Fishing Report: December 6, 2019

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. - Every Friday morning, Captain Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard's Marina joins Good Day to fill viewers in on his fishing forecast as we head into the weekend.

Here is his fishing report for December 6, 2019.

Inshore

The big recent cold front really changed the game inshore this past week. 

Prior to the front we had clear waters and moderate conditions that was allowing the mackerel, trout, redfish, snook, flounder and many other species bite well. After the front blew through, the front left behind murkier, muddy and stirred-up water behind. It resulted in sheepshead biting well, gags firing up, black drum feeding, trout a bit pickier and the occasional redfish and snook cooperating. 

The waters are finally clearing back up behind the front with the now-calmer conditions. We really have to watch the weather this time of year and fish around the storms. If you only can fish at certain times, make sure to capitalize on what is biting with the weather conditions. When it is moderate and clearer waters, nearly all our local species will cooperate at the right time of day and in the right areas. When it’s murky, muddy and stirred up the sheepshead, black drum, gags and trout flourish. However, that muddy water really brings out the best in sheepshead. 

Sheepshead love the structures like docks, piers, jetties and rock piles around the area. The love to eat clams, oysters, barnacles and fiddler crabs and you can catch them with small pieces of shrimp as well. Smaller hooks and lighter tackle is king, but you need a stronger hook that won’t bend out or snap in their harder mouths. 1-2ot hooks with around 15-20lb floro seems to work well with a minimal amount of weight. Just enough weight to keep your bait in the strike zone which is right up against the structure that the sheepshead are cruising on looking for crabs, barnacles and other crustaceans. These guys are fun to catch and great-eating fish -- just a little tricky to clean since they are bonier fish with a very tough rib cage to fillet out. 

Black drum are similar to sheepshead and hide out in similar areas, but instead of being right on the structure, these guys tend to hold the bottom adjacent to these structures eating many of the same food items as sheepshead. The best luck for the drum is a crab or whole live shrimp weighted to the bottom. 

Snook are still around the area, but they are much trickier in the passes and most seem to be on the move, especially with the fronts increasing in strength and our local waters cooling down more and more. The slower-action artificials seem to be working well, or bait on the bottom weighted down, making it easy for them to feed seems to be working best. 

Redfish can be found in the potholes of the flats, mangrove shorelines, and upper bay areas, especially in the warmer afternoon sun in the shallows warming up from the chillier local water temps. Like the snook, they become more opportunistic and slower-moving as the water cools, so slow-moving lures are the trick this time of year. Just like you and me, the cooler it gets, the more we tend to want to slow down. 

Remember, the fish can’t just bundle up like you and me so when the temperature drop suddenly they can get a bit of a shock and tend to just freeze up making them a little tougher to get chewing until they warm up or find easy prey items. 

Flounder are being caught around the docks, bridges and passes and along the sandy edges and potholes of the grass flats on live shrimp on the bottom or the slow-moving artificial shrimp like the DOA shrimp. These guys are waiting for passing bait right on the bottom so you got to present them the bait they want, or they will not cooperate. 

The mackerel bite was really good around the area prior to the big blow that stirred up the water and we are expecting them to return in force as the water clears the next few days ahead of the next blow coming next week. 

Unlike the rest of the species, we have been discussing these guys like fast-moving flashy baits like casting spoons or gotcha plugs around the passes, beaches, piers and mouth of the bay. 

Triple tail are still all over the bay and along the beaches hiding out under buoys, markers and other debris. If you are lucky enough to run across one of these unique-looking fish, make sure to show them a live shrimp or artificial shrimp right near their hideouts for a chance at a great dinner. 

However, remember they have to be 18 inches total length now to keep, which can be challenging sometimes to run across. 

Near shore

The recent cold front really put a damper on things on the shallower near shore waters this past week. 

We saw a really big storm that really stirred up the water from the bays out to around nearly 20 miles from shore. Luckily, the weather eased off quickly and our local waters started to clear up quickly with each day. 

Behind these big storms, when the water gets so muddy, even if the fish are down there and are ready to eat, it makes it nearly impossible for them to find the bait and do their thing. The only way to be successful behind a big storm like that is to get past that muddier water and out to where the water starts to clear up. You can also wait a few days for the fishing to return to normal as the waters calm and wind lays down it still takes another 1 to 3 days for the waters to clear back up depending on the strength of the storm. 

In this recent case, we had 8-foot seas only 10 miles from shore Monday, which made the local waters murky until pretty much Thursday when we saw a marked change for the better. Keep in mind, once you get deeper, the water will not get as stirred up as the surface. Chaos will not get deep enough to stir up the sand and silt on the bottom. However, shallower near shore waters are more dramatically affected since the high winds and seas can more easily stir things up even on the bottom. 

Prior to the blow, we were having a really good near shore mackerel and kingfish bite and we’re hoping that will return to us the next few days now that the near shore waters are clearing up. 

We saw some nice catches of kingfish and mackerel trolling in the shallower near shore waters over the past weekend. The kingfish were not huge but they were plentiful mixed in with some really good-sized Spanish mackerel. 

The hogfish bite really pick up yesterday as the water cleared up near shore. The half day did very well on the hogfish in the shallower 30 to 60-foot areas while the all-day trip out a little deeper did not find the hogfish ready to cooperate. 

We are hoping this weekend’s nice weather gets the hogfish bite hot again, like it was heating up right before this recent big cold front. Remember, the best action is always right ahead of the front or a few days after once the wind and waves have gone, the waters clear up, and the barometer normalizes. 

The gag grouper bite has been a little hit-and-miss. If you can find where they are chewing, you can really dial in to a good number of them easily. However, to our west in the Tampa area we are seeing more red grouper cooperation versus the gags near shore. It’s not until you get into the bay or much deeper offshore that you find the gags cooperating more prolifically throughout an area. 

Offshore

The offshore waters are dominating right now with stories of prolific gag grouper and some really nice-sized -- but picky -- mangrove snapper. We are also seeing the occasional big kingfish and nice blackfin tuna. 

The gag grouper were biting very well for us on our 39-hour trip. They really require a grind of the full-trip to get some good numbers. We were bouncing from ledge-to-ledge, getting a few here, a few here and a few more there are really requiring the full 20 hours of fishing time to amass a good number of keeper fish after much work and many, many, many more fish lost to the bottom in break offs. 

The trick is finding the right depth they are feeding well in from 120 to 180 feet of water, and then working that depth range from spot-to-spot with big frisky live baits, big tackle, a little luck and a lot of patience. 

Typically, around 80-pound test is the lightest you’d want to gag grouper fish with and a reel with 40 to 50 poundof drag or more with a beefy rod. That still gives you the sensitivity needed to feel that fish start to eat, so you can put the hammer down and start cranking as hard and fast as you possibly can while lifting at the same time. 

When these guys hit, you have to act as though your life depends on gaining every inch of line into your reel as quickly and aggressively and as hard as you possibly can to get these guys out of the rocks and into the boat. Once you get them up off the bottom, slow it down and then really start the finesse game. At the start of the fight, they could’ve damaged your leader or bent your hooks a bit and you don’t want to fight them hard once they are away from those sharp ledges you hooked them on. 

Mangrove snapper can be tricky to get on consistently too, but with some effort, lots of practice and the right gear you can really dial in on these guys and produce consistent catches of these great-eating and fun-to-catch fish. 

Once you master the mangrove snapper bite, you can pretty much hook any bottom fish around. These guys are super smart, very quick, and aggressive feeders. Plus, the larger mangroves we see this time of year put up a pretty good fight too. The higher speed reels, lighter rods with sensitive tips, floro carbon leaders, and thinner extra sharp hooks really help. Plus, you cannot do this without the double snell rig and a threadfin, sardine or cigar minnow plug. 

You can learn the double snell rig and how to prepare and hook your plugged dead bait under the "Fishing Trips and Tricks"  page of our website.