Our first stop was in about 50’ where we caught bait, hardtails, pinfish, and pigfish. Our first spot for targeting snapper was in a little over 70’. The sonar showed fish all over, but we were catching mostly red grouper and small red snapper. The underwater camera that I lowered on a fishing line confirmed that the spot held red snapper, lane snapper, mangrove snapper, red grouper, and scamp, but the red grouper would beat all the other fish to our baits. Here’s what it looked like on the bottom:
Video https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8vgekcm ... ar2gf&dl=0
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We continued trying spots further and further to the south. We continued to catch red grouper and other species including amberjack. When we finally found the red snapper, the sonar showed them holding 20-30 off the bottom, and catching them was quick and easy. We caught the fish on live and frozen bait and a Nomad Squidtrex lure. We limited out in minutes.
On the way in, we stopped in shallower water south of Dog Island in hopes of catching hogfish on shrimp like they do in the YouTube videos from the Tampa area. We ended up catching grunts and gag grouper. If you have tips on catching hogfish on a hook please share them or pm me.
Anyway, I've got a little fish in the freezer now.
