Article 20030103

 Although fishing days are few due to weather conditions you still may expect good fishing when Mother Nature allows.  Warm water currents from the Yucatan peninsula are carrying the first pelagic fish (Bill Fish) back to the Texas coast.  These fish can be found at places such as the Offshore Floating Oil Rigs, East Breaks but will soon approach the closer waters around structures like the Baker and Big Southern.  When targeting these early fish look for structure on or near a warm current edge, these edges generally are associated with weedline and rips.  I like to use Ballyhoo for this type of fishing, I will also slow troll smaller live baits in the Ballyhoo spread.  When trolling in open water use darker skirt colors since Blue Marlin are the first Billfish to show up and that is their color of preference with the exception of the Mold Craft Standard Wide Range in Brown, Pink and White.  Remember to always troll one lure or bait back on the sixth wave or further, this will get reaction strikes from fish that drifted back from the baits trolled near the boat.

Closer to shore the species that started to show up a few months earlier such as Wahoo and Dolphin are still hanging around over structures like Baker, Hospital, Aransas Banks and Big Southern as well as the fish like Amberjack, Grouper, Tuna and Shark that remained there all year.  The most effective way to troll for Wahoo, Tuna and Dolphin is similar to Blue Marlin trolling with the exception of adding a few smaller lures to the spread such as Billy Bait’s Mini Turbo Slammer and use lighter and brighter colors, Wahoo do however like the darker lures and plugs such as the Repala’s.  I look for Wahoo, Tuna and Dolphin on or near warm water currents located on or near a good structure or Oil Rigs, as always Keep Ballyhoo handy if lures aren’t turning the fish on. 

March is still a good month for bottom fishing due to light fishing pressure offshore. The fish you should be targeting are Amberjack, Grouper, and Shark.  I look for these fish on rocks and rigs in at least 150’ of water, when you mark bait balls on your sounder and see a few larger marks around them you have found your spot and may want to throw a buoy incase you drift off it.  Amberjack like small live baits like Piggy Perch which the kids can catch at the docks or Bar Jacks caught on the rigs, Amberjacks may be suspend so refer to the larger marks on the sounder to find the associated depth of the fish and drop your line accordingly.  Grouper are bottom dwellers and like to eat anything from dead squid to live piggy perch, use heavy tackle and a 400# mono leader with at least a 10oz weight as these fish grab the bait and swim back into their hiding spot.  When fishing for Shark use dead or almost dead bloody bait with a steel or cable leader and fish three water columns, on top with a balloon, suspended with light or no weight and near the bottom.  Always set the clicker on the reel and use very light drag let the fish take the bait for 10 seconds and set the hook.  Remember offshore anglers can look forward to Snapper season opening again in late April.

 

Name:  Capt. Scott McCune

Company:  Fishntexas.com

Number:  (512) 626-7069

Web:  www.fishntexas.com

Address: PO Box 2772 Port Aransas, TX 78373