Time to Head Offshore for Everything from Snapper to Tuna

by Chester Moore

THE FIRST OFFICIAL DAY of summer isn’t until June 21, but when May rolls around, one of the Texas coast’s most treasured pursuits begins to kick into gear.

Offshore fishing is available to anglers year-round, but as warm water pelagics begin to show up, conditions tend to get a little more stable for popular species.

We thought we would kick off the offshore fishing season with some tips on how to catch a variety of species ranging from near-shore dwellers to bluewater specialists.

Red Snapper

Red snapper are the most popular offshore fish due to their abundance fairly close to shore and how darn good they taste.

For trophy-sized snappers like those that would win in the CCA STAR tournament offshore division, the wrecks and rocks that can be found away from heavily pressured oil rigs are the best.

These “hard spots” may require a little extra effort to find, but more often than not, they produce big snappers. Snapper are not drawn to big structure only. The smaller well heads, rocks and tiny reefs hold good numbers of fish, too. Since these areas are not pressured as much as the rigs in this area, you tend to find more big fish there.

Anchor up-current from a given piece of structure and fall back across it. The preferred method when fishing these areas is to use a typical bottom rig with either squid or a Spanish sardine rigged on two circle hooks.

A lot of times, you’ll have a strong current, and you need to get the bait down to the structure. When you’re fishing rigs, you’ve got a little more leeway, but presenting a bait five feet in one direction or another can make all the difference in the world.

King Mackerel

Speaking of the STAR tournament, one of the most competitive categories is often king mackerel. These big, silver fish fight like crazy and are abundant around rigs, weedlines and especially behind shrimp boats.

TF&G Boating Editor Lenny Rudow recommends trolling spoons for big kings. “Always include a mix of different color spoons,” he said. “Silver and gold are the standard fare, but it’s amazing how a spoon dressed with a strip of red, green, or blue reflective tape can turn out to be the uber-hot spoon on any given day.

 

“Also remember that while reflective finishes are best on sunny days, in low-light conditions dull or matte finish spoons will often catch more fish.”

“When you get a strike, have your crew immediately grab all the rods that aren’t rigged with planers, and jig them,” Rudow added. “Planer rods are already bent under enough stress that jigging them doesn’t have much effect.”

The added action will often draw additional hits, turning single hook-ups into multiples.

Tuna

Texas has some great tuna fishing for anglers fishing the big floating rigs up to 200 miles offshore out of Galveston and Port Aransas. Rudow suggests you should troll the usual pelagic offerings such as rigged ballyhoo and feathers during the daylight hours.

“Keep a hefty spinning rod rigged and ready with a large popper in case you spot fish busting on the surface,” he said.

“When darkness falls, set up a drift in areas that had action or where bait is on the meter. Toss handfuls of fish chunks over the side, while drifting back baits on circle hooks,” Rudow advised. “As the boat drifts, a crewmember should be armed with a long-handled dip net and tasked with scooping up flying fish. They’re often attracted right up to the boat by your artificial lights. A live flying fish is prime yellowfin bait.”

He also said not to forget that yellowfins are schooling fish, and where there’s one, there’s more—often, lots more.

“To catch multiples instead of singles, assign someone the task of maintaining the flow of chunks at all times—especially when there’s a fish on the line,” Rudow said. “That way, the moment you gaff the fish you might hook another—or go bold. Drift a bait back while there’s a fish on the line to shoot for a double.”

Sharks

Sharks are super abundant offshore, especially in the early summer period.

Large circle hooks rigged on steel leaders are the most popular terminal tackle for bagging sharks. Sharks can cut a line with their teeth, but also with their skin, which is sharp in its own right. One quick slap of the tail can cut even heavy-duty line with no problem.

For targeting blacktips and spinners, a highly effective chumming method involves bringing along a bucketful of small menhaden, grabbing a handful and squeezing. Some of them will float, others will sink quickly and others sink slowly.

This creates a feeding frenzy, that can allow you to sight cast to sharks with cut bait. The ideal setup for this kind of fishing is having one bait on the bottom for species such as bull sharks and a couple of free lines to get the species that feed in the upper level of the water column.

Ling (Cobia)

This time of year, a big bonus for anglers fishing around the rigs is the ling that are starting to show up in good numbers. Ling are also part of the offshore category for the CCA STAR tournament.

Locating these unusual fish is no problem. They are suckers for structure in Gulf waters. They can often be found hanging around oil platforms, stand pipes, jetties and buoys.

One of the best tactics for locating ling around structure is to rev up their motors. Take a paddle and pound the water’s surface to get the attention of the fish.

If you want to catch ling, try the standard summer fishing protocol—throw a handful of cut pogeys overboard. Live crab or fresh cut bait hanging from circle hooks is a great setup.

Crabs in particular are extremely good baits for ling. Almost every ling I have ever cleaned or seen cleaned had a belly full of crabs.

Rods loaded with artificials should also be kept within reach since ling don’t mind biting on plastic. Soft plastics such as curl-tailed grubs or imitation ribbonfish are good baits for ling.

Offshore fishing is fun, but always remember to pay strict attention to ever-changing weather conditions and be prepared for the worst. Keep your life preserver on and be ready to send an emergency signal if something bad happens.

The Gulf of Mexico is tons of fun, but is no place to be caught unprepared.

 

—story by CHESTER MOORE

 

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