Hog fish fishing off St Pete Beach

Fishing for the elusive Hogfish in the Tampa Bay area has become the 'new thing' for all offshore anglers to take a swing at. Actually quite a few local Captains and other avid anglers have been catching these underwater ornamentals for several years now...with great success. It took us a while here at Jawbreaker fishing charters to catch on and give it a try, but now that we have...even more color and some of the finest eating fish to add to the ice box!

This past Monday greeted us with our 6-hour crew of only 2 fishermen, Blaine Larson and good friend, Clark...and these guys came with "bells and whistles" on, ready to do some catching. I figured this would be a great opportunity to practice a little light-tackle deep sea hogfish fishing. Light spinning rods, 20lb. braided mainline, 30lb.-4 foot mono leader, 2 oz. lead weight on a knocker rig with a 2/0 circle hook....oh yeah, 1000 shrimp for bait. Yes, 1000 shrimp!!..

After 4 and a half hours of bottom fishing time, in less than 45 feet of water, these boys burnt through almost every shrimp we had, but had one heck of a ice chest to show for it. 4 beautiful male Hogs plus Lane Snappers, Porgies, Seabass, Mangrove Snappers and the all star Grey Snappers. Check out 'bad' Brad and Clark with a classic Hogfish...good eats!

Kingfish are right around the corner and now is the time to book your Spring time fishing adventure with Jawbreaker Fishing Charters. Call us today and let's go catching! Happy fishing folks, Capt.Dan