Fishing Report: December 20, 2019

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. - Every Friday morning, Captain Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard's Marina joins Good Day to fill viewers in on his fishing forecast as we head into the weekend.

Here is his fishing report for December 20, 2019.

Inshore

Snook have been a little tricky lately around the passes and the outer bay areas, but a few lucky anglers have found them -- mostly during the day and especially later afternoon once the warmer waters start to flush. 

The backside of the full moon over the weekend proved a good opportunity for catching some snook. However, the back-bay waters have had much better snook action around the mouth of the rivers, bayous and around the mangrove shorelines where warmer waters can be found. The residential docks and black bay muddy areas that hold radiant heat work well to keep the snook more active, especially as the waters continue to cool. 

More and more the snook push further and further back into the bay as the temperatures keep lowering -- cold front after cold front. Keep in mind, colder waters mean slower fish too, dead baits soaking on the bottom, slower-moving soft plastics or live baits that are cold work well this time of year.

Redfish bite seems to be going very well in the back bay waters around the residential docks, and even at night too around the residential dock lights. It’s a great time to find some nice redfish up in the bay using live pinfish, cut ladyfish, or greenbacks for bait. Soft plastics, gold spoons and swim baits are great artificial options for these nice redfish too. These guys are waiting for the perfect time to pounce, and become more and more opportunistic as the waters cool down. 

Afternoon to early in the night is the best time to target the redfish on the mangrove shore lines, oyster bars, or residential dock lines. 

Trout bite has been nuts lately, they love this cooler weather. They seem to bite better and better as the water cools and the average size gets larger and larger too. A great time to target the trout around the flats, residential dock lights or bridge & pier lights is through the nighttime too. Only problem is that snook, redfish and trout are all catch-and-release only until end of May 2020. 

Sheepshead are open for harvest if you are looking for something to take home and fry up, and, like the trout, they thrive in this cooler weather time of year. They hold up around the docks, bridges, jetties, piers and any structure around the area really. 
It’s a great time to target the sheepshead using cut oysters, clams, shrimp, barnacles, or fiddle crabs. Lighter tackle works well around 20lb test, light weight and you want to fish right on or very close to the structure. 

Near shore

Gag grouper are biting very well near shore when the weather allows us to get out there to them. 

You have to stick and move until you find a few concentrated on a ledge or rock pile, but once you find them, there’s typically a few and they are ready to eat this time of year with the cooler waters. 

It’s a great time to target some gag grouper before their season closes at the end of this year until June 2020. Live pinfish, grunts or squirrel fish are all great options for the gag grouper or big dead baits on the bottom with heavier 60-80lb test and 6-7ot hooks. 

Hogfish bite is going very well lately near shore from around 40 to 70 feet of water. We are seeing an incredible hogfish bite on live shrimp and the ball jigz, knocker rigs, or the jig heads. It’s a great time to get out there near shore and target these unique-looking and great eating fish. 

These guys bite well through January, all the way into spring so you still got plenty of time to take advantage of the hot bite on hogfish while the waters are cooler around our near shore waters. 

Red grouper bite is going pretty good around our near shore waters too. We are seeing some nice red grouper caught while we are targeting hogfish closer to 60 and 80 feet of water. Some big boys are being pulled up too. 

Cobia are around out there in the near shore waters right now as well. Don’t forget a pitch rod or a flat line out because you might get lucky with a nice eating cobia while bottom fishing for grouper, snapper and hogfish. 

Lane snapper are biting well right now, but unfortunately, they are closed due to an ACL closure from NMFS until after the first of the coming year. 

Mangrove snapper are biting well too. We are seeing a few nice mangrove snapper mixed in with the hogfish we are targeting and catching good numbers of.

Offshore

Big gags, black and red grouper are abounding offshore right now on our 39-hour trips and the 12-hour extreme trips. The issue lately has been all the rough weather with all these cold fronts. 

We are seeing a small weather window on the backside of Christmas and were hoping that will last until end of the year. So we get plenty of nice weather for the last little rally for all the keeper gags we can pull up before their season ends. 

We did add a special 39-hour trip into our schedule for Sunday, December 29th to give everyone a shot to go tackle some last-minute gag grouper. We do have some 12-hour extremes in the system too behind Christmas but since many are full and we may have to cancel some upcoming trips before Christmas. We are considering adding some extreme trips before the end of the year to accommodate the high demand for going deep to tackle some gags before they close down for six months. 

Big frisky live pinfish and grass grunts have been the hot baits for gags on the bigger tackle, like the 6-9ot reels with 40 or more pounds of drag -- or more.

There’s lots of nice mangrove snapper caught lately too. It’s a great opportunity to get you some nice big mangrove snapper while targeting the bigger gag grouper offshore right now in the waters past around 120 feet of water. These guys have been 4 to 7 pounds on average with some pushing between 8 to 9 pounds, too. 

The bigger mangroves love larger cut threadfin plugs or the smaller live pinfish out deep on the double snell rigs. 

Some tuna, wahoo and kings around for the pelagic action as well. This past 39-hour trip brought home around a 40-pound wahoo caught on the flat line kingfish rig and super light tackle after losing two big ones while trolling. 

It’s a great opportunity to get out there for some tuna, chance at wahoo and some kingfish action too while trolling, flat line fishing or sight casting if they cruise up your chum slick while bottom fishing for grouper and mangrove snapper.