I have finally upgraded my boat to a 23’ Keywest and am excited to be able to get back out to the bigger water. Typically i am on a friends boat offshore fishing the ledge in the spring ad early summer.
Anyways… I understand that bottom fishing this time of year is good and I assume that hitting the artificial reefs is the place to go. What are the tricks to anchoring in these areas and bait or rigs used.
I am much more familiar with trolling for dolphin and tuna than bottom fishing and i am hoping for some good direction in getting started.
Any tips and suggestions are much appreciated, thanks for your time and help!!!
You have two ears and one mouth, science would say you should listen twice as much as you speak.
Get you a reef anchor if you plan on dropping an anchor on artifical reefs. I myself like to stay away from the artifical reefs and look for live bottom or hard bottom (small ledges).
A wise man once said “Do as I say not as I do” Good advice when I tell you that.
Thanks!
Is it typical to drift the reefs rather than anchor?
I’ve been doing to some research looking for natural hard bottom areas, are there any rules of thumb to finding these, i know the majority of our coastline is sand bottom thus the importance to find these areas.
You have two ears and one mouth, science would say you should listen twice as much as you speak.
Drifting is a great way to find a good concentration of fish before you set the hook. But it too depends on how fast the current is ripping. Live bait on the bottom for grouper and such works best anchored.
Live bait, chicken rigs with cut bait, butterfly jigs, tipped bucktails all work. Drift and find the fish then anchor up so that you are over the structure then start filling the boxes.
Mark
Pioneer 222 Sportfish Yamaha F300
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.
“Life’s tough…It’s even tougher if you’re stupid” John Wayne
Find the structure over which you want to fish and mark the spot with your GPS. You may want to do some circles over the spot to find the edges so you’ll have a better area over which to park your boat.
With your spot marked with the gps, allow your boat to drift for a little while and see which way the wind and current push you off of the gps spot. Pay attention to the grid lines on the gps so you’ll know your distances - say 50 feet - 100 feet, etc.
Now you know your drift direction. Motor up current/wind from your gps spot far enough away from the spot so that when you drop anchor, your boat should drift over your desired location.
It takes practice.
Don’t forget to take your anchor ball - pulling the anchor and chain from over 100 feet gets old pretty quick.
“I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of the general public.”
~my dad
Equipment:
190cc Sea Pro w/130 Johnson
1- 19 year old (boy of leisure)
1 - 1 year old (fishing maniac)
1 - wife (The Warden)
Thanks for the detail guys.
Friogatto- Damaging the reef was a definitely a concern of mine and why I’m talking about this and the best practices. I don’t like to be the moron out there ruining things for those to follow.
I really appreciate everyone willing to divulge their experience to those less experienced.
In terms of dropping bait any recommended lines strengths or types. I’m sitting on a large spool of 25lb for inshore purposes but I have a feeling thats not going to cut it.
Circle hooks and jigs?
You have two ears and one mouth, science would say you should listen twice as much as you speak.
Another tip for the anchor, don’t go buying a pre made reef anchor, make your own out of re-bar and 1/2 inch pvc. Ten times cheaper and easy. All you have to do is bend two pieces of rebar in the middle and make a loop for the chain shackle to lock in to, then at the straight ends, slide a 10" piece of that PVC onto it and bend the straight ends into four opposite directions. Simple enough. Then make you another just like that and tie them together with rope. Hook one of them onto the chain, the other will assist in holding the boat as well as setting the anchor. Reef anchors are meant to bend at the anchor tips so that you can retrieve it, but in the event that it gets hung up by the chain or some other means, you would much rather lose a $10 anchor than an $80 one.
Also, the bigger the boat, the heavier the gauge of re bar you should use. AND dont forget to wrap the anchor in a blanket or something after it starts to rust. They can leave nasty rust stains. I know from experience.
Variation on this below in red…for your spots only. Generally not at public numbers with multiple other boats around.
I like visuals in open water. Hate trying to use the plotter for everything zoom in/out when you have multiple spots marked within 30 yards of each other and it is lagging behind on refreshing when you’re cutting 20-30 yard circles.
quote:Originally posted by claim
What “friogatto” says.
Here’s a little more detail on the process:
Find the structure over which you want to fish and mark the spot with your GPS a buoy tied off at the proper depth. The bouy consists of a crab pot marker with a “spool” cut out of the center and lined with cord and a 3-5 lb or so weight.</font id=“red”>
You may want to do some circles over the spot to find the edges so you’ll have a better area over which to park your boat. anchor.
You may want to drop multiple markers. Have multiple buoys ready to toss out. You WILL eventually tie one off too short and it will go under and be forever lost.</font id=“red”>
With your spot marked with the gps buoys, drop some rigs down and drift over your spots. The first few bites should tell you whether or not you want to anchor. If it’s good to anchor, now you have tracks. Or you can toss a paper plate on the buoy. Line up the paper plate and buoy and that’s your anchor course. Run your anchor course using the compass heading once you’ve lined up the paper plate and marker. </font id=“red”> allow your boat to drift for a little while and see which way the wind and current push you off of the gps spot. Pay attention to the grid lines on the gps so you’ll know your distances - say 50 feet - 100 feet, etc.
Now you know your drift direction. Motor up current/wind from your gps spot far enough away from the spot so that when you drop anchor, your boat s
Variation on this below in red…for your spots only. Generally not at public numbers with multiple other boats around.
I like visuals in open water. Hate trying to use the plotter for everything zoom in/out when you have multiple spots marked within 30 yards of each other and it is lagging behind on refreshing when you’re cutting 20-30 yard circles.
quote:Originally posted by claim
What “friogatto” says.
Here’s a little more detail on the process:
Find the structure over which you want to fish and mark the spot with your GPS a buoy tied off at the proper depth. The bouy consists of a crab pot marker with a “spool” cut out of the center and lined with cord and a 3-5 lb or so weight.</font id=“red”>
You may want to do some circles over the spot to find the edges so you’ll have a better area over which to park your boat. anchor.
You may want to drop multiple markers. Have multiple buoys ready to toss out. You WILL eventually tie one off too short and it will go under and be forever lost.</font id=“red”>
With your spot marked with the gps buoys, drop some rigs down and drift over your spots. The first few bites should tell you whether or not you want to anchor. If it’s good to anchor, now you have tracks. Or you can toss a paper plate on the buoy. Line up the paper plate and buoy and that’s your anchor course. Run your anchor course using the compass heading once you’ve lined up the paper plate and marker. </font id=“red”> allow your boat to drift for a little while and see which way the wind and current push you off of the gps spot. Pay attention to the grid lines on the gps so you’ll know your distances - say 50 feet - 100
quote: You may want to drop multiple markers. Have multiple buoys ready to toss out. You WILL eventually tie one off too short and it will go under and be forever lost.
I will now be in constant fear of finding one of these whenever I am offshore with the motors in gear.
2000 Sportcraft Sport Cat 255
Wilderness Systems Tarpon 160
Variation on this below in red…for your spots only. Generally not at public numbers with multiple other boats around.
I like visuals in open water. Hate trying to use the plotter for everything zoom in/out when you have multiple spots marked within 30 yards of each other and it is lagging behind on refreshing when you’re cutting 20-30 yard circles.
quote:Originally posted by claim
What “friogatto” says.
Here’s a little more detail on the process:
Find the structure over which you want to fish and mark the spot with your GPS a buoy tied off at the proper depth. The bouy consists of a crab pot marker with a “spool” cut out of the center and lined with cord and a 3-5 lb or so weight.</font id=“red”>
You may want to do some circles over the spot to find the edges so you’ll have a better area over which to park your boat. anchor.
You may want to drop multiple markers. Have multiple buoys ready to toss out. You WILL eventually tie one off too short and it will go under and be forever lost.</font id=“red”>
With your spot marked with the gps buoys, drop some rigs down and drift over your spots. The first few bites should tell you whether or not you want to anchor. If it’s good to anchor, now you have tracks. Or you can toss a paper plate on the buoy. Line up the paper plate and buoy and that’s your anchor course. Run your anchor course using the compass heading once you’ve lined up the paper plate and marker. </font id=“red”> allow your boat to drift for a little while
quote: You may want to drop multiple markers. Have multiple buoys ready to toss out. You WILL eventually tie one off too short and it will go under and be forever lost.
I will now be in constant fear of finding one of these whenever I am offshore with the motors in gear.
2000 Sportcraft Sport Cat 255
Wilderness Systems Tarpon 160
No more likely than running over something else. I think we’ve lost 1-2 over the past 15 years. You want it as vertical as possibly right over the spot, but giving it an extra 10-15 feet over what your bottom machine reads should be a safe bet. Or, just drop it down, tie off the length, and wind it back before you start searching for the good bottom.
I appreciate the detail on the process.
With regards for fishing live natural bottom, how do i go about starting to find those? Is it a matter of keeping an eye on your sonar to read the bottom structure, o rare there other variables to look for that help in locating this?
My understanding is that our coastline i primarily made up of sandy bottom with a lack of structure thus the large efforts in providing artificial reefs.
You have two ears and one mouth, science would say you should listen twice as much as you speak.
Enter all the GPS locations into fishfinder before leaving.
Once you get out there you can add marks as you see them.
There is alot more live bottom than what is shown.
Find something like this will keep you busy all day.
This is a school of Weakfish with Bluefish. Chunked the bluefish and pulled a couple bull reds and a few sharks.
Yes, my screen is broken. $30 for a cut down ipad screen protector or $300 for a new screen. Well, you know which one I chose.
HAha, good luck with the iPad, looks like a Life Proof case woulda done you well. Anyways, thanks for that detail…i hate to sound so ignorant but how in the work do you read the Sonar to recognize the differences in whats just floating through the water and what fish are etc…
Thanks!!
You have two ears and one mouth, science would say you should listen twice as much as you speak.
