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Venice Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico
Capt. Dave Pinkham
October 11, 2003
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
Arrival of October ushers in some exciting fishing on the Gulf of Mexico
The weather this past weekend was a bit on the rainy side as a slow moving cold front stalled and then finally pushed across the state early in the week. This is exactly the type of transitional weather changes that can send fish into a ballistic feeding mode.
A testimony to this fact would the almost unbelievable fishing action experienced by a group of local anglers from Port Charlotte this past weekend. Dr. David Hotchkiss, Dr. David Brewer, and the Sun Herald’s own “Health & Vitality” columnist, Dr. Steve Shell, all fished aboard the charter boat Legacy out of Venice this past Saturday. Guiding this hardy crew of weekend warriors aboard the Legacy was the team of Capt. Ed Johnson steering the ship, and Capt. Andy Siegel working the deck.
In Capt. Ed’s words, “It was just one of those days when all my spots were really working good!” Not only did the happy fishing clients manage to box a nice mess of big groupers and snappers, but to top off the day, the extraordinary action came in the form of a huge cobia. From the sounds of it, the battle with this 70- pound brawler can be described as “controlled turmoil” at best. The fish fell for a live blue runner rigged to a 20-pound class fishing rod. The battle itself raged on long enough that all three anglers each had a turn at doing combat with the cobia. Finally, the fish was subdued, gaffed, and hauled aboard.
As we move forward into the month of October, get set for the fishing action to bust wide open. Following is a fishing forecast of some of the species of fish that you can expect to catch on the gulf in the next month.
- King Mackerel once again should be making a big showing. In fact, we’ve already been seeing some kings free-jumping west of the beaches out 20 miles or so. As the kings migrate down the coast of Florida, they’ll offer plenty of quick action just west of area beaches and passes. There are many methods used to catch king mackerel from trolling different types of hardware to live baiting. Trolling silver king spoons in the areas where jumping fish are being seen is pretty much a guaranteed hookup.
- Spanish Mackerel are plentiful right now offshore. In my opinion, nothing works better for mackerel than netting up some live shiners along the beach or ICW and heading out on the Gulf for some action. Anchoring the boat and free-lining the live bait on the surface works best. If you don’t want to work for the live bait, try trolling silver spoons behind #1 or #2 planners.
- Grouper fishing is hot right now, and could possibly get better throughout the month.
As the weather changes and the Gulf starts to cool over the next couple months look for gags to start moving into some of their winter haunts. Gag groupers often will tend to hang closer to structure such as wrecks, and ledges. Live baits will often entice them to turn on especially in the heat of the day. Good stiff stand up tackle works best here. Red Groupers are always a standby, sort of the meat and potatoes when it comes to grouper fishing. When everything else fails head out to hard bottom in 70’ to 120’ foot of water and go after some big fat red grouper
- Cobia should also start to make a good showing over the next month. Expect to find them hanging around channel markers, pilings, piers, and offshore rock ledges. The artificial reefs are also a great place to look for them. To entice them into hitting, I prefer using live baits such as grunts, shiners, and pinfish.
- Dolphin fish, also called mahi mahi, should still be able to be caught throughout the month of October. When fishing for the mahi, concentrate you efforts out deeper in at least 100’ foot of water. In the past, couple weeks we’ve caught a few decent ones up to15 pounds. The dolphin just sort of show up around the boat while at anchor grouper fishing. The key here is to be ready to cast out a live bait when they make a showing.
- Blackfin tuna is one of my favorite fish to catch. Most of the ones we’ve caught in the past few years have been on the longer trips out 30 miles or so. Most of our hookups with blackfins have been on live bait fish such as sardines, or pinfish free-lined out from the boat.
- Snapper are an excellent eating fish, and this area offer several different types of snappers to go after. One of my favorites is mangrove snapper. Best places to find the mangroves as well as the yellow tail snappers will be around structure such as ledges, wrecks, and the artificial reefs. Snapper can be somewhat finicky at times so keep your terminal tackle as light as possible. I prefer using natural baits such as shrimp, live shiners, and squid.
Remember, the fall is some of the best time of year to experience the excellent fishing the gulf has to offer. If you’re 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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