Sailcats & Bonnetheads

[Ted in Tallahassee]

If I can boat at least one bonnethead and a couple big sailcats I'll call that a good day. A good day being one where I actually bring back a decent amount of meat for the fry pot or grill. Sure trout is good but EVEN IF you limit out you're not talking about a whole lot of meat. I ate some sailcat & bonnethead last year and it was GOOD, well good to me anyway. Redfish you say? NEVER CAUGHT ONE. Oh yes I've tried. And DO NOT even get me started on scallops. So far this year it was the Weird Pufferfish of March, finally a couple of trout, a ray or two, and a big remora. FOOD, I need FOOD man! I am starting to look at my Gulps and salivate.

If you were to tell someone who knew next to nothing about fishing off St. Marks how to catch sailcats & bonnethead sharks, what would you tell them? Best tide, time of day, bait, water depth, technique? I figure if I follow the sage collective wisdom of fellow members here for these erstwhile "trash fish," then my problem is far worse than I think.

[luceror]

More power to ya!

[DixieReb]

Don't even worry about tides, those fish will bite on a slack tide. Put some smelly shrimp or cutbait out there and just wait for 'em. Good luck.

[leonreno]

For those fish and a good chance at maybe some Spanish mackerel, blue fish and even trout and redfish, I would anchor out in about 5-7 feet and start a good chum. Try the last 2 hours of the incoming and first 2 hours of the outgoing tide.

[Can'tCatchAnything]

For sailcats and shark I usually go to Mashes Sands and throw shrimp on a popping cork. The float keeps the shrimp away from hardhead cats, and 7/10 times I catch more sailcats than anything. I've hooked onto plenty of sharks with a finger mullet or pinfish under a cork too. But once you start targeting catfish you may come upon some trout and reds, it's funny like that.

[bman]

4/0 circle hook, 10 inches of wire leader. Use chunk bait, mullet or pinfish, under an old style popping cork.
Drift it across the flats and you will have fun.

You can catch all the pinfish you want on a bream hook and a tiny piece of gulp.
Try a small live one under the cork and you may catch a big trout.

The bigger circle hook is easier to get out of the big sharks and cats.
Blacktip on the grill is

[Salty Gator]

I believe the main forage for bonnet heads are blue crabs. May be a good place to start. I've only caught them on gulps

[onefishtwofish]

For a little added fun, target ladyfish and cut little fillet strips of them. Float them under a Cajun Thunder and you can catch about anything that swims around St Marks. Then, try catching pinfish with pieces of gulp while you are floating the ladyfish strips. If you are targeting sharks, a trailer hook will improve your catch of the smaller ones (hook the circle hook through the back and the trailer through the tail). I cleaned a sharpnose last year and the taste did not suit me and I like shark meat. Ochlocknee River bridge has produced more sailcats than I knew what to do with, all on gulps jigs and we caught a few trout too. We caught sailcats 3-1, but were catching trout too, so we kept fishing.