The next time you come down, be sure to take you tackle box with you!
Your top water plugs, and a spoon, will work well, for sea trout, snook, jack, and Bonita. Bonita makes great shark bait, because it is an oily fish, and bleeds a lot. Try some, feathers as we call them, the lead and now nylon skirt lures. A type called a red tailed hawk works well. My dad has caught sailfish on them. Snook love them, as do jack tarpon, blues, and trout. A small spoon, like the Clark spoon will flat out catch some mackerel. Blues aren't picky, just so it moves! I have caught them on a bare hook. Most people don't like blues or mackerel, because it is an oily fish. I love them both, broiled, with butter, and lime, or lemon juice, and garlic, and onion powder, and a dash of Cajun seasoning. You can cut out the fat strip, and they will not be so strong. I like it myself. You can catch sheepshead with fiddler crabs. You can catch pompano, on the sand fleas, and permit, and flounder. You can also catch flounder on plugs. But they like sand fleas, and crabs, like small blue claw, or big fiddler crabs. Red fish love crabs also. Use a very light weight, to cast them out, and if you are fishing in the inlet, or a strong current the crab will float on top of the water, or don't use any weight at all. But use a long leader. The same for snapper, if you are drifting, or fishing in an inlet. My Buddy, used to first mate on his Mother's drift boat, and he would use a 2 ounce or more egg sinker, behind the swivel and a five foot mono leader, baited with with a live Menhaden with top portion of tail fin cut off, so it will swim erratically. "The Big snapper don't like to see the sinker moving. But if it is a distance from the bait then it will gobble it up. Fresh shrimp is better, and live better than that. You can catch snook, on just a mullet head. Just stomp on it, to release the oils in it, and put it on your hook. You can catch big grouper, by drifting over a reef, and using either live mullet, or a dead mullet, that is fileted down from the head, just to the beginning of the tail section, and on the other side filet upfrom the tail section just to the head. Then lower it to the bottom, and then bring it up about a foot and a half or so, and just jig it up and down. The fileted sides will flap in alternate sequence, as it is brought up, and then back down. Grouper can't stand that!
Shrimp and squid is pretty much a favorite of just about every thing that swims. I have caught bass on dead shrimp, when I was fishing for catfish. Glad you had good time, and congrats to your Wife, on the big Red fish.
But come on back down, and try again. Besides we need the tourist money, for our fisheries.
Wayne
