 |
Venice Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico
Capt. Dave Pinkham
August 29, 2000
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
FOR BIG FISH HIT THE GULF
By Capt. Dave Pinkham
For those of you anglers that desire to catch the big one, you really don't have to travel halfway around the world to do it. Just west of local area beaches, beneath the seemingly harmless placid green waters of the Gulf Of Mexico swim many fairly large species of fishes. Just the shear size and weight of these monsters will test the strength and endurance of any angler that is willing to stand toe to fin with these brutes.
Whether you know it or not it is common knowledge that a lot of sharks inhabit our local waters. During the warmer months of the year an encounter with a shark while out on a Gulf fishing trip is more the norm than the exception. Why just today I had the pleasure of guiding Paul Stone and his family all of Port Charlotte on a fishing trip. Paul wanted to do some bottom fishing for grouper so we headed out about 20 miles in pursuit of some keepers. The first stop provided fairly quick action although none of the red grouper that were boated stretched over the 20" inch mark on my law stick. From there we worked our way out past 80' foot deep hoping to locate some larger fish. With high hopes, baited hooks were once again lowered to the bottom. This time luck was with us as several of the grouper measured well over the minimum keeper size. With the bite on, all anglers aboard now moved as quickly as possible to get their baits to the bottom in order to take advantage of the bigger grouper that were feeding. Paul baited up with a live grunt hoping for the fish of the day. It didn't take long, and by the way his pole bent when his bait was engulfed I wasn't so sure what was pulling on the other end was a grouper. Tell ya what, Paul sure put that rod to the test and within minutes he had what looked to be a seven-foot nurse shark close to the surface. Tagging along the tail end of the hooked shark was what appeared to be a second shark, most probably it's mate. So there you have it, a couple hours on the Gulf and we've already seen two fish bigger than the fisherman. By the way, we released the shark unharmed to fight another day. Some of the other species of sharks that are fairly common to this area are hammerheads, lemons, black tips, and an occasional tiger shark.
You want big fish? Right here on our doorstep is Boca Grande Pass, world famous for all the tarpon that show up there every year. But there's more! I'd have to say the absolute biggest fish we hook into on a regular basis in the Gulf would be the Jewfish. The problem is they are actually becoming a nuisance. They have pretty much taken up residence on just about every wreck and artificial reef all up and down the coast. These holes that were once sure-fire snapper and grouper hot spots are now dominated by schools of hungry monster jewfish. Anyway the one in the photo was handled as carefully as possible and released. In my opinion it may be time to lift the moratorium on the jewfish. I'm certain with proper protection through size and or creel limits they could be harvested without being depleted.
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
