Anna Maria Island Offshore Fishing Report
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 12:47 pmFishing Report 3/20/05
Greetings,
The fish were biting Sunday (3/20) and boy, was it a beautiful day. Leaving the marina at 9:30 we had light southeasterly winds. Our destination was One Mile Reef that is located just a mile off the beach half way up Anna Maria Island. We had decided to do some reef fishing for the variety of fish that live on this reef. It is a large reef, so it is relatively easy to find in about 25 feet of water. The bait was fairly standard. Just frozen squid and frozen shrimp fished on the bottom on a homemade bottom rig. I prefer to use as little terminal tackle as possible – no swivels, clips, ect. Just a small hook, 10 pound line, a one oz sinker and an ultra light rod and reel.
We arrived at our destination at 10 and started fishing. It is best to locate the reef and drive up-wind till you reach the edge of the reef. Go another 20 feet and drop the anchor. This allows your anchor to set in the sand and not on the reef for 2 reasons. When you set the anchor in the sand, retrieving it is much easier than if it was lodged in the reef under a rock and secondly, you prevent damage to the reef.
As soon as the lines were in, the fish started biting and we had constant action. The biggest fish was 12-inch sheep head that put up quite a fight on ultra-light tackle. What is always surprising is the variety of fish that we caught Sunday: sheep head, baby grouper, grunts, tomtate, and a couple other species – I am not even sure what they were called… The fish were interested in both the shrimp and the squid. Though the larger pieces of squid and using a whole shrimp seemed to attract the bigger fish. All the fish were released on Sunday to fight another day.
Tip: I put out a chum tube with some cut shrimp and squid and let it sit on the bottom. About 20 minutes later, I heard a snap. Apparently, it had gotten stuck down there on the reef and when the boat drifted around in the wind, it snapped the line. So, best not to leave the chum tube sitting on the bottom when you are reef fishing, (but that will give me a reason to go scuba diving in the summer to retrieve my chum tube…)
Good fishing…
Captain James Kramer
Enterprise Sport Fishing
Bradenton Beach, Florida
Greetings,
The fish were biting Sunday (3/20) and boy, was it a beautiful day. Leaving the marina at 9:30 we had light southeasterly winds. Our destination was One Mile Reef that is located just a mile off the beach half way up Anna Maria Island. We had decided to do some reef fishing for the variety of fish that live on this reef. It is a large reef, so it is relatively easy to find in about 25 feet of water. The bait was fairly standard. Just frozen squid and frozen shrimp fished on the bottom on a homemade bottom rig. I prefer to use as little terminal tackle as possible – no swivels, clips, ect. Just a small hook, 10 pound line, a one oz sinker and an ultra light rod and reel.
We arrived at our destination at 10 and started fishing. It is best to locate the reef and drive up-wind till you reach the edge of the reef. Go another 20 feet and drop the anchor. This allows your anchor to set in the sand and not on the reef for 2 reasons. When you set the anchor in the sand, retrieving it is much easier than if it was lodged in the reef under a rock and secondly, you prevent damage to the reef.
As soon as the lines were in, the fish started biting and we had constant action. The biggest fish was 12-inch sheep head that put up quite a fight on ultra-light tackle. What is always surprising is the variety of fish that we caught Sunday: sheep head, baby grouper, grunts, tomtate, and a couple other species – I am not even sure what they were called… The fish were interested in both the shrimp and the squid. Though the larger pieces of squid and using a whole shrimp seemed to attract the bigger fish. All the fish were released on Sunday to fight another day.
Tip: I put out a chum tube with some cut shrimp and squid and let it sit on the bottom. About 20 minutes later, I heard a snap. Apparently, it had gotten stuck down there on the reef and when the boat drifted around in the wind, it snapped the line. So, best not to leave the chum tube sitting on the bottom when you are reef fishing, (but that will give me a reason to go scuba diving in the summer to retrieve my chum tube…)
Good fishing…
Captain James Kramer
Enterprise Sport Fishing
Bradenton Beach, Florida