Fishing offshore this time of year in South Florida can be hit or miss or don’t bother.
When cold fronts sweep through the region, they push migratory species such as sailfish and kingfish south, which is good for anglers.
The downside is the winds associated with the fronts kick up big waves that can leave you battered and bruised at the end of the day. It you wait for better weather and calmer seas, the fishing is usually slower.
One species that almost always bites this time of year is golden tilefish. Since the season opened Jan. 1, the tilefish fishing has been terrific.
“If you can hit the bottom, you’ve got a tilefish on,” Capt. Bouncer Smith said.
Smith, who fishes out of Miami Beach Marina, said golden tilefish are caught in 580-720 feet on a mud bottom. The limit is one per person in the Atlantic Ocean.
“You can take one of your kite-fishing outfits,” Smith said, “fill it with 20-pound or 30-pound braided line and use a 16- to 24-ounce lead to fish the bottom.
“Tie the braid to one corner of a three-way swivel. Tie the weight to a 6-foot section of 20- or 30-pound mono to another corner. On the last corner, tie 50- or 60-pound monofilament or fluorocarbon leader 12 feet long to a 9-0 light wire circle hook.”
As Smith noted, there’s no point using a double-hook rig. He also said that a single hook lies on the bottom better.
Smith has a seminar Thursday on winter fishing for tilefish as well as getting ready to catch big dolphin, which typically bite in early March. The seminar is 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Dusky Sport Center, 110 N. Bryan Road, Dania Beach. The cost is $15 and redeemable for store merchandise. Call 954-922-8890.
At the seminar, Smith will demonstrate how he makes his tilefish rig. He said he puts glow beads on the leader, and sometimes a small strobe light, along with a rattle that he secures to the leader with a bridle band.
Smith said his top three baits for tilefish are a butterflied goggle-eye, an 8-inch-long piece of kingfish belly and a ballyhoo plug. He said bigger baits target bigger tilefish because the baits are too difficult for small tilefish to get in their mouths.
To find bottom that has golden tilefish, “You look for nothing,” Smith said with a laugh. “Generally speaking, out in that 580-720 feet, there’s not a lot of rock and you generally find mud.”
He added that tilefish are delicious, but don’t eat them right away.
“Go ahead and fillet them and skin them and put them in the refrigerator for three days before you cook them,” Smith said, noting that it allows nitrogen to escape from the flesh, which makes it taste better. “You can grill, blacken or fry tilefish. It’s hard to go wrong any way you cook them, they have flaky, white meat.”
Also delicious are snook. The season opened at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday in Atlantic waters north of Monroe County. Smith, who fishes for snook in Government Cut, said one key to catching snook is using the biggest live shrimp possible for bait.
In addition to inlets, Smith said to fish around bridges in Biscayne Bay. And wherever you fish, Smith said to make sure your shrimp is going with the current. If you work it against the current, it will not look natural and a snook won’t bite it.
Swordfish meeting: Capt. Skip Smith and RJ Boyle will talk about swordfishing and a proposal for a long-lining research project off South Florida at Wednesday’s meeting of the Hollywood Hills Saltwater Fishing Science and Social Club at 7 p.m. at Shenanigan’s East Side Pub, 1300 S. Federal Highway, Dania Beach.
KOTG tournament: A King of the Glades open team bass tournament trail qualifier is Sunday out of Everglades Holiday Park. Entry fee is $80 per team. Visit kotgseries.com or call Mike Lendl at 954-393-5596.
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