Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | It’s hot … stay hydrated, and watch for storms
Drink up! It’s sauna time in Southwest Florida and staying properly hydrated can make the difference between a good day on the water or a trip to the ER or worse. Drinking up on a blistering hot day on the water shouldn’t include alcohol or caffeine as they both act as diuretics causing more urination leading to dehydration and possible heat stroke. Alcohol also interferes with your body’s natural ability to regulate its internal temperature as well as interfering negatively with many prescribed medications and quite often is known to make rational folks stupid.
Freeze water bottles for the cooler. Take along electrolyte drinks to replace those lost to sweat and urination. Start hydrating long before reaching the fishing grounds. Having icy wet dish towels in the cooler for each angler to wrap around their necks can be a game-changer. Know the signs of heat exhaustion and stroke while monitoring yourself and your crew during the day or even better, fish at night.
Hot water is pushing offshore fish further out in the Gulf and the inshore fish more towards the coast. The 160 to 200-foot depths are featuring big red snapper, red grouper, jumbo mangroves and other desirable bottom fare. While you’re out that far, have rods rigged for other surprise opportunities like possible sailfish, mahi, even tuna, or other deep runners.
Get out and back home early or go at night after Old Sparky settles down and chum up a load of snapper to the back of the boat. The Gulf can quickly change from peaceful to downright dangerous very quickly. Never overestimate your boat’s capabilities in rough seas and staying to catch “Just one more” could very well be your last.
With modern electronics, scanners and radars, keeping an eye on approaching weather is wonderfully simple. For those without a console of high tech gear and displays, eyesight plus basic common sense should be your guide. Don’t push it.
It’s barracuda time and these highly unpredictable, sometimes dangerous, high-flying toothy speedsters have taken up residence on local reefs. Many folks don’t like them who are probably the same group that hates jacks. I don’t get it as these guys hit hard, burn miles of drag and leap sky high making them a super lite tackle adversary.
Live baits fee-lined, floated or slow trolled will get SOME attention, but throwing top-water plugs for cuda? That’s real fun!
First, take the trebles off your favorite large floater and replace them with saltwater grade single hooks. Now, cast it a mile then crank it back to the boat at high speed causing a super erratic jumping splashing retrieve for a bone jarring strike. You can’t outrun Mr. B if he wants to play so don’t worry about reeling too fast.
Brightly colored fluorescent tube lures also burned across the surface are a classic cuda set-up. Another option is to pull a couple of larger deep-diving plugs behind the boat, presenting them around the reef which may put a real monster on the line. Rig up with 15 inches or so of single strand wire if you want your lure back no matter how you pursue them.
Speaking of wire leaders, make sure to add shallow water sharking to your inshore fun list. We are thick with sharks at the moment from little pups to some thousand-pound-plus, pass tarpon snacking machines which is why I always swim in the pool. A chum block or two at the transom while staked out on a flat close to the ICW, some wire leader and proper release tools gets you in the game.
Tarpon are in and out of the passes, still along the coast and populating area bridges with many settling into their Charlotte Harbor mid-summer pattern to feed around and on the huge schools of ladyfish-eating bait.
Beach walkers are enjoying the good snook, whiting, jack and shark beach bite.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at captgeorget4@yahoo.com or (239) 440-1621.