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Venice Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico

Capt. Dave Pinkham
January 16, 2001
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report

Concentrate On The Bottom For Fish

Over the next few weeks fishing activity offshore on the Gulf will be geared toward bottom fishing. With water temperatures in the mid-50's most mid-water type fishes should be well south of us by now. This is the time of year to put some lead on and get your bait down to the bottom. Anchoring the boat over some hard bottom is common practice among anglers that consistently produce fish. Fishing during the day around the new moon should be good, as the nights are dark thus pushing the fish to feed in the daylight hours. Make sure to watch the tides, as it can be difficult to get out of the bay with the water as low as it's been.

Grouper will be the main target for those looking to catch the meat. Concentrate fishing efforts over some sort of structure. Gag grouper should be moving into shorter bottom as they do each winter. When a good school is located it's not uncommon for the bite to last until most of the fish are caught. With this in mind take only what you plan to eat and release the rest for another day. The reason I say this is we all need to govern ourselves on the number of fish we take. With more and more anglers out on the water learning how to catch fish, the pressure on the winter gag grouper bite is enormous.

Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. The other day I over heard a couple of fisherman talking on the VHF radio. They were fishing way to the north of our area up off Anna Maria Island. The one fellow was on a good bite of gag grouper and he was giving loran numbers to his buddy via the VHF radio trying to help him get on the fish too. The guy that was on the biting fish proceeded to tell his friend that he had over 20 keepers in the box and for his friend to come on over and he would load some of the grouper in his boat so that he wouldn't go over his daily limit. From what I got from the conversation was that he planned to sit on those fish until he caught every last one. More than likely this same guy will be the one that will head back to this same honey hole in a few days with some other friends and tell them he just can't understand why they're not catching any fish, they sure caught-em here a few days ago. The simple weight of our numbers amplifies the amount of fish being harvested from the Gulf. It really is time to consider taking only enough fish for a few meals and releasing the rest, or we can expect complete closures of the grouper fishery in the future.

You may be surprised to learn that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is actually looking at closing gag grouper for a month or so next year. Check out their WebPages at http://www.gulfcouncil.org for their current news releases.

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Having worked as a fishing guide on Florida's west coast for 30 years, Capt. Dave can show you how to rig your boat and fish from Sarasota to Boca Grande

Contact Info:

Capt. Dave Pinkham' Fishing Service
Phone: 941-223-9352
Email the Captain
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