Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Great wreck fishing for groupers and snappers
Some days, the fish just keep on biting.
For Capt. Bouncer Smith, Sunday was one of those days.
Instead of fishing for dolphin, Austin Downing, his father, David, and two friends wanted to go wreck fishing. So Smith went out Government Cut on Bouncer’s Dusky 33 and hopped from one wreck to another in 200-300 feet.
By the end of the trip, the Downings and their friends had caught black, red and gag groupers, mutton snappers and amberjacks.
“It was like you could do no wrong,” said Smith, who used live pinfish, grunts and herring for bait. “The first wreck we caught a gag grouper. The second wreck, David was fighting a fish on the bottom and he was just winding and winding and winding.”
Fortunately, Smith said, “there were no sharks in the Atlantic Ocean,” and Downing eventually landed a 30-pound black grouper before it got eaten.
After hitting several other wrecks, Smith trolled for a little bit. His anglers caught a kingfish and another one that got chomped in half and a couple of bonitos, then asked Smith if they could go back to wreck fishing.
Smith noted that after a slow day Saturday, his luck changed that evening while fishing around Government Cut. Near the end of the trip, the snook suddenly turned on and his anglers caught and released five big fish.
Sunday’s trip was followed by an inshore trip on Monday that produced five snook, a mutton snapper, 10 jack crevalles and a tarpon that jumped off.
Tuesday, Smith guided two dads and their 10-year-old sons to a bunch of bonitos, kingfish and barracudas. Then Smith put out a live bait on the surface and two shark baits. A sailfish ate the live bait and the youngsters took turns reeling it to the boat.
Fish of the week
Drew Gregg of Davie took Tedd Lee and Lee’s son Trevor fishing in a Plantation canal Sunday morning and by noon they’d caught 43 peacock bass and eight largemouth bass and Trevor caught two snook.
All the fish were caught on fast-moving jerkbaits in moving water. Twice during the trip all three anglers were hooked up at the same time and Gregg caught two peacocks at the same time on his jerkbait.
Fishing with his grandmother Loni James from the dock of her Fort Lauderdale home, 7-year-old
Hudson Ferenc caught a juvenile tripletail as well as a grunt, mangrove snappers and puffers. All the fish were caught on shrimp. STAR tournament: Jay Carter caught a tagged redfish and won a $90,000 boat and motor prize package in Coastal Conservation Association Florida’s STAR tournament. Only two of the CCA Florida tagged and released reds have been caught in the event, which runs until Labor Day and has more than $500,000 in prizes available. Visit ccaflstar.com.