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Venice Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico
Capt. Dave Pinkham
October 21, 2002
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
Perfect Wind and Sea Conditions Make Gulf Fishing A Breeze
This past week while out on the Gulf of Mexico we enjoyed flat calm wind and seas conditions, which made for picture perfect fishing. To top off the awesome weather, the fishing action has been really starting to break loose!
Spanish mackerel have been on the feed just about anywhere you drop a bait in the water. Some of Spanish are big ones too! The other day while en-route to the offshore fishing grounds we ran through acres of jumping mackerels and little tunnies. I not exaggerating! I realize this sounds like a fish story until you've seen it with your own eyes. Anyway, this is great news because it tells me that the fall run is definitely cranking up. Last year at this same time most of this coastline was struggling with a nagging red tide that just wouldn't seem to go away. Because of it, I think a lot of the southward bound migratory fish went farther offshore to avoid it. Well, those of you that have been getting out on the Gulf know how pretty the water has been and not a sign of red tide. I've got a feeling that the next couple of months may offer some of the best fishing action we've seen in quite some time. The kingfish are already showing up in good numbers. We've had no problem picking them up by trolling spoons down deep.
Reports of cobia are also starting to trickle in. One recent report of cobia came from Jim Lowery of Venice. He and his son were fishing a couple miles out and came across a loggerhead turtle entangled in some floating rope. When they stopped to help, four big cobia popped up next to the boat. Evidently these guys were ready for action as they each boated a keeper. See, it does pay to stop and lend a hand …
Grouper and snapper action seems to be picking up. We've been running out past the 80' mark to find the best action. Over the weekend the wind was so light we went ahead and did some drift fishing for red grouper. The effort paid off with some nice sized reds up to 18 pounds. The cool thing about fishing for red grouper is you really don't need a pile of killer GPS coordinates to locate them. Lately I've been watching my fish finder as I run offshore. When I see any sort of change in the sea floor such as sand to hard bottom, I stop the boat and have everyone drop baits to the bottom. If we hit fish, I throw a marker and continue the drift. Mixed in with the reds there's also been some fairly big lane snapper.
The gag grouper and mangrove snapper fishing is usually best on the ledges and wrecks. Once again it pays off to keep the bottom machine running. If you notice a sharp 2 to 3-foot change in the bottom, it may be well worth the effort to swing the boat around and take another look at a reduced speed. A good fish show above a 3-foot break is what I'm talking about.
If your too busy to go fishing you're just too busy. Get out and go fishin cuz' it's good fer ya!
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