Captain's Report - May 7, 2004

by Capt. Dave Mistretta

For the past month, anglers have been traveling to 100 plus feet of water to catch red grouper. This week the depths of ninety foot started to produce some keeper reds. The edges of the sand and hard bottom is where you'll find them. Bait stacks have been clinging to many of these edges and you can pretty much count on pulling a grouper or two of these spots. Most of the bait schools consist of small vermilion snapper and flannel mouth grunts, both fabulous baits for grouper. We have been jigging up our baits while keeping a few grouper rods down. Squid, octopus tentacles and frozen sardines have also been attracting some big reds.

The improvement of red grouper fishing this spring is a good indication we'll have a decent summer. On the good days, I've been limiting our catches to no more than fifteen keepers a day. Many other captains are doing the same. If more anglers would limit their daily catches from the 5 per person the state allows, there will be more fish for the future. The grouper fishing now, compared to ten years ago, has declined dramatically.

Another helpful hint, be sure to bring out some of the pilchards that have migrated on many of the inshore spots. They have been getting devoured by huge mangrove snapper on many of the grouper stops. We pulled up a bundle of mangos weighing 5 to 7 pounds, on this precious baitfish. The grouper will even eat them on occasion.

Blackfin tuna have started to follow the shrimp boats. Already some of the fleet has ventured west of Johns Pass in search of shrimp. After one night of unproductive dragging of their trawls, they'll move on looking for greener pastures. Once the shrimp have been located, the boats work the same area for days on end. This becomes like a massive chum slick from their nightly rituals of dumping their by-catch over. That's when the black fin tuna and spinner sharks will move in with a fury.

We have had a few encounters with sharks each week for the past month. At first, the giant bull sharks were attacking our amberjacks being reeled in from 100 feet. They have moved on. This week the large spinners have been grabbing grouper and kingfish from our hooks in 60 feet. You can always count on finding my boat armed with a stout rod, wire leader, and a huge hook. These bruiser-cartilage fish put up quite a tussle and can surely make someone's day of fishing. The sharks we've been landing were averaging about 100 pounds and six feet in length. The spinners are a close cousin to the black tip shark. Spinners tend to stay out deep, from forty feet of water further. They also can grow a bit larger than the inshore black tip. Both will leap from the water once hooked and spin like a top, earning their name.

Past Captain's Reports

• April 2, 2004
• March 6, 2004
• February 5, 2004
• December 5, 2003
• November 7, 2003
• October 2, 2003
• September 4, 2003
• August 17, 2003
• July 4, 2003
• May 5, 2003
• April 21, 2003
• April 10, 2003