Venice Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico
Capt. Dave Pinkham
July 20, 2001
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing on the Gulf in July can be Hot!
Fishing out on the Gulf most of the week was actually pretty good, although strictly for those with strong sea legs. Aboard my boat Legacy we're still hooking up on some nice sized kingfish. Thursday one braggin size king came over the side that went close to 35 pounds. Now that's a big one! The funny thing was the fish hit a dead sardine that was free-lined off the back of the boat. We also lost several kingfish to big fish with teeth. The culprits that ate the kings right off the end of our lines were most likely sharks and or barracuda. Mixed in with this menagerie of fish have been hoards of little tunny. Although not prized for their eating quality, this smaller member of the tuna family offer the sporting angler an excellent battle on spinning tackle. I'll tell ya one thing, in this writer's opinion mixing it up with a school of these hard fighting tackle busters is better action than most folks will see in a lifetime. That just shows how good we've got it here. Cuz' out here on the Gulf its' a daily occurrence to hook up with a few of em'.
Actually to tell ya the truth sometimes we just need a good shake-up in the weather to get the fish on a feed. And with the way the Gulf was churning last week I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of action we'll have this week. Following is sort brief synopsis of what you may expect to catch fishing offshore in Gulf over the next few weeks.
- King mackerel are still hitting along with some big Spanish mackerel. I normally prefer to use live baits or troll when fishing for kings, but as mentioned above they will often hit dead baits with a little wave action at the surface helping to give them some movement.
- Permit should be still holding around area artificial reefs and wrecks. The key here is the bait. They feed on crustaceans such as crabs and shrimp. Fishing either of these two baits under a cork helps suspend them over the structure, and can be irresistible to a hungry permit.
- Grouper fishing this time of year can be productive; you just need to locate the keeper fish. Hard bottom out past 70' deep will account for most of the keeper red grouper. Keep your bottom machine running as you search for a change in the sea floor's composition. Any change is a good place to try. Drift fishing these spots on the calm days can be a good way to locate them. Red grouper will be scattered out on this type of bottom, so when you hit some good fish toss a marker jug. Now you can re-drift the area. If you stick with this system sooner or later you will locate some big fish.
- Snapper fishing will be best over ledges, wrecks, and the artificial reefs. The biggest problem here is that the Goliath groupers have taken up residence on many of these locations. It seems that every time the snapper start feeding these huge grouper move in and take over.
- Sharks have been plentiful for those of you yearning for a battle. In the past two weeks we've hooked into and seen many different species such as lemon sharks, black tip sharks, nurse sharks, hammer head sharks, bull sharks, and one that we call a reef shark. Chunks of little tunny work great for baiting them on a hook.
Remember to keep an eye on the weather as it can and does change in a hurry this time of year.
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