Fishing report: offshore fishing ‘phenomenal’ right now
Saltwater Pro Shop owner and operator Steve Hess took the day off Sunday to try his hand at offshore fishing and says the day was phenomenal.
Hess, along with his wife and other family members, went 35 miles offshore aboard Capt. Dick Cain’s Theresa and ended up filling his freezer with grouper, snapper and other bounties from the Gulf of Mexico.
“It was my wife and my sister-in-law’s first time out in a boat and I wanted to see them get their butt kicked,” he said. “My father-in-law, who loves grouper fishing, said he has never had a trip like that.”
And by the end of the day Hess said the group caught 25 keeper gag grouper in about 50-feet of water.
“We actually had to throw some keepers back,” he said.
They caught eight keeper red grouper; nine mangrove snapper; three scamps; a 15-inch flounder and to top off the day a 200-plus pound goliath grouper, Hess said.
“I caught a 200-plus pound grouper off a spinning rod,” he said, adding that he used 60-pound test line with 50-pound test leader. And as for bait, Hess said he was using cut bait but thinks he caught a snapper and the goliath grouper hit the snapper on the way up.
“I’m positive that I hooked a mangrove snapper and then he jumped on the mangrove snapper,” he said.
Hess said the success he had Sunday was significantly better than usual.
“Off shore is fantastic right now,” he said.
Hess said beginning in January he and Holy Mackerel Bait, a bait shop in Cape Coral, will be holding a four-month contest for the largest fish caught each month. January will be for the largest sheepshead; February will be the largest trout; March will be the largest snook and April will be for the largest trash fish.
Winners will be receive $25 gift certificates in both Saltwater Pro Shop and Holy Mackerel Bait, Hess said, adding that to sign up stop in at either bait shop. There is no charge to enter the contest and weigh-in will take place at either bait shop, Hess added.
As to local waters, Hess said sheepsheads are still plentiful from Hurricane Pass Bridge and under the Matanzas Pass Bridge along pilings and docks, Hess said.
“Sheepshead are fantastic – there are some nice ones and everybody is catching sheepshead,” he said, adding that mangrove snapper are also plentiful in the same areas sheepshead are being caught. “They are in the same spots as the sheepshead right now but at deeper depths. Right now if you put a little weight on and drop them in the same locations they’re in the same spots.”
Hess said gag grouper are also plentiful at Matanzas catwalks and Hurricane Pass Bridge.
“You’re going to have to put some weight on – about 2 oz. and a little more stout leader, about 40 lb.,” he said, adding that cut bait, sardines and pin fish have been working well. “I kind of go 50-50 with sardines and pin fish. I haven’t found one working better than the other. But any of these deep holes are going to have gags right now.”
Hess says the best location to fish locally continues to be off Bunche Beach and at the mouths of creeks in the same area.
Steve Hess is the owner of Saltwater Pro Shop at 10051 San Carlos Blvd. in the Beach Plaza Shopping Center. For more fishing information, call him at 463-0717.