Hot Tips on a Cold Bite Inshore the Offshore of southwest Florida

The limestone ledges and hard-bottom areas along the 10-fathom (60-foot) curve, located on nautical charts inshore the offshore, have always been productive for pelagic and benthic fish. Amberjack moved onto the 10-fathom wrecks and provided drag-pulling action for anglers trolling large plugs or anchoring and fishing with large live baits. The biggest surprise was scattered schools of kingfish feeding near the bottom in several areas in the 60-foot depths. Linking your line to your downrigger ball with a short length of monofilament leader material of a pound-test appropriate to the size of the bait, the depth of the weight and your trolling speeds to get plugs and spoons deep enough, but once found, bag limits filled the box. You could use a No. two or three planner but Downrigger releases suffer from a notoriously undependable reputation. Rubber bands fail on their own capricious schedule, and mechanical devices succumb to problems caused by immersion in salt water. When you are ready to use your downrigger, start by setting the bait back the desired distance and wrapping a sturdy rubber band (at least number 32, but 64 is sometimes better) to the line and thread one rubber-band loop through the other to secure it. Now attach the mono release loop to the rubber band with a loop-to-loop connection. Finally, attach the other release loop to a snap on the downrigger ball.
To make the link, use a 10-inch section of mono with the breaking strain that you desire and tie a loop in each end. (A double surgeon's knot makes a good loop.) When deploying the rig, lower the ball to the water carefully so you do not break the nylon link in the process. Now when the mono link breaks, you know that you just got a strike and not just another release failure.

BIRDS TO THE RESCUE ON A COLD BITE...

The usual method of looking for baitfish on the surface to locate schools of kingfish underneath will not work this time of year because of the absence of the bait and colder waters. An alternative is to begin deep trolling wherever several cormorants, those deep-diving ducks, are in the area submerging. Their presence usually indicates that schools of smaller fish are in the area along with the larger predators that feed on them.