One of the great experiences in fishing is being a witness to a feeding frenzy. The action can be so fast and furious that when it is all said and done, your aching arms are your only reminder of the amount of work you have done. A friend of mine recently took his first trip offshore to try to catch a few bottom fish. Being new to fishing he really did not know what to expect. Armed with GPS, some live bottom coordinates and what he thought was an adequate amount of squid, he and his 2 buddies headed out.
They arrived at their coordinates in 55 feet of water, set the anchor and baited their double hook rigs with cut squid. Within 5 minutes of the first drop. All three fishermen were hooked up and landed nice black sea bass. One guy had two fish on his double drop rig. The next drop never hit the bottom before all three fishermen were hooked up again and two fishermen had fish on both hooks. From there the action got even better and before long Chris realized they were running out of bait. There were three pieces left so he decided to be diplomatic and only baited one of his hooks leaving each of his partners one more piece. As the bait descended he felt the predictable bite and set the hook on what he thought to be his last fish of the day. To his amazement he pulled in tow more black sea bass, one on the baited hook and one on the empty hook. The next 45 minutes were spent catching black sea bass on empty hooks and they even caught a few that decided to bite the pyramid sinker on the bottom of the rig.
This time of year is one of the most overlooked times to bottom fish. People are so busy with the holidays and the weather is not the most cooperative either, but the fishing is excellent. Most bottom dwellers can be found a little closer to shore during the cooler months and it is not uncommon to have fish so bunched up that feeding frenzies occur. As these guys found out, the action can be quite crazy and extremely fun.
Chris said his buddies have already called him more than once let