Went out today after the rain quit for a few hours and got into some Spanish. Were trying for King but nothing. Hookd something real big that almost spooled me and then broke the leader on my gotcha rod. and caught a few of these little creamy colored fish? is it a hardtail? What is it???
Spanish sardines, AKA, herring are usually too soft to troll with. Cigar minnow on a duster or a live hardtails hooked in the nose...or troll that Spanish mack. Smokers love those.
They were all really small ones. Il definately try slow trolling for kings next time. That was my first time fishing the gulf side on a moderately rough day. 15mph wind and 4ft swells in a 17ft. boat gets really fun really quick!
Welcome to the northern Gulf Coast where a blue runner is a hardtail, a scaled sardine is an LY, a Spanish sardine is a herring, a false albacore is a bonita, an Atlantic bonita is a northern mackerel, a northern/Boston/tinker mackerel is a Speedo, a cobia is a ling and remoras are always a pain in the ass.
Thanks for the local lingo education.... needed a good laugh. Watched a few videos of pier fishing in your area and was wondering what an LY was. Am hoping to come and check out a couple of piers over a weekend this fall. Am in the Gainesville area of north central FL, formerly from South East FL. Long time pier fisherman, over the years have caught all the ones you mentioned and many more... but never a remora...
Wow! I grew up here and didn't know a few of those. I'll be going out again Saturday dodging the rain again in my 1720...what's the best way to rig Blue Runners/hardtail for kings????
Mack, you'll find we catch fish off the local piers that they don't in SE Florida. Lots of kings, sailfish, mahi, blackfin tuna. I've heard from a semi- reliable source that a Wahoo was hooked up this year.first year the old Dan Russel was built in Panama City, a blue marlin and a yellowfin were hooked, but not caught.
Also there's been a TON of little hard tails 3-5" around structure, not ideal bait for kings, but have been dropping them to the bottom on a knocker rig and getting some large snappers.
In between the sandbars or just past the 2nd bar in 10-20 feet of water...you will either see them on your bottom machine or see them on the surface...if there's buoys then get as close as you can and just start fan casting your sabiki rig... you will find them.
Make sure to use a heavier sabiki so you dont get stripped every cast...I often catch 4 or 5 good ones at a time