Nav:HOME ---- Fishing Articles ---- Winter Bottom fish and Snapper for the Frozen Panhandler (YOU ARE HERE)
(NOTE WELL: I originally wrote this article before there were seasons on Red Snapper...nowadays target other species if you can such as vermillion snapper and triggerfish (very yummy, but hard to clean), since the red snapper season and other fish seasons will likely be closed mid winter).
Even in the dead of winter along the northern Gulf
of Mexico coast, the water temperature rarely falls below 55 degrees F.
Still this seasonal drop is enough to send the summer migratory species
scurring south and bring the inshore action in most bays to a near standstill.
The winds blow hard, and there is rarely a day that a small craft advisory
is not posted. However, if you have a strong stomach (or a good supply
of sea-sickness tablets!) then the best bottom fishing of the year awaits
5 to 25 miles out! While the smaller boats are kept in the harbor, the larger Party (or Head)
boats are desperate for a fare.Seek out a catamaran or wide mono hull vessels 50 feet long
plus and take an all day
trip (needed to get out deep and to hit the short bite times), your winter
clothes and full body raingear, a box of frozen minnows, a bucket of live
jumbo shrimp, and your best rod in the 15# to 30# class (preferably superbraid). The boat
ride will be rough and wet, and even a 60 degree F day can become a cold
miserable experience for those who do not come prepared. After the
two hour boat ride to 100' of water, the captain will park over a reef
and try his/her damndest to hold over it. The waves will
bounce the boat so the wise angler will need to lean against the rail,
and leave out some slack on the line. I bring two rigs with me in
the winter, even though most party boats on the Gulf will provide gear:
a 20lb class spinning rod, and a 25lb class bait casting rod. The 20# spinning
rod I will rig with either a diamond
jig with small bug, or 3.5 oz speed jig, or dual
jigs rigged on dropper loops above a bank weight, while I rig the baitcasting
rod with an egg
weight rig (relatively calm) or a
three way bottom finder (very rough seas). In any event, weights
should be at least 8oz for mono, or 4oz for thin superbraids, or they will not stay on the bottom. As soon
as the boat stops, rig the baitcasting rod with a minnow (minus the tail
if dead) and let out the line to the bottom. Most large
grouper or large flounder
are hooked with in the first five minutes over the wreck, so once the bait
is on the bottom, get ready to strike at any tug over 1 second. If you
don't pull up a group after 10 min. on the wreck break out the spinning
rod. Note that many reef species, especially snapper, hold 20 to 50 feet above reefs (see this link for reef tactics). If you are using circle hooks, rig with a strip of squid (usually provided by the
boat), and drop the rig to the bottom. If you are using unbaited bucktail or soft plastic jigs, they hit bottom, tighen
the line and then 'jig' the jigs with broad sweeps up and down with the
rod. This rig usually results in most of my snapper catches and caught
the two you see in the picture above. For amberjack,
or if the snappers are picky, use the live jumbo shrimp on the bait casting
rig, but instead of letting the bait stay on the bottom, reel up 10-20
cranks and hold on. The amberjack,
if present, will hit the shrimp hard. If all else fails let the shrimp
hit the bottom and strike what ever bites. Good luck!
FISHING SECRET FOR THE PANHANDLE: Many offshore species come into near shore areas, and up spring fed rivers, in a cold winter. Try the Destin and Pensacola bridge middle spans, the far end of the Jetties (inc. St Andrews Pass, be careful!), the deep ends of piers, and put baits RIGHT NEXT TO THE STRUCTURE! You will be suprised. I have caught snappers, red porgy, flounder, sheepshead, and groupers even in the coldest winters on these spots using live shrimp. In winter at night under the lights on most bay bridges there is an excellent white and sand trout bite also, and maybe a bluefish bite too.
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