localangler Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 Down for our annual vacation in Big Pine. However, this year we are down later than normal and the mangrove snapper are not cooperating. We've tried our usual bridge spots and only had one fish and the cuda got him. Not looking for spots but do I need to give up on the bridges or keep grinding it out. The old standby pin fish have fallen short. So do I need to go deeper due to water temps, head back into the gulf and look for cuts in the mangroves or stay my course? Any pointers from the mbg trust would be appreciated. On a report note, the shark population seems to be doing fair along with the cudas too. And the weather is great, we went to Sombrero Light to snorkel today. Aside from the boat ramp looking antics we observed it was a great trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuddyBottomBluz Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 Just got back from the upper keys and can tell you where we ended up finding them. 30 feet of water offshore on a rocky bottom. We started much deeper and found nothing, yellowtail, mangrove, mutton, NOTHING! We decided to move into shallow rocky bottom, basically a patch reef in 12 feet and started to see some action, so we decided on a little deeper at 30 feet. We did 50 but the bite was not there. We ended up with quality fish, 18-20 inch fish, 2 mutton's 1/2" shy of legal and got rocked by even bigger fish. Chum them up but don't over feed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 5 hours ago, MuddyBottomBluz said: Just got back from the upper keys and can tell you where we ended up finding them. 30 feet of water offshore on a rocky bottom. We started much deeper and found nothing, yellowtail, mangrove, mutton, NOTHING! We decided to move into shallow rocky bottom, basically a patch reef in 12 feet and started to see some action, so we decided on a little deeper at 30 feet. We did 50 but the bite was not there. We ended up with quality fish, 18-20 inch fish, 2 mutton's 1/2" shy of legal and got rocked by even bigger fish. Chum them up but don't over feed. My buddy is a professional tailer in Islamorada.......he said this year has been the worst in recent history.....he can't explain why.... dc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
localangler Posted June 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2019 Thanks for the input, tried a few new spots and finally caught some fish, also changed up presentation and down sized some stuff including bait. Hope to make it to the patch reefs this week still. And a pic of last night's dinner guest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuddyBottomBluz Posted June 26, 2019 Report Share Posted June 26, 2019 Congrats! By the way we caught the mang's on fresh ballyhoo chunks on the patch reefs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted June 26, 2019 Report Share Posted June 26, 2019 BTW, in the summer, you gotta go light...i used to use 10 lb 100% flour liine with max 25 lb flour leader, #4 not 4/0 hooks with split shot.... fresh dead bait is the key for mangies....yellow tails you need to drift it back in the chum line....squid strips,etc. dc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayAngelfish Posted June 29, 2019 Report Share Posted June 29, 2019 This time of year the mangroves are beginning their move out to the reef for the July and August spawn so patch reefs and inner reef are probably your best bet like others have said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brew1891 Posted July 2, 2019 Report Share Posted July 2, 2019 any more tips on tackle size, presentation, etc for the mangroves? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.