve tried marinating the Hogy in menhaden oil,” he says, “but I haven’t noticed much of a difference in my catch rate between the scented and unscented baits.”

The post Not Your Ordinary Soft Plastics appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Maybe you’ve been slaying the fish every time you slide your kayak into the water. After all, you’re on the water every weekend. You’re the classic obsessed kayak angler. Then again, maybe you just really like to kayak fish and only get out when your busy schedule allows.

Either way, the odds are good you’ve heard that there are a bunch of kayak tournaments nearby, and you want to join the fun. Maybe the tourney results you’ve seen online or in print have you thinking, “The fish those tournament guys catch are nice, but they’re no better than the fish I tangle with on a regular basis.”

And if the competitive aspect of tournament participation isn’t for, you may be part of the growing contingency of yak anglers who participate in these events for the social aspect. Kayak tournaments are a great place to meet new fishing partners, share tales of the ones that got away, and build friendships with other anglers of all skill levels.

What Kayak Fishing Tournament is Right for You?

Now, you need to find out where these tournaments are being held, how to register and what details you need to pay special attention to that will quickly help you maximize the experience. Whether you’re “in it to win it” or just looking for a great way to escape the daily grind, kayak tournaments have a place for everyone.

One of the great things about kayak tournaments is their inexpensive nature. Unlike pro powerboat tournaments, yak tourneys aren’t about who can afford the fastest boats. For example, in no-motor tournaments, all anglers start out on a level playing field as long as you don’t have a hole in your kayak. The key to being successful truly lies in your ability to locate, catch and photograph fish in a timely fashion.

Keep in mind, today’s fully rigged kayaks often have multi-function display electronics (and possibly live sonar), plus propulsion systems in the form of trolling and electric motors. So be careful when signing up for kayak tournaments to read the rules — some tournaments allow more than others. Don’t take a knife to a gun fight. Competing against a kayak angler that’s rigged with 360-degree, sidescan or live sonar, plus a Minn Kota trolling motor, means you better be similarly outfitted. Fish-finding and vessel range are important in tournaments.

The majority of kayak events are CPR (catch, photo and release) format. This is beneficial to our fisheries as the fish are released to be caught again, and you are not burdened by having to drag a stringer of fish behind you all day.

Use Social Media For Fishing

So, what are the best ways to get information to locate the tournaments in your area? Today, many of us find that social media serves as the hub for almost everything in our lives. My number-one source these days for angling information is Facebook. You can get information about where the fish are biting, cool rigging tips for your kayak, new products hitting the market, and what kayak tournaments and gatherings are going on around the country.

I turned to a real pro to see how he got his start. Past Inshore Fishing Association champion, Benton Parrott, fishes more tournaments a year than the average angler. Parrott attributes his start to social media, where he saw different tournaments being discussed and thought that they looked like a good time. He friended as many people as possible who also had interest in kayak fishing, and next thing he knew, he was traveling from his home in Alabama to almost every tournament he could reach, from Texas to Florida. Benton is the exception to the rule, but definitely shows how the competition and camaraderie can be addictive.

Personally, my start was a bit different. I’ve been at this kayak fishing thing since the beginning. Years ago, I got my first kayak and set off to learn how to fish out of it. Back then, the only way to obtain fishing information was through magazines and seminars at local tackle shops. The problem was that those writing articles or hosting talks in shops had almost nothing available when it came to catching fish from a kayak.

Through one particular online forum I found my first major kayak series, called the Extreme Edge. By fishing that series, I became friends with anglers from all over the Southeast and met some participants who went on to become best friends. While placing in the larger tournaments is always the goal, it’s the friendships and experiences that last in my memory.

Different Types of Kayak Tournaments

Once you fish a tournament, you will be part of a network giving you access to as many tournaments as you care to participate in and probably a bunch of new fishing partners. These days, kayak fishing has become part of the mainstream, so now your local shops, TV series and magazines keeping close track of the kayak tournaments.

There are several different types of kayak tournaments. There are a few national tournament trails, plus plenty of regional series as well. Some are kayaks-only, while others are built into much larger rodeo-type events. Probably the most common are the club tournaments. While some fishing clubs put on a series of events, others concentrate on a big annual blowout.

Tournaments are great for anglers of all skill levels; most have a bunch of categories that give anyone a chance to walk away a winner. There are pro-style circuits that have little in the way of frills, but the payouts are great. You can be guaranteed that a bunch of kayak anglers from a large, surrounding area will be in attendance.

Then there are charity tournaments, events truly designed for the whole family. They have a ton of added value; you get a captain’s bag that usually has a tee or tech fishing shirt, a bunch of quality tackle and coupons for local merchants. Most have large, picnic-style meals. And even if you don’t place, raffles are loaded with amazing prizes, often including kayaks and great original artwork.

The post Getting Started in Kayak-Fishing Tournaments appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Ancient Greeks believed the sun god Helios, offspring of Hyperion and Theia, crossed the heavens every day in a burning chariot. With our modern sensibilities, we snicker and guffaw at our simple-minded forebears for ascribing deity status to a sky-crossing orb of flame. Oh, the naivety!

Actually, a significant cohort exists among south Louisiana anglers who rival the early Grecians in their love, worship and adoration for the almighty Helios. These are the guys who push their boats and motors to the absolute limits to access glorified mud puddles deep in the Louisiana marsh, places that seem inaccessible and entirely too shallow to support any fish bigger than a bluegill.

But somehow, these backwaters — colloquially referred to as “duck ponds” — are exactly where thick-bodied redfish want to be, engaging in a Sisyphean quest to fill their bottomless bellies. The duck ponds are an all-you-can-eat buffet of crabs, shrimp, killifish and finger mullet, and the reds push into them in numbers from one to hundreds and absolutely terrorize the local baitfish population.

Sight Fishing for Louisiana’s Redfish

In these backwater ponds, which are often filtered by submerged aquatic vegetation, water clarity can range from gin-clear to tannic, and the redfish in them glow like stop signs — but only when the sun’s out. In fact, under a cloudless sky, the fish are so easy to spot, shallow-water anglers won’t even make a blind cast. I mean, what’s the point? They’ll simply pole around in the really shallow stuff or use a trolling motor in water that’s deep enough for it, and scan the water through polarized sunglasses, searching for the fish. Baits dangle patiently at the ends of rods, eagerly awaiting the moment a fish is spotted and they can fulfill their purpose.

Accurate casts are absolutely critical, and placement depends entirely on the demeanor and angle of the fish. Generally, an angler wants to cast past the red at a trajectory that will allow the lure to be retrieved a couple feet ahead of the fish. On some days, it’s best to drop the lure when the fish first sees it, and on others, bites are triggered when the angler plays keep away with the lure. Bites are intense, as the clear water allows every aspect of the take to be witnessed — the charging at the bait, the flaring of the gills and the vanishing of the lure as it’s sucked, along with the water around it, into the gaping maw of a hungry redfish.

Then the fights are the ultimate in intensity. Hook a redfish in a deep bayou, and it will head immediately for the bottom, trying to pull you, your rod and your boat down with it. But in the shallows, that’s not an option, so the fish strips as much line as it can on its first run, and then circles the boat like a distance runner on an Olympic track. That’s especially true with fish that locals call “overs” — redfish that stretch beyond the 27-inch maximum size limit.

Oversize Redfish in the Marsh

Biologists say that’s right around the size that redfish mature sexually and get the urge to move out to the Gulf to spawn. But many are late-bloomers that seem stuck in perpetual adolescence and refuse to put on their big-boy pants. Sometimes fish up to 35 inches are encountered in the ponds.

Regardless of size, these shallow, clear-water fish are the prettiest seen anywhere. Like chameleons, their skin changes color to suit their environment. Deep-water or dirty-water reds will be silver in color, with dark-bronze or brown backs, but in the shallows, the fish are bright orange, with the rich color often extending all the way around their normally white bellies.

This trait obviously gives them some camouflage advantage when targeting prey, but it completely betrays them when they themselves are the prey. Even Ray Charles could spot them. But only when the sun’s out. On cloudy days, the fish are nearly impossible to see, and lots of blind casts are necessary for success. It’s still fun and productive, but there’s nothing like casting to a fish you see and watching it suck in a lure. That’s why shallow-water redfish anglers are strict adherents to a religion, and Helios is their god.

The post Sight Fishing Louisiana’s Duck Ponds appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

I eyed a spot at the southwestern tip of the Cameron, Louisiana, jetties and made a cast. My lipless crankbait hit the water.

As the lure sank, I began my normal seven-count before making the first pull. I stopped at three. It felt as if the lure had hit a rock and got stuck, so I set the hook — just in case.

The rod immediately doubled over, the drag screamed, and for the next 15 minutes, a super-sized redfish put my muscles and tackle to the test.

Catching redfish is fun. Catching big redfish is really fun. And one of the best ways to do that in early fall is with crankbaits at jetties.

Gearing Up for Fishing Crankbaits

Endless varieties of crankbaits flood the market, especially for bass fishing, but the most effective crankbaits for redfish are lipless.

As the name implies, these lures feature no protruding lip, a characteristic that allows this kind of bait to be fished at specific depths. Lipless versions can be more versatile because the angler essentially controls the fishing depth.

Rat-L-Trap has long led the industry, but my favorite is the Super Pogy by Bomber Saltwater Grade. It comes with a high-pitch rattle that I’ve found effective. Other options include the Nobondo Lipless Crankbait, Nomad Design Madscad and Biospawn Rattle Bot.

Best colors include chrome, white/black, chrome/pink, and bronze. I use a casting reel rigged with a 30-pound green P-line braid tied directly to the lure because I fish in dingy water. In clear water, add a 36-inch fluorocarbon leader if needed.

I like a medium-heavy action, 7 1/2-foot rod but have a particular preference for its composition. I learned about this while fishing over the years with four-time Bassmaster Classic champion and living legend Rick Clunn.

Super-sensitive rods actually work against you when fishing with crankbaits, Clunn told me. A fish actually pushes the lure in pursuit; if you’re fishing a super-sensitive (graphite/composite) rod, you’ll set the hook before the fish actually has the lure.

Clunn collaborated with Wright & McGill a few years back to create the S-Glass Series of rods that incorporate traditional fiberglass technology with a modern flare. I use these rods for crankbaits and have had serious success everywhere from the Mississippi River near Venice, La., to the Cameron jetties.

With glass rods, I have had far more hookups than misses because I can’t feel the bite until the fish takes the lure. You’ll find numerous fiberglass crankbait rods on the market, and they can make a massive difference in the pursuit of redfish.

Location and Technique

Around the jetties, start fishing near the boat cuts [Ed’s note: Texas jetties feature breaks in the rock wall about halfway out that allow small boats through] to take advantage of reds foraging on baitfish moving between the channel and Gulf side of the jetty rocks. “You get shrimp, shad and crabs pushing through, and the reds will move in and feed,” says veteran jetty angler Bill Killian.

Anchor up-current of the cut and work the lure against the flow. “Throw it out toward the cut, let it sink a few seconds, and then reel it in as fast as you can. The pressure of the current will allow the rattles to work really well,” he says.

Also look for jetty reds in the deep holes usually found around the southern tip of the rocks and northward about 50 yards. At these spots, the current wraps around the jetty structure and carves out large holes. Reds congregate around large boulders that have fallen off the main wall into these holes.

Read Next: More Redfish Fishing Tips

Throw out the crankbait, let it sink to the level of the rocks, and rip it. I pull a few feet and then reel a couple of cranks. Repeat that three or four times and recast. The reds usually hit just after the first pull and sometimes on the fall.

While it might sound counterintuitive, if you see dolphins feeding in the area, that’s a fortunate sign.

In my logbook, I’ve noted dolphins feeding in the vicinity every time I’ve caught lots of bull reds. The times we had fewer fish, I saw no dolphins feeding. The presence of dolphins often indicates menhaden, a primary forage species for big reds.

Releasing for the Future

As everything from algae blooms to bycatch in the menhaden fishery puts pressure on redfish populations, catch-and-release becomes increasingly important — particularly for the big, breeding-size reds that inhabit jetty systems.

Scientists say the discard mortality rate for all sizes of redfish averages around 8 percent, though the type of terminal tackle used plays a major role. In general, lures deep-hook fewer fish than J-hooked natural baits.

In fact, one fish Killian caught at a nearshore gas platform off the Sabine Pass, which I tagged for Texas Sea Grant, made a reappearance three weeks later two miles away at the Sabine jetties. As the super fat bull redfish surfaced, Killian netted it. We quickly noticed a tag covered with slime.

I removed the growth, and my heart raced as I realized the tag said Sea Grant.

After examining our data, we realized it was the same fish Killian caught a few weeks before. It taught me firsthand that releasing big fish pays off, and I will carry that and deep respect for these bulls with me for the rest of my life.

The post Fishing Crankbaits for Gulf Jetty Redfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Sunup at Ferry Beach, near Scarborough, Maine, had us excited to catch striped bass. The Scarborough, Nonesuch and Libby rivers dump into the Gulf of Maine, and that’s where we wanted to be as the sun popped above the horizon. Summer warmth kept us comfortable as we launched our kayaks and headed toward the pass.

Nearby, we heard a huge splash from a mystery fish that no one was able to get eyes on. The whole group turned toward the sound. “Probably a sturgeon,” guessed nearby kayak angler Daniel McFetridge, Old Town kayaks’ e-commerce and digital marketing manager.

Fighting an incoming tide, most of us were using the ePDL+ drive that propels Old Town kayaks via a lithium battery. Of course, anglers can assist and pedal with their feet for extra power. Ryan Lilly, marketing director at Old Town, was the first one to the spot which was chock-full of underwater boulders and feeding stripers.

A strong incoming tide made the area really hard to fish. We had to hold position in the cut and make pinpoint casts. A kayak with a spot-lock trolling motor might have been able to handle it, if the motor was strong enough to stay in position in the heavy current. Maine regularly experiences 8-foot tides, with little slack tide between the rising and the falling.

With his ePDL+ nearly at full power, Lilly locked his rudder steering in place to slice into the current. He was then able to stand up and make long casts close to shore. Prospecting with a topwater, Lilly hooked up on his third toss. And then a couple casts later.

The rest of us couldn’t replicate what he was doing. Some of us didn’t quite have the battery power to fight the current, which then required us to pedal sitting down. And sitting down meant we didn’t have enough casting distance to reach the fish. I didn’t risk moving closer to the fish, fearing I might run into submerged boulders. Soon the tide began to slow, the bite shut down, and Atlantic sturgeon were jumping around us so frequently I thought I’d become a pancake.

It was one of the most unique ways I’ve seen someone stand and fish from a kayak. Lilly obviously had experience standing in a kayak, which is necessary to fish an inlet. But I never thought I’d see standing — not sitting — kayak anglers fishing inlets and jetty rocks during a roaring tide. The experience made me think of two other instances on that recent summer trip to Maine when standing in a kayak was better than just sitting.

The Path Forward

On the backside of an island in Casco Bay, Maine, we dissected a shoreline in a way that any veteran Bassmaster would appreciate. Joe Albanese, editor in chief at Wired2Fish, and I cast plugs, Z-Mans and Slug-Gos at fishy-looking grass edges and rocky shorelines in the lee of the island.

We stood in our Old Town Sportsman BigWater kayaks, recognizing the higher elevation was a huge asset in this type of fishing. In the background, gray storm clouds blew up like popcorn near the Sandy Point Bridge. We needed every bit of sunlight and height to find the spots we wanted to land our lures. Albanese struck pay dirt first when he landed a striper off some vegetation. The striped bass were definitely selective in the heart of the afternoon.

Here’s how I handled it:

1. Standing in the 3-foot-wide kayak wasn’t a problem. Most wide kayaks with a wide-flat hull are plenty stable to stand up in. Standing is more of a confidence issue than anything. When you trust your footing, you don’t overcompensate and cause problems. Utilize a wide stance and loose knees to ride the swells, just like in a bigger boat. I’ve fished a ton in kayaks; be wary of kayaks that are too long-and-skinny or seemingly too lightweight for their size. Those are the ones most likely to dump you in the water while standing.
2. Next, I set the ePDL+ drive on its lowest setting to slowly creep along the shoreline. Every once in a while, I had to make an adjustment to my course, but it was as simple as making a rudder correction with the hand knob.
3. Finally, the other key element was skip casting. This was not as technical as casting underneath mangroves or docks, but I still used that underhand motion to land lures close to structure without making a huge splash. Executing a skip cast while sitting in a kayak isn’t easy.

Later that day, fishing a different part of the same island, we had success casting topwaters at a sandy beach and nearby shallow-water point. Out in open water, it was much less about precision casting — instead we were fan-casting a general area, looking for bait school marks on the side-scan sonar. Of course, we were standing and stretching our legs while casting.

In the Marsh

Sneaking back into the marsh was a blast. A certain type of angler from Texas to Maine really digs exploring a maze of shallow waters in search of surprisingly large gamefish. I’m that type of angler. Ideally, kayakers should allow a flood tide to push them into the labyrinth. But first, always make a stop at the entrance. That’s what we did and landed a couple striped bass off a flat. I let the current and wind drift me along a fishy stretch to maximize fishing time. 

Then it was onto the creeks. We had a short window — as we were fishing the outgoing tide — before the water left the creeks entirely. I had luck with an oversize Z-Man DieZel Minnow soft plastic. It looked like a hearty baitfish, or maybe an eel. And I didn’t have to sit down to re-rig or retie. Just grab what you need and pop right back up. Even releasing smaller striped bass was easy while standing.

The exploration was productive. Standing in a kayak in the marsh allowed me to see what was coming next, such as a creek mouth, island or shallow flat. In many cases, we were able to look over the marsh banks and reeds to prep for the next cast, which is something you just can’t do while sitting. With the water dropping, stripers were exiting quickly in the deepest water they could find. We had to lift up our pedal drives to float out, paddling over the shallowest points.  

Standing in a kayak takes getting used to, but most anglers become comfortable quickly. Start with a quality kayak in shallow water, and work your way up. Soon enough you’ll be fishing moving water in passes and inlets with the best of them.

The post A Balancing Act appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.