Terry Lacoss
Anchoring your fishing boat precisely where baits and lures can be fished exactly in the strike zone, is key to catching big fish!
Anchoring a large party fishing boat perfectly over a bottom structure is critical to the success of any fishing adventure. Captain George Strait skippers his Mayport, Florida party fishing boat called the Mayport Princess and is a genius at anchoring his 65-foot bottom fishing boat over a school of reef game fish, under a variety of conditions.
Captain Chris Savitz often fills in for Strait when time off is needed.
“If you can’t anchor exactly over the bottom structure and the fish, you simply won’t catch any fish,” Captain Savitz said. “You could be fifty feet away from the structure and not catch anything. This is why I always watch my fish finder and GPS to make sure that we are sitting right over the fish and the bottom structure. I like to be at least one to
four-tenths of a microsecond from the spot. When this
happens, I pop my head out from the cabin and give the order to drop your baits down!”
Soon the thirty-five fishermen on board the party boat Mayport Princess had their baited squid hooks lying dead on the bottom of one of Jacksonville’s more popular offshore reefs known as Amberjack Hole. Seconds later, fishermen were setting hooks and bending bottom fishing rods which indicated that excellent bottom fishing was theirs to enjoy!
Typically the larger bottom species will bite first, beating the smaller game fish to the baited hooks first. It seems like “Game On” when dinner is close by and the stronger, larger and faster swimming reef fish will always bite first. As the bottom fishing in one area lengthens, hooked fish seem to become smaller and it’s time to navigate.
Soon the Mayport Princess was navigating farther offshore and practicing an age old fishing tactic. Don’t overfish the same area! In many cases seasoned saltwater party boat captains will actually wait days, weeks, and even months before returning to the same fish haven.
Ocean waters began to clean up and flying fish indicated that fishing should indeed improve. The Mayport Princess anchored directly over a nice hard bottom with a three-foot ledge, it was time once again for the Captain Savitz to give the order to drop down the baits.
This time the water depth had increased to slightly over one hundred feet, taking fishermen a few more seconds to drop their fresh squid baits on the bottom. However it didn’t take long for a variety of large reef dwellers to find these tasty meals.
“Please don’t get off,” Rick Vollmer said. “Just stay on my hook long enough so I can reel you up to the boat. My family is expecting a fresh grouper dinner!”
Luckily, Vollmer’s hook and fishing line held and he was able to reel his big fish away from the rocky bottom down below. It was a nice gag grouper and weighed just over fifteen pounds. Certainly big enough for an ultra fresh fish dinner!
Meanwhile party boat fishermen were catching a variety of bottom species including triggerfish, Black Sea bass, vermilion snapper and a few keeper grouper. Occasionally a big grouper would take a fisherman’s terminal fishing tackle down into the ledge and break off, even with shouts of encouragement from nearby fishermen to power the fish up and away from the rough bottom.
During the rest of the day, Captain Savitz gave the command to reel in the baits and drop them down once again to the bottom, while anchoring over a multitude of small ledges at Jacksonville’s Elton Bottom. Some of the best fishing lasted from 30 to 45 minutes before the action began to slow down, which was a signal for Captain Savitz to move to another deep-water ledge. The bait of choice was fresh local squid, but some of the larger reef species were taken with live baits including pinfish and cigar minnows.
“We normally jig up a live well full of cigar minnows with Sabiki rigs,” Captain Savitz said. However the storm had the schools of baitfish scattered today, so we concentrated on fishing with squid and cut baits. I really believe this was also the reason why we didn’t catch any cobia today as well, because the bait fish were scattered.”
For terminal fishing gear both Captains Strait and Savitz recommend heavy 80- to 100-pound test when anchoring up and fishing ledges. A stiff six-foot, eighty-pound boat rod is needed to work large fish up and away from the ledges and hang-ups, particularly when large grouper, cobia, amberjack, and red snapper are biting. A three-way swivel is then tied to the eighty-pound terminal fishing line, with a two-foot section of 100-pound monofilament fishing line as a drop leader. Both skippers recommend a 5/0 long shank saltwater hook, which affords for unhooking fish in a hurry. A small section of fifty-pound monofilament leader is tied in a loop knot and attached to the remaining eye of the three-way swivel. Here an eight- to twelve-ounce bank sinker is then attached the loop. The lighter fifty-pound test monofilament allows bottom fishermen to break off the weight and rescue the rest of their terminal fishing tackle.
“We normally fish with chunks of Boston Mackerel or squid when the water is dingy,” Captain Strait said. “Bottom fish can smell the dead baits better when the water is dirty. However when the water is clear, we often jig up live cigar minnows with Sabiki rigs and hook them right
through both nostrils.”
A key factor is that most successful Jacksonville bottom fishermen always anchor their fishing boat over the structure. And many prefer to fish two- to three-foot ledges instead of wrecks, simply because hooked fish can often swim right into the wreck and break off.
“You have to anchor to be successful at bottom fishing,” Captain Strait instructs. “If you can’t drop your baits dead on the ledge and fish, you just won’t be as successful as anchoring. And more importantly, you have to know what you are doing when anchoring your boat right over the fish and structure each time.”
“I recommend for fishermen to have on board three jugs that are rigged with eighty, one-hundred and one-hundred twenty feet of line and a two-pound weight. Mark each of the jugs with the length of line with a bright magic marker. Certainly the reasoning behind having different length lines on the jugs is that you want the jug to stay right over the structure and fish. If there is too much line on the jug, the jug will drift away from the structure and you won’t be able to tell exactly where the ledge and fish are located.”
Captain Strait is also quick to point out that by marking the jug with a bright magic marker, you can also use the identification markings to tell the direction of the drift. The jug has to be marked right over the handle of the jug and the line has to be tied to the handle of the jug for this system to work properly.
“It is simply critical to be able to anchor right over the fish and structure during your first try,” Captain Strait said. “By watching the jug and the markings on the jug, you can get a pretty good idea which direction the current is running. Once you have determined the direction of the current, navigate your boat up current 150 feet and set the anchor. Back down slowly to the jug and secure your anchor rope when the transom of your fishing boat is within a few feet of the jug. Watch you’re GPS and fish finder to make sure that you are anchored directly over the structure and fish, which should be less than one tenth of a microsecond. A tenth of a microsecond is equal to fifty feet. Skilled bottom fishermen like Captains Savitz and Strait will often anchor within twenty feet of the ledge. You should also anchor on the high side of the ledge so that you won’t tangle in the ledge and lose your catch. You can always drop a line back to the ledge if you anchor up short of the ledge. Finally retrieve the jug, because you don’t want hooked fish to tangle in the jug’s line.”
It is also important to have onboard a good Danforth, or similar style forked anchor, with at least six feet of anchor chain to hold the fork of the anchor down on the bottom. An anchor ball, which is actually the size of a medium beach ball, can be attached to the anchor line and affords for easy retrieval of a heavy anchor. When it comes time to pull the anchor, simply navigate at an angle up current of the set anchor until the boat trips the anchor on the bottom. The anchor ball will then float the heavy anchor and chain right up to the surface where it can be retrieved easily.
The US Coast Guard also recommends having on board enough anchor rope that equal seven times the length of
your vessel. The size of the anchor rope normally ranges from one-half inch to three quarters of an inch, depending on the size of the boat. High tinsel anchors are also recommended over regular anchors simply because they won’t bend as easily when your anchor snags the bottom and has to be powered off with the boat.
Be sure to cleat off your anchor line to a solid cleat, because your windless anchor will not pull a snagged anchor free. And in some cases of a severe snag, simply cut your anchor line free after trying to power it off from various angles with your boat. Once the anchor is bent, it then becomes very difficult to anchor your boat and you often can’t straighten them back to shape at sea!
Currently party boats are struggling during the fish closures seasons for snapper, grouper and sea bass.
“It’s really a life saver when the vermilion and mangrove snapper season opened April first,” Becky Hogan said. “This past winter was a real killer for us with all three targeted species could not be harvested. Recently we have been trying to avoid the big concentrations of red snapper. Captain Strait’s fishing party caught and released fifty keeper-size red snapper and had to move! It’s crazy, real crazy why the government is shutting down a healthy red snapper fishery!”
Becky Hogan is a part owner, along with Captain George Strait, in the Mayport Princess.
Anchoring perfectly over a prime fish haven keeps your baits and lures in the strike zone for a longer period of time when quality game fish are more likely to be landed.
Angler magazine, May 2011
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