What a week! This week has been very productive! With several fronts and cooler weather we have been experiencing a really good bite. This week’s hot bite has been nearshore. Despite the occasional blowout where the winds are just too heavy to get out the bull redfish, snook, and even some cobia and tripletail have made for quite the week.

This week I focused my attention to all our inlets and passes from Ponce to Sebastian, large pieces of cut bait from ladyfish and mullet, to chunks of Spanish mackerel and bluefish have been getting plenty of action! These fish are holding along channel drop offs and jetty’s. A 3 to 4 ounce egg sinker attached to a 3 foot section Fluorocarbon leader and a 6/0 owner circle hook has been the ticket. Take your bait of choice and use larger chunks about the size of your fish, toss it out and hang on — it is as simple as that!

When live bait has been available, the snook bite has been very good in between cold fronts. Large baits like pinfish and pigfish are producing good numbers of fish from 20 to 40 inches in size. My favorite rig is a 5/0 or 6/0 hook according to the size of the bait you are using and 50 lb. fluorocarbon leader rigged free lined (without any lead) is usually perfect. These fish are sitting in the same areas as the redfish and are even chewing well at night. Patience is the name of the game. It is not uncommon to have a few redfish, jacks, or even flounder pick up these baits as well.