13 Jul Mangroves are Biting

Holy smokes, are the mangrove snappers ever biting!  We are catching them day and night, on the surface, on the bottom and every other way you can imagine.  Ten feet of water, 70 feet, coral bottom, wrecks, it just doesn’t matter. We are getting them everywhere.  It really doesn’t seem to matter what bait you use, but the one constant factor is that you need light line and a small hook.  15 pound test is almost too heavy.  12 or even 10 is best.  Most of the fish we are getting are in the 20 to 30 foot range, but it seems as though anywhere we go, we get them.

The yellowtails are still there as well.  We have been getting them mixed in with the mangroves both day and night.  I have been getting reports from charter boats who have been targeting the ‘tails and not searching for the mangroves that the yellowtail bite on the edge of the reef is red hot.  Anywhere from 70 to 90 feet has been producing I hear.  

We have also been seeing a few mutton snappers as well.  The size has been quite nice too.  We haven’t caught too many little ones. Most are in the 5 to 15 pound range.  We are getting them on ballyhoo plugs mainly, but a couple have fallen victim to live pilchards. 

I really can’t report a whole lot more. We basically have been targeting “grovers” for the last couple of weeks both day and night.   I have been seeing a few sailfish free-jumping out there. We haven’t caught one in a while but you could most likely find one or two if you really tried to. 

I expect the mangrove bite to sustain from now until the next full moon.  That means that you only have a few weeks left to get out there and put together a nice catch of mangrove snappers for the dinner table!

Thanks for readin’!

Capt. Brian