WORLD AND LOCAL NEWS   

News on the water this week includes some potentially disturbing discussion about the possibility of new marine reserves (read no fish zones) that the fed is currently considering.  The White House Council on Environmental Quality has a number of locations “still under review.”   The list includes coral reefs and ridges in the Gulf of Mexico off southern Louisiana and areas around the Dry Tortugas, Florida’s East coast and in the central Gulf off Florida. 

The basic plan is to have the areas designated as Reserves with the President’s signature without Congressional input or approval.  In fact, so far very little input has been given by public stake holders regarding the proposals.  A few large conservationist groups like the Ocean Conservancy and the Pew Environment Group have voiced their support for the Presidential initiative.  It seems that the President likes the plan that would

   create a “blue legacy” much as Teddy Roosevelt became known as a conservationist President by setting aside large tracts including Yellowstone National Park 

Unfortunately, this kind of legislation can have a severely negative economic impact to our fishing industry across the country and the Gulf states.  If you are against this type of legislation, it is best to register your opinion with the Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez at cgutierrez@doc.gov.  His cabinet seat oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service. 

It is possible that decisions on this could come within a month, so send your email ASAP. 

On a happier note, here is some recent and most interesting local news.  Captain Grayson Sheppard emailed me today with photos of two giant Goliath Groupers that he caught and released in the Government Cut.  Grayson estimated the largest fish to be 6 feet long and between 300 and 350 pounds.  Grayson and his charter group were shark fishing with heavy tackle and everyone was just thrilled to catch and release big Goliath groupers.  I’m envisioning a 12 year old little boy on vacation with the family fishing from a dock in the Plantation subdivision with shrimp.  He hooks a small mangrove snapper and a 300 pound plus Goliath eats the snapper and the boy pulls his fish up on the beach.  WOW--  what a catch on a 20 pound plastic reel and rod.  Anglers, please don’t make a rush to the Government Cut with your heavy tackle looking for Goliath Grouper, they are still protected from harvest. 

This is a highly unusual happening.  The Cut has a lower salinity with fresh water mixing from the brackish bay waters especially after periods of prolonged rain up in the rivers north of the bay.  Who knows why these things occur, that is why it is called fishing I guess.  You never know what you will catch.  Thanks to Captain Grayson for sharing his remarkable fishing experience. 

Till next tide,

Tight lines,

Captain Alex Crawford—www.topknots.com – (850) 697-8946

            REEF SPECIES SWARMING ON OLD SHRIMPBOAT WRECKS     

The Forgotten Coast is blessed with a plethora of old shrimp boat wrecks.  Many of these fishing hotspots are located in less than 100 feet of water making them accessible to the dedicated recreational angler.  In Spring when the water warms, these old wrecks become fish central for all manner of reef critters including trigger fish, groupers, kingfish, Spanish and all of the snapper species. 

Early spring anglers will find many great options while wreck fishing.  These spots have not seen much fishing pressure during the past 5 months of winter.  Depending on your target species, now is time to get on the big pond and enjoy the mild spring weather and have loads of fun pumpin’ and windin’ on your favorite reef fish. 

During summer months these old wrecks get tons of pressure.  This reduces the number of fish available to you.  However, by the end of May, new fish show up to entice your fishing fantasies.  One highly sought after species is the beautiful mahi mahi.  As the summer weather pattern begins, dolphin fish move closer inshore.  Many times we find them after prolonged periods of south winds pushed into shallower water along with large mats of sargassum weed.  The first report of mahi mahi became public knowledge this week.  As a side note, the first reports also came in for tarpon.  A local guide put a pair of 100 plus pounders up on his gunwales.  Patience is the game for tarpon and I admit I don’t have it.  I’d much rather motor out into the Gulf and anchor on one of the dozens of wrecks that are relatively close in.  Plus reef fish are the best when fried golden brown.  Tarpon are great fun to catch, but they are not suited for the hot oil fryer. 

One trick of wreck fishing is to motor around the wreck you want to fish and pay close attention to your bottom machine.  Over time folks have deployed their own reef material around wrecks, as their own private reef numbers.  These small artificial reefs can be super productive for the savvy angler that knows they exist and has the lat/lons to locate them consistently.  The Angela is a good example of a well-known wreck that offers these little artificial reefs around it.  Idle slowly in figure eights around and punch in your new waypoints as you go. 

This past weekend we were able to get out one day with minimal winds out of the south and east.  The better than average catch included Spanish, snappers, groupers and one wayward slot redfish When we came out of the Government Cut, we were greeted by huge flocks of birds working bait just south of the jetties.  Also working the bait, mostly pogies, were small pods of bottle nose dolphins and giant schools of Spanish Mackerel.  If you are proficient with your cast net, baitwells full of pogies can be had when conditions are right.  Early in the mornings is best time for pogies on the surface.  Don’t forget to rig you leaders with a short trace of light wire for toothy critters.  Fresh, never frozen Spanish fillets are great eats.  The largest, strongest fish are the early ones that are here right now.  Come and get ya some!

So, what’s not to like.  Gorgeous spring weather on the Forgotten Coast along with a decent shot at tarpon, tasty fried Spanish mackerel and an assortment of reef fish just waiting on shallow wrecks.  I know I keep saying it over and over but, Spring is a spectacular time here on the Forgotten Coast.  After the long winter, it is really refreshing to get your nose full of salt and a sunburn on your face.  Add a few fish to the equation and you’ve created a real adventure, not just a boat ride in the sunshine.  Have fun, catch ‘em up!

Till next tide, tight lines and solid hookups,

Captain Alex Crawford

www.topknots.com

(850) 697-8946

                         TEN SECRETS TO CATCHING MORE POMPANO  

                                                        By Captain Alex Crawford

In spring along the Gulf coast from Florida’s Panhandle, across Alabama’s beautiful beaches to Mississippi, legions of dedicated anglers get ready for one of the biggest events in the salt water fishing world—the arrival of the highly prized Pompano.  Passionate Pompano chasers have waited all winter for these great eating little critters to show and they are ready.  If you want to find out where the Pompano are biting, ask one of these fearless fishermen.  You can always tell the ones that are devoted to their sport, they are the ones standing next to the water casting in 40 degree, windy early spring weather with nothing but Bermuda shorts and a light cotton T shirt.  It is likely that these brave anglers are from far away lands like Michigan or Minnesota.  They are an excellent source of local information about the whereabouts of schools of Pomps and they are very willing to share their knowledge.  I usually carry a couple beers to be used as bribes—it always works. 

ONE

Finding fish is the hardest part of the endeavor.  Other than asking other anglers where they have been catching fish, there is another technique that sometimes is remarkably successful in locating schools of fish.  Seasonal Pompano pros will run their boats randomly along the beaches in an attempt to “spook” a school.  Pompano exhibit an unusual behavior called skipping.  In the boat engine’s prop wash, you can see the silvery sides of a school, as they skip across the waves on the surface.  Why Pomps do this is another mystery of fishing, as other species do not exhibit this strange behavior.  Once a school is located, it is time to stop, anchor and begin chumming the fish close to your boat.  This technique can be extremely effective, resulting in a limit for everyone quickly.  Worst case scenario you get some sun on your face and some salt in your nose. It’s just great to be out on the water again after a long nasty winter.   

TWO

Decisions about bait are very important.  Pompano pros will tell you that the number one bait is a live, frisky sand flea (mole crab).  You can buy these critters at some bait and tackle shops along the coast, but catching your own supply of fresh, live baits is optimal.  With your trusty sand flea rake, go down to the surf and dredge up your baits.  You can look where the last wave breaks up on the beach and see the little flea antenna as the water recedes.  They bury down in the wet sand and, if you are fast and attentive, you can rake them up.  It’s great fun and at times, very productive.  Do not put your hard won fleas in a 5 gallon bucket with sand, the ammonia from their urine will kill them.  Keep them cool and out of direct sun.  An old oyster bag with newspapers and a block of ice will usually keep them fresh and ready to fish.

THREE

If you are unable to find bait on the beach or buy it at the bait store, there are options.  Small live shrimp work well when Pomps are feeding.  Fiddler crabs will also work.  Don’t be surprised to catch rat reds and trout at times while targeting Pompano.  They like the same feeding areas.  Small jigs will catch Pompano also.  Try a quarter ounce Nylure yellow jig with a shrimp or sand flea pinned on the hook.  Work it slowly by jumping it in short hops.  This action emulates the natural movement of a sand flea by jumping and burying in the sand.  Add a bright orange plastic bead to your fluorocarbon leader that matches the color of a sand flea’s egg sack.  Pompano are professional sight feeders.  They have large eyes like all members of the jack family and rely on their acute vision for feeding success.  You can even add a short leader with a split shot,  #1 hook and an orange bead to drag behind your primary bait.  Creating more commotion on the bottom will attract hungry fish.  Remember that you may not use treble hooks for Pomps.

Try anchoring just offshore of the last beach trough and casting into the trough.  Frequently food will be there and so will the Pompano in large numbers.  When conditions are right, you are able to catch over your limit fast, so keep count and turn short fish back.  Be a responsible steward of the resource, it is finite.  Don’t we all want our grand children to experience the thrill of catching a hard-fighting, great eating Pompano? 

FOUR

A relatively new artificial lure is a soft rubber sand flea with an orange painted under belly, again to simulate the female pompano’s egg sack.  These lures add an element of sportsmanship to the task, making it even more rewarding for the angler.  Try Half Hitch (www.halfhitch.com) Tackle in Destin, FL.  These are hard to find at times, like the beginning of the Pompano run.  Buy a few in advance so you will be prepared.    

FIVE

Target your efforts in troughs and drop offs around passes.  Bait gets washed into these low lying “holes” and become a buffet bar for hungry Pompano.  If fish are in the area, during some stage of the tide, the fish will be feeding in these troughs.  Your mission is to have the patience to be there at the right time.  I prefer the last two hours of a high tide with good horizontal current.  The basic premise is that tide and current moves bait into feeding zones and the fish show up to chow down.  Jetties that are granite boulders that form Gulf inlets are prime locations because they provide a steady offering of crustaceans, like shrimp and small crabs.     

SIX

Tackle decisions are basic.  Eight foot graphite rods work well to propel baits long distances.  Ten pound class spinning reels with super smooth drags are ideal to handle that hard first run.  Pomps really pull hard for being so small.  It is the jack in them with forked tails and streamlined bodies.  They are efficient swimmers and will break down the drag on a cheap reel.  My favorite reels are Shimano Stradic 4000s.  They have superior drags and stand up well to salt water.  Another fine choice in reels is the Shimano Spheros 4000, a twelve pound class outfit that will do the job, spooled with mono or braid.  Hook sizes need to be small due to very small mouths.  An Owner #1 live bait hook is a good choice.  They have good steel and are super-sharp out of the box.  Leaders should be fluorocarbon, no larger than 15 pound.  Casting is the primary consideration.  It is necessary to make long casts at times.       

SEVEN

When the inshore surface water temperature reaches 68 degrees, it is time to be looking for Pompano.  This seems to be the magic temperature for other species like reds and trout as well.  Another really fun target species of early spring is cobia.  If you are searching the outside beaches for fish, always have a 30 pound class spinner rigged and ready to present to a pod of big cobes.  Be the prepared opportunistic angler.  Searching to the west in the morning hours and back to the east after lunch will keep the sun at your back to improve on the water visibility.  Invest in high-quality polarized sun glasses.      

EIGHT

The most successful pompano anglers are the ones that get up early and stay out late.  The best fishing days will be the full moon days of April and May.  Plan your trips to coincide with these “prime” times.  You want to enhance your chances of success.

      Fisheries biologists in Florida tell us that our beloved Pompano populations are in decline.  They want us to strongly consider catch and release.  It is difficult to release these yummy little critters.  They are arguablably the best seafood eating of all the finfish species.  That includes groupers, snook and cobia.   

NINE

Have a small razor-sharp fillet knife to carve your catch.  Pompano require some finesse to fillet, especially the barely legal ones.  Their skins are very tough.  Depending on how you want to cook your catch, you may just gut the fish to be prepared whole.  Others like fillets with no bones. 

TEN

An excellent Pompano recipe:  fast and easy

Pan-fried fillets

Four fillets depending on sizes of fish about ¾ pound total weight

Quarter cup of flour

Quarter teaspoon each salt and white pepper

One large egg slightly beaten

One tablespoon milk(1%)

Quarter cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs

3 tablespoons butter

Combine first three ingredients: dredge fillets in mixture.  Combine egg and milk, dip fillets in milk mixture and dredge in bread crumbs.

Melt butter in non-stick skillet.  Add fillets, cooking 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown or until fish flakes easily with fork. 

Yields two(2) servings

Add your favorite wine, artichokes, candles and smooth jazz for romantic dinner.

Captain Alex Crawford

www.topknots.com

fishing from Apalachicola, FL

 (850) 697-8946

   .   

               SHEEPSHEAD CATCHING—BEST ON THE GULF COAST   

One of the very best of the December best bets on the Gulf Coast out of Apalachicola is the scrappy and tasty sheepshead.  Distinguished by its black vertical bands, many call it the convict fish.  I call it a prolific winter target species that gives a very good account of itself on proper tackle.  They use their broad, thick bodies to give you a spirited battle.    And as a bonus, sheepshead are some of the best eating of the inshore offerings.  Now is the time to catch them with cooler water and spawning fish. 

Other than possibly the gray triggerfish, no other fish measures up to the sheepshead in its ability to steal your bait.  This professional bait stealer gets its name from the canine teeth that protrude from the mouth.  Like so many fish, the sheepshead has evolved perfectly to suit its environment.  Living around barnacle-encrusted pilings and feeding primarily on crustaceans, sheepshead have serious incisors that make short work of small crabs, shrimp and other shellfish.  Its diet accounts for the excellent flavor of the flesh. 

If you watch a sheepshead eat a fiddler crab, the process is quite remarkable.  They don’t actually strike the bait in a traditional sense.  The take is more like a sucking technique, whereby the bait is inhaled, crushed  and eaten in a nano-second.  The shell is simply spit out.  Because these fish have such extraordinary abilities to steal your bait, a specialized technique must be employed if one wants to catch a box full. 

Anchor or tie up to your favorite piling.  Several bumpers may be necessary to accomplish this, especially with a heavy chop.  Begin by chumming barnacles off the piling with your flat-blade shovel.  Twelve pound spinners with fluorocarbon leaders and stout hooks in the #4 to #1 size range will not bend in tough mouths.  Small split shot or egg sinkers are best depending upon the velocity of the current.  It is important to fish straight up and down to better feel the bite.  Some anglers use small jig heads with success. 

Drop your offering straight down at the base of the piling, as sheepshead hold tight to the pilings and don’t venture far away.  When you feel a tap-tap and a heavy feel, set the hook aggressively.  With really tough mouths, you must penetrate the barb of the hook.  Some of the meat boys will use very heavy tackle and simply snatch them out of the water that is rarely more than 12 feet deep around my small pond.  Whatever floats you boat, but this is still sportfishing, right? 

Bait selections vary from place to place.  Chose one that will stay on your hook best and is commonly available in your area.  Clams, shrimp, blue crab, oysters and fiddlers are top choices.  Cut these offerings up into bite-size morsels and impale them on your small hook. 

Fish the tides with maximum current.  Sheepshead eat when the current brings food.  Try the jetties at the Government Cut for fast action.  Tie several leaders in advance, because the granite boulders will claim a few.  Bonus fish are reds, black drum and flounder.  While anchored, put out a big stick with a pinfish or crab claw on the bottom for bull reds. 

As we move into winter, you will have the whole pond virtually to yourself.  Many inshore species spawn now and are easy to catch.  A fine catch of sheepshead and flounder makes for some mighty tasty eats.  Come and get ya some!!!

Till next tide, tight lines and solid hookups,

Captain Alex Crawford

Proud Member Florida Outdoor Writers Association

Proud Member Florida Guides Association

www.topknots.com         

                    COLDER WATER TURNS ON THE FISH

With night air temps in the low forties, the surface water temps are falling rapidly.  The fish react to this change in their environment by becoming eating machines in preparation for the long, cold winter.  Several species have already left town or are on the way.  The mackerels, kings and Spanish are in this category.  A few kings and some Spanish are still around, but they are heading for South Florida on the heels of the migrating bait, particularly mullet.  The reports tell of some small kings caught on shallow reefs and Spanish around the passes, like the Government Cut in Apalach and the Destin East pass.  There are jacks, blues and sharks around the inlets as well.  Patient anglers with fresh live bait have scored some really nice bull reds in the Bob Sykes Cut.  The redfish action will only improve as the water cools down further.  Live bait will continue to be the bull red secret.  Jumbo shrimp, pinfish and mullet are primo baits to soak in the passes.

Some nice flounder have found their way onto dinner plates recently.  The go-to bait is a frisky bull minnow(killifish).  Tackle shops on the Forgotten Coast normally have bull minnows at reasonable prices.  Talk to the folks at Fisherman’s Choice (Charles and Rex).  Or Half Hitch Tackle in Port St. Joe( Bill and Frank).  These folks talk to anglers all day everyday and are the finest source of local info regarding where to go and the bait and tackle you need.  Visit their fine website at www.halfhitch.com.  Local information is always the most valuable if you really want to hammer the fish.  And don’t we all really want to hammer the fish?  We even have some catch and release mentalities around.  I have consulted with my six(6) grand children and they want to say thank you to all who have adopted the catch and release mentality.

In the early morning on the flats there have been some nice gator trout catches.  Slot reds and a few flounder are available around the bridges on a low tide with some current.  Small shrimps are you best bait.  Tarpon are gone south. 

Offshore the snapper season is closed.  Conflicting reports about when it will reopen are all over.  When I get some definitive answers, I will share them on this site in my reports.  If anyone has the answer about the snapper season for 08’, please email me at captainalex@topknots.com.  Thanks!  How about you psychoward, your email is dysfunctional. 

Blackfins, wahoo and mahi are still around the offshore waters of the Panhandle.  Two particular spots to consider include the Elbow and the Squiggles.  I know it is a long round trip, but hey, you can’t take it with you.  Add a couple crew members to ease the fuel burden.  Wet a line!  Opportunities are dwindling!

Groupers will eat your large lively pinfish around hard coral bottoms in 100 feet of water.  Giant mangroves are still feeding actively on deep water wrecks.  Colorful jigs will entice a freight-train amberjack on the snapper wrecks.  A few black seabass have schooled up and will chomp your squid offering, yum-yum.  Speaking of yum, ever try lane snapper sushi-style onboard for lunch.  I know you can’t legally carve fish onboard.  Well, what will they do, send us back to Viet Nam?     

OK, what species have I overlooked?  Marlin, sails?-- go to Costa Rica. 

Till next tide, tight lines and solid hookups,

Captain Alex Crawford

www.topknots.com

(850) 697-8946                                                                

Proud Member Florida Outdoor Writers Association(FOWA)

Proud Member Florida Guides Association(FGA)

Proud Member Florida Coastal Conservation Association(CCA)

p.s. As we get closer to Winter, we all need to check out our safety gear to make sure it is all serviceable.  Be a SMART Captain, safe is smart!!!