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FOLLOW THE BAIT FOR NEARSHORE WAHOO
T
Tim Barefoot
his is the time of year when water temperatures allow pelagics like wahoo, dolphin and tuna to show up right on the beach… so to speak. I live in North Carolina, and every year there are stud wahoo caught “right on the beach.” Here “right on the beach” is the 20to 25-mile area off the beach. For some folks in Florida, “right on the beach” might be that first sea buoy right out of the inlet. In late summer, we have a monolithic water temperature from the Gulf Stream to the beach in the mid 80s. That allows wahoo to follow huge schools of bait wherever they go. This is what we call the beginning of the end… the end of summer. The cigar minnows and sardines come nearshore, and the wahoo follow them as far in as they are comfortable with the water depth, which is usually not much less than 75 or 80 feet. They will eat whatever they want, including live menhaden or cigs pulled around by king mackerel fishermen. We call it the beginning to the end of summer, but it’s also the beginning of a wonderful time of year for me… fall and winter. The cigs and sardines come in. The pelagics follow them for a month or so
until the water starts to cool in mid September. Then the magic happens. When cooling water runs off the wahoo, the gags show up in numbers. It’s all a very beautiful dance. Let’s enjoy every step along the way. I keep talking about the nearshore activity of the cigs and sardines, but the offshore schools are also getting bigger now, and this draws the attention of everything from pelagics to bottom fish. All the grouper and big snappers shadow these schools wherever they go. This is why it’s so important to “find the bait.” Cigs and sardines are not the only thing I’m looking for offshore. I like to find a big stack of beeliners. Wherever you find a big stack of beeliners, you can bet your bottom dollar there are grouper and big snapper directly under them and wahoo and kings around them. August is also a month to consider spending the night offshore. Yes, there are late afternoon thunderstorms that pop up, but overall weather patterns are consistent, and you can fish for days, back to back. Leave in the early afternoon, get where you are going and get acclimated to the setting sun. Anchor up on a pretty piece of bottom and bait, and turn on the lights. This is a “National Geographic moment.” The minnows and squid come to the light, so you can easily load up the livewell before the daylight bite starts. I will close with this: We lost a fishing pioneer and legend last month with Mark Sosin’s passing. Our thoughts, prayers and celebrations go out to his family. See more from Tim Barefoot at barefootcatsandtackle.com.
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LIVE BAIT AND ARTIFICIAL TACTICS FOR
J
upiter, Fla. is a worldrenowned fishery. In the summertime it’s known for hot inshore snook. Offshore produces an epic sailfish, kingfish, tuna and pelagic bite. There are always fish willing to eat. One of my favorite bites is for springtime blackfin tuna. From March through May, jumbo blackfins migrate down the east coast of Florida. It is not uncommon to catch them anywhere from 20 to 35 pounds. From their deliciousness on the table to their long powerful runs, blackfin tuna are one of my favorite offshore fish to target. They are sure to send you to the tackle shop to get your reels serviced after a productive day of fishing. Blackfin tuna are excellent hunters. Often, they work together to ambush schools of baitfish. They are equipped with massive eyeballs, which are designed for pitch black and low-light conditions. They spend a majority of their time down deep feeding on squid. However, at dawn and dusk, the tunas move higher in the water column to feed near the surface. Be on the lookout for frigates and disturbance on the water’s surface. It’s not uncommon to see them exploding and flying out of the water on a bait ball. I keep an easily accessible casting rod, with a plug or weighted feather jig tied on, for this scenario or in case a school of mahi shows up. Blackfin tuna will often hold to areas with bottom topography like humps, reefs and wrecks. You can find success drifting over areas like these with live bait. Live sardines, pilchards, threadfins and gogs will all work. I prefer live sardines. For me, they have been the most productive bait.
Chumming is important to bring blackfins higher in the water column. Chunk up pilchards and throw a few pieces out at the bow, mid and stern every couple of minutes. The best chum is live chum. Small- to medium-sized pilchards are your best bet. I throat-hook a sardine and send it out on a free line. The bait will swim down on its own, and you should keep some tension on it. I also drop a live bait on a down rod and wait for the bite as I drift along. Blackfins’ excellent eyesight means they can be leader shy, so I often run a 40- to 50-pound fluorocarbon leader, but will go as light as 30 pounds. A triplehook rig for freelining or a single 4/0 or 5/0 circle hook depending By Ryan Izquierdo on the size of the bait is my hook preference. You can also catch them kite fishing, trolling feathers/spoons, with ballyhoo rigs, cedar plugs, planer fishing, vertical jigging and slow-pitch. Second to live bait, slow-pitch jigging is a fun and effective way to catch tunas when the hot mid-day sun pushes them down deep. My go to jig is a Jyg Pro 240 Gram strike jig. I like to jig anywhere from 200 to 350 feet. Send it down to the bottom over active areas and work your rod up high and let the jig flutter back down. You can change the pace and tempo of your jigging until you find what works. Don’t be surprised to get hit as you are burning the jig back to the surface. I hope these tuna tips bring you success and dinner to share with your close friends and family. Keep on fishing! Check out Ryan Izquierdo’s adventures on his YouTube channel: Ryan Iz Fishing.
You raise the flags of the fish just caught to show you weren’t skunked. Once onshore you can take it a step further showing your fellow anglers your catch of the day wearing “slippahs” from Scott Hawaii.
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FREEDIVER SPEARS WORLD RECORD CUBERA SNAPPER A massive 137-pound Atlantic cubera snapper speared by a Texas freediver in early June was heavier than the existing IGFA all-tackle world record as well as the Texas state record. It will not, however, qualify for either record because of the method used to catch it. Who cares? The diver, Braden Sherron, a student at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, can rest assured that his monster cubera is one of the largest of its species ever caught by any method. It will likely be the new International Underwater Spearfishing Association’s world record. If approved, it will replace a 122.4-pound fish shot in 2006 off the coast of Brazil. According to a Field & Stream story on the catch, Sherron first encountered the giant snapper while freediving a Gulf of Mexico oil rig about 60 miles out of Port Aransas, Texas. He did not take his shot at the time because he was not equipped to handle such a large fish. A week later, on June 3, he returned to the rig with heavier gear, dove to about 55 feet and put a dart into the fish. Luckily, the cubera wrapped the trailing line up in the oil rig, which kept the fish from diving. While the fish fought itself, Sherron returned to the surface to wait 10 minutes before diving down to secure
By CAM Staff
his prize with two more shots. When Sherron brought his fish back to the scales at Fisherman’s Wharf in Port Aransas, it began making the rounds on social media almost immediately. It truly is an enormous fish, which outweighs the existing IGFA record—a 2007 Louisiana fish that weighed 124 pounds, 12 ounces—by more than 10 pounds. Sherron’s fish also outweighs the Texas state rod-and-reel record of 131 pounds. The only larger cubera snapper research was able to turn up was a 151-pound monster that’s listed as an “other methods” catch by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. That fish, caught by handline out of Port Mansfiled in 1984, weighed 151 pounds. The thing is, none of these other anglers were holding their breath when they caught their fish. Sherron’s catch is absolutely one for the record books. “I would equate it to shooting a 200-plusinch whitetail deer on public land,” he told Field & Stream. “It’s one of those things that happens once in a lifetime, and you can’t believe it when it does.” Check out video of Braden Sherron’s spearfishing on his Youtube channel: https://bit.ly/3yKm8EP
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df ish! e R h s r n Ma i g n i C ra n k By Nathan Rich
here are few things out there that are more fun than targeting redfish cruising around the marsh. Something about seeing redfish with their tails up and backs completely out the water gets the adrenaline flowing!
With that being said, targeting these redfish can be a little tricky due to the thick grass mats submerged beneath the surface and the continuous snags from oysters around every bend. However, with the right lure you can effectively target these redfish while reducing snags. One lure that I have had a tremendous amount of success on for marsh redfish is the Yozuri 3DB Wake Bait. This lure is designed to be retrieved 2-6 inches beneath the surface which is ideal around submerged grass and oysters. The Yozuri 3DB Wake Bait also has a lot of flash from the 3D finish along with loud rattling chambers that have been proven to get redfish fired up! These wake baits can be thrown a country mile allowing you to cover an enormous amount of water in comparison to other lures. The wake bait is also one of the easiest lures to retrieve being that all that is needed is a simple, steady retrieve. Great areas to throw the wake bait are around shallow oyster beds, creek mouths, and flooded marsh grass. Some of my best days catching redfish have been in areas where the wake bait was making steady contact with the
oyster beds. Redfish dig around the oyster beds looking for crabs and bait fish, and with this lure coming through the area deflecting off the oysters, it is highly likely to get a reaction strike from a nearby redfish. There are several videos available on our YouTube channel "Southern Salt Kayak Fishing" that show us using the Yozuri 3DB Wake Bait to catch upwards of 22 redfish in a single 4 hour trip, as well as videos on how to use the wake bait to maximize your success on the water. Be sure to stop by and check us out on Facebook and Instagram as well. Until next time, tight lines!
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Fishin'
in August Forecast by Sonny Schindler
A
ugust is a hot one, and the fishing should be incredible. The heat is always an issue, but there are ways to make the most of your day. Definitely get out on the water early. Those fish are just like us, they wanna be comfortable. The early morning bites are typically the best of the day. Especially for trout, We will try to target fish in deeper water. The nearshore reefs are a good example. Jailhouse Reef and Taylor reef are in around 6-8 feet of water. Just a few feet of water, can make all the difference when this water is some warmest we will see all year. If you are gonna tough out this heat, you'll likely do better fishing the cooler deeper water column. We usually let the current tell us how much weight to use. The greater the current, the greater the weight. If there is little to no current, then free line or use a small split shot with your live shrimp, croakers, mullet. Same holds true if your fishing plastics on a jig head, go light on the jig head. Always try to keep whatever you are using as natural as possible.
ewp! N i er rsh d e Un wn O
Shore Thing Fishing Charters Bay St Louis, MS 228-342-2295 www.shorethingcharters.com
August historically brings plenty of big critters in too. With the amount of pogies, rain minnows, mullet and shrimp we have already seen, the big bull reds, Jack's and sharks should be thick. On the calmer days, you can see the big explosions of feeding fish right off the beaches from Waveland to Gulfport. You can usually see what general direction they are moving. Set up a couple of hundred yards in front of them and let them come to you. You can literally throw a rubber duck into these feeding schools of fish, and they'll hit whatever. If you wanna test out your tackle, or maybe try fly fishing, this a perfect chance. When the big fellas are feeding, you can get your boat right in the middle of them for easy casts.. If you wanna chase sharks. Hands down, the easiest way to target those big ones, is to drift a big bait through those big schools of lady fish. It's an almost sure thing that sharks are in and around the lady fish. As always, have fun and be safe.
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B i g Da D Dy & B B ’ S
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Want a good laugh, go check out Episode 146 as we talk with Josh Harmon and the Guys from Fishing the South! We talk anywhere from Fishing, Tik Tok and Youtube Videos, to Bourbon Drinking in this episode and even had an unexpected guest!
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Kitchen Delights Contributed by: Sean Varone
Pasta Puttanesca with Shrimp
P
uttanesca is a fragrant and tasty dish from Naples, Italy. It's origins are rather saucy and sordid; a quick google search of the name's meaning will explain everything. Tomatoes, black olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, onions, red pepper flakes,and herbs are briefly cooked to make this spicy and pungent sauce. Fresh shrimp from the northern Gulf of Mexico compliment puttanesca beautifully and turn this quick, easy dish into an impressive meal suited for any occasion.
Ingredients: • • • • • • • • • • • • •
1 can San Marzano tomatoes, 28 oz 2 tbsp tomato paste 1 tin of anchovy filets, I use entire tin but you may use as few as you'd like 3-5 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 red onion, minced (optional) 1 cup Kalamata olives, sliced 1 small jar capers 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes, adjust to your taste 2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped 1/4 flat leaf parsley, chopped 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 lb 31/35 count Gulf Shrimp, headed and shelled De Cecco Bucatini no.15, one package
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Note:
Cooking this on low heat is important for flavor development. I use my Dutch oven normally for this sauce because it heats evenly and holds heat well.
they will also break up with a wooden spoon while cooking. - Heat oil in heavy bottomed pot over low flame, adjust to med/low for electric cooktop
- Cover sauce loosely and simmer for around 30 mins. Stir often so sauce doesn't stick.
- Sauté shrimp for 1 minute and set aside for later. This shrimp will be added back to the sauce as the pasta cooks.
- While sauce simmers, prepare pasta according to package directions.
- Add anchovies and red pepper to oil and sauté until the anchovies begin melting into oil, around 2 mins - Add garlic, Sauté for roughly a minute until the garlic is fragrant. Take care to not burn garlic.
- Add sautéed shrimp to the sauce, simmer for around a minute to finish cooking and heat shrimp through - Remove sauce from heat and add chopped parsley, reserve some parsley for serving
top with reserved parsley. Extra olives Trout-Redfish-Flounder and capers can be used as toppings
- Add olives and capers with juice
- Add can of tomatoes and oregano; I crush the tomatoes by hand, but
- Toss sauce with prepared pasta and too.
Enjoy this lively dish with a loaf of crusty bread smeared with rich butter!
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By Will Schmidt
Your Grouper Grounds
F
inding new spots to fish has been one of the biggest issues facing us since… well, since fishing started. For years inshore fishermen have used satellite views to find points with cuts, oyster bars and other features that can be seen from above in the shallows. The good news is offshore anglers can now take advantage of similar imagery to make finding new spots feel like you’ve got it made in the shade. High-definition relief shading like that in the new Garmin Navionics Vision+ package gives anglers insight into spots they would have never known about unless they just stumbled across them. There are countless examples of offshore spots where I’ve marked and caught fish without knowing that just a few hundred feet away were even better looking spots. It’s hard to know every ridge or well-defined bottom feature, so getting a view of what is down there can be extremely beneficial. Of course, not all
spots that look good hold fish, but it’s a start. Once you find something of interest, spot lock trolling motors make it easy to move and drop baits to see if anyone is home. For larger areas, such as long ridges, sometimes trolling makes a bit more sense to cover more ground. When chasing bottom fish such as grouper, there are a few techniques that work well. Downriggers and planers with jig heads and large paddletail baits work well, but I find deep diving plugs to be even better. There are a host of deep divers out now that provide an accurate depth to which they will dive. The Nomad DTX Minnow is one of my favorites. It is deadly on grouper and does double duty with its high-speed capability for chasing pelagic species as well. I also love the fact that they come rigged with single hooks versus treble hooks. The key is to just graze the sandy bottom next to the rocks to get the groupers’ attention. They have keen sight and will charge out quickly to grab a meal, and the bonus is you start with them already away from the rocks. Just a few hundred feet away The great thing about using highfrom where the author has definition relief shading and trolling marked and caught grouper for grouper is you might have one is a massive ledge that holds even more fish. spot that quickly turns into four or five locations to drop baits in a relatively small area. Sometimes the spots are within a few hundred feet and sometimes farther. Regardless, this technology is a game-changer, and by covering new ground quickly it can make finding new productive spots much easier. Will Schmidt is a seasoned tournament angler who has been writing about fishing from more than two decades.
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them carefully when dog-day temperatures peak. Fish are fighting for their lives with every ounce of their strength on the end of a line. The stress can kill them when water conditions are less than ideal. That, along with blazing hot sun on the back of the neck, is enough reason to strike out in search of a more appealing environment when it gets hot. My 11-year-old son and I recently spent a couple days on the headwaters of North Carolina’s Nantahala River at a place called Standing Indian. Standing Indian Mountain tops out at close to 5,500 feet, and its slopes feed the river with plenty of cold water from numerous headwater branches. This area, upstream of the U.S. Forest Service’s Standing Indian Campground, is off of U.S. 64 west of Franklin, N.C. The Nantahala at Standing Indian bears little resemblance to the big whitewater river it becomes downstream near Bryson City. In its headwaters, there are about six miles of public water that might be 20 feet across in the wide spots. It’s a great little stream for folks who enjoy slinging dry flies on a four-weight fly rod for pretty little rainbow and brown trout. The fishing wasn’t exactly stellar the two days my son and I fished in mid-June. There were thunderstorms each night, so the river was a little high and stained. My son is also new to a lightweight fly rod, and overhanging rhododendron and river birch are hardly easy terrain for a beginner. Still, we managed to catch numerous gorgeous rainbows slinging a dry-dropper rig with a small Pheasant Tail fished beneath a yellow Stimulator. There were little yellow Sally stoneflies in the air, so our selection of dry fly matched the hatch. Good small-stream browns in the 14-inch range come from this stretch of water pretty regularly, but all we caught were rainbows with a couple measuring maybe 10 or 11 inches. That’s a pretty good fish in terms of little By Nick Carter wild trout streams in the Southeast. We considered our mission accomplished returning to a riverside campsite each evening. While my son might not be old enough to appreciate it, the cool mountain rout anglers have two options when it comes to deep summer. They can air and bedding down to the gurgle of the creek were the highlights of the trip. either hit tailwater fisheries, where dam-controlled flows provide stable The air temperature was easily 20 degrees cooler than back home, and I don’t year-round water temperatures, or they can seek out high-elevation know if I’ve ever slept better. headwaters, where both fish and angler find comfort in rhododendron-shaded For information, check out Nick Carter’s book “Flyfisher’s Guide to creeks with water conditions perennially perfect for little wild trout. North Carolina & Georgia.” It’s available on Amazon or by Big fish and big hatches of tailrace trout fishing are certainly appealing. contacting the author at nsc8957@gmail.com. However, anglers should play fish intended for release quickly and handle
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AUGUST 2022
NATIONAL 13
TIPS FROM A PRO
SUMMERTIME BASS ON POPPERS
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TYLER WOOLCOTT
ass are on the move in deep summer. Throwing search baits, especially topwater, is one of the best and most fun ways to find groups of feeding fish. A style of lure that was created a long time ago but still works wonders today is an old-school topwater popper. You can throw this just about anywhere around rocks, grass, wood, docks and in open water to get bites. When the weather gets hot and more people get on the water, getting fish to commit to a surface lure is sometimes almost impossible. What I like to do is put away the bigger topwaters like walking baits or Whopper Ploppers and take out a smaller Pop-Rstyle bait. There are a few reasons this bait gets more bites in the right situations. The first is it’s smaller and quieter. A smaller profile and less noise is sometimes what these finicky fish want. I have seen many situations when throwing a big noisy topwater won’t get a single bite, but throwing a popper in the same area makes fish eat. Another reason popper-style baits are very good is the speed at which you can work them. There are many topwaters that require highspeed retrieves. With a popper, the slower you work it the more it drives them crazy. I vary my retrieve and see what the fish are feeling, but usually I’ll pop the bait subtly a few times and vary the action to make it look like a dying baitfish. Then I’ll let the bait sit for a few seconds before creating another movement. This absolutely drives them crazy. One last reason poppers are deadly is that feathered rear treble hook. When fish are feeding on tiny baitfish or bugs, the feathered treble makes them bite. Sometimes even the small profile of the bait is still too big for them, but they come up and see the feathers and eat those instead. Fishing the right rod and reel with a Pop-R makes a huge difference in landing fish. You want a rod with a good amount of bend because you don’t set the hook. Instead, you just reel into them. I use a 13 Fishing Defy Black 7’ cranking rod. For the reel, you want something that is able to cast a light lure as far as possible. You also need one that will pick up the bait fast for another cast in case a fish misses or you spot surfacing fish. I use a 13 Fishing Concept with an 8:3 gear ratio. I spool it with 30- to 50-lb. Seaguar Smackdown Braid. Next time you get on the water, pick up a popper style lure like a 13 Fishing Poppy McPop Face and see how deadly it can be in the summer months. Tyler Woolcott is a professional tournament angler and guide. Check out his website at www.tylerwoolcottfishing.com.
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