Cool, deep water is home to some of the tastiest fish in the ocean. While many pelagics and inshore favorites are great on the grill, bottomfishing can be your best bet for hauling in a mess of tasty fillets to please a crowd. This month, break out jigs and bottom rigs and bring a few buddies to fill up the fish box.
Bottomfishing in Maine
“May is the unofficial start of the fishing season,” reports Capt. Luis Tirado of Diamond Pass Outfitters in South Portland, Maine. In late spring, Tirado targets cod, pollack, cusk, hake and (Acadian) redfish by drifting ledges and bouncing big metal jigs.
“I always add a bucktail teaser above the jig,” Tirado says. If the fish are finicky, he switches to Gulp! or Hogy soft plastics. “The scented soft plastic convinces the fish to bite,” he says. Tirado emphasizes comfort when choosing bottomfishing tackle. “I prefer the new acid-wrapped rods with a high-speed, high-torque reel and 50-pound braided line,” he says. The spiral guide placement on an acid-wrapped rod takes pressure off his wrists and hands, and the high-speed reel quickly brings fish to the boat.
Tirado says there are a hundred ways to prepare cod and haddock. “I’ll never turn down a fried fish sandwich, potato chips and cold drink,” he says.
Maryland Black Sea Bass
Sea bass fishing is so good that fisheries managers awarded anglers with a longer season and more liberal regulations.
Capt. Dan Stauffer on Fin Chaser out of Ocean City, Maryland, says the best fishing will occur the first two weeks of the season. “After that, I’ll have to go farther and fish deeper to find sea bass,” he says. Stauffer looks for black sea bass on wrecks in 90 to 120 feet of water. As Fin Chaser drifts over the wreck, Stauffer’s anglers bounce two-hook bottom rigs baited with squid or clam. “It doesn’t hurt to use a Gulp! Swimming Mullet,” Stauffer says.
His pro tip: “After you feel the first sea bass bite, wait a few seconds for another fish to bite before reeling up.” To weed out the smaller fish, Stauffer suggests fishing a 2- to 4-ounce vertical jig. Sea bass are Stauffer’s favorite fish to eat. “You have to try hard to screw up sea bass,” he laughs.
Gulf of America Wrecks and Deep-Drops
Capt. Josh Lesley at Getaway Charters celebrates May for a diverse selection of target fish. “Almost everything is in season,” he says.
Lesley starts the day close to shore fishing wrecks and reefs for vermilion snapper. “Alabama has one of the best artificial reef systems in the world,” he brags.
Once Lesley has his share of beeliners, he runs farther offshore to deep drop in 400 to 1,000 feet of water for grouper and tilefish. “On the way offshore, we high-speed troll for wahoo,” he says. To find the wahoo, Lesley looks for breaking bonito and dolphins. A Black Bart plug behind a heavy trolling weight is the go-to high-speed trolling rig, but recently Lesley has had success pulling Nomad high-speed lures.
California Halibut and Rockfish
Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine in Santa Cruz, California, expects rockfish season to open and California halibut to fire up.
“When the season opens, rockfishing will be good in shallow water with some boats going deeper for larger fish,” he says. To target rockfish, anglers bounce a shrimp fly rig along the bottom. As an alternative, Fraser says the new Ahi Ikara flat fall jigs are growing popular.
Closer to shore, big halibut move into water from the beach out to 90 feet. To score a big halibut, anglers bait up with anchovies, herring and squid. Fraser encourages shore anglers to fish with a Zoom Fluke or white swimbait. Fraser’s advice: “Fish on a nice day, halibut like calm conditions.”
