Last Day for Gags and First 2017 Report

Capt. Ted Gibson
January 3, 2017
Naples - Saltwater Fishing Report

Fishing for us at least the last few days has looked like a heart rate monitor. One day you are the hero the next leaves you humbled! We have been out several times over the last few days. December 31 I took a party of 6 out on the final day of Gag Grouper season. We fished in approximately 40' of water and as soon as we dropped the lines we were hooked up on mangroves and Gags. I've been catching pilchards on one of the nearshore wrecks before the trips and those seemed to produce the snapper and gags pretty well. The bait however is getting more difficult to catch. We ended up catching about a dozen Mangroves to 17" and 3 keeper Gag Grouper. The previous day however was nowhere near as good! The dirtier water after the wind has seemed to get the fish stirred up and they have since been biting better. Yesterday I took another party of 6 offshore about 20 miles to a spot we haven't been in a while and we ended up with 7 Keeper Red Grouper and a pile of Lane Snapper, Porgies, and a few Mangrove Snapper. I probably pulled anchor about 12 times to get those fish yesterday (the winch pulled the anchor; I pushed the switch 12 times). We have also been tossing out a line for Kingfish, but have not had much success with those the last couple of days. Overall fishing the last few days has been good, but there are still those days that leave you humbled and scratching your head! If I could go out there and slay them everyday it wouldn't be any fun anymore! Its all about the hunt and figuring it out!

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Target Species:

Gag Grouper, Mangrove Snapper, Red Grouper

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