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Venice Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico
Capt. Dave Pinkham
October 24, 2001
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
Start of Fall Kingfish Run Upon Us!
If you haven't already heard it, you have now, the kingfish are returning.
Friday we ran into a school of jumping Spanish Mackerels about 13 miles offshore on the Gulf. Looked like the ideal spot so we started trolling. In the following 2 hours we managed to hook up with and boat a number of Spanish as well as king mackerels. This type of fishing is fun for the whole family and a great way to get them hooked on fishing.
With the daylight hours now growing shorter each day, the Gulf of Mexico's water temperature has been cooling down after the long hot summer. As it does the yearly southward migration of king mackerel should bring some great angling opportunities right through to Thanksgiving Day. Kingfish are a fast hitting, hard fighting fish, and are often within easy reach of a half days fishing out of Venice Inlet. For the record, kings were close to total decimation in the late 70's. Since then they have made an almost unbelievable recovery with the help of reduced bag limits. This is great news for the charter boat industry as well as the local bait and tackle stores. Catching fish makes for happy customers that keep coming back.
By the way the bays are full of mullet, and they are big and laden with fat. If you hurry you've still got time before they lean out and get full of roe. It's not to hard to net up a couple and throw them on the grill. I've been munching on them all week and they're great! Easiest way to fix them is to filet them out and leave the skin on. Slow cook them skin side down in a smoker or on a grill with wet or green wood chips to provide the smoke flavor. I like to use green cuttings from citrus, or buttonwood. Lightly salt and pepper the meat and that should do it. Of course there's plenty of old timers out there that can smoke up a batch of mullet twice as good as mine.
Remember, if you're not out fishing you're wishing you were. Get out and go fishin, cuz' it's good fer ya!
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