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Venice Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico
Capt. Dave Pinkham
April 16, 2000
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing the Gulf over the past week has been enjoyable. The areas around the artificial reefs at seven and thirteen miles west of Venice Inlet have been consistently providing decent catches for us. There has been lots of baitfish hanging around these manmade fish attracters, which in turn has been drawing several different species of fish.
Kingfish are the hot item right now with plenty of action from 35’ to 65’ deep. For live bait, I prefer to use live sardines or threadfin free-lined on the surface. Trolling large spoons behind #2 and #3 planners has been a sure backup to the live bait. The toughest thing about fishing around the artificial reefs is that the barracuda cut the kings in half before you can get them to the boat.
We’ve also managed to pull some nice mangrove snapper up along with some decent gag grouper in the same areas of the artificial reefs. Fishing for mangrove snapper can make for fast action, besides putting some excellent eats in the box. When targeting these pan-size fish I like to anchor directly over where they live. Once this is accomplished the rest is easy. Keep your tackle light and your hooks small. Try different baits such as shrimp, squid, and cut sardines. There’s extra bennies to snapper fishing too! Such as triggerfish, blue nosed porgie, yellowtail snapper, and lane snapper to name a few. Once you catch on you’ll be hooked!
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