bpate
1st Mate
Joined: Feb 11, 2006
Posts: 80
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 Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:48 pm Post subject: PRO TIPS: Fishing Southeast Florida with Hannon's Cannon |
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Courtesy of www.kingfishconnection.com:
Fishing Southeast Florida with Hannon's Cannon
KC.com STAFF
KC.com: Your team has had some great success across the entire Southeastern United States, but the South Florida area seems to be one of your specialties. How did a West Coast team become known as a group of East Coast gurus?
Kevin Barker: We love fishing on the East coast. It starts off great with the first tournament always being the Hog's Breath in Key West, where you can catch a lot of big fish in the laid back atmosphere of Key West. It is a blast!
We feel we can read the conditions better on the East coast, and we love beach fishing. Our team knows when the conditions on the beach are right, you just can't beat that. We also don't have a problem with sitting on the hook all day waiting for Godzilla to roll by. The variety of fish you can catch on the East coast (sailfish, dolphin, tuna and cobia) keep the days fun and exciting.
What terminal tackle does the Hannon's Cannon team use when fishing these productive waters? What reel, rod, size line, etc. Does the color of the main monofilament matter?
We use Shimano Trinidads and Dogfish Tackle Company Custom Dogfish Sticks. We use 20 pound monofilament with about 10 feet of 25 pound fluorocarbon leader. We have also experimented with lighter line, going as light as 12 pound when the conditions demand that. The 50 (pounder) we caught in the Naples tournament a couple of years ago was caught on 12 pound main line, in fact. So catching big fish on light line can be done, but we stick to 20 pound test usually.
We use SPRO swivels and VMC hooks. Our hook size is usually #4 when fishing on the East coast. Most of the time we use #4 wire above the nose hook and #6 for the stingers. As far as line color, ours is blue. We don't really buy into the gimmicky kind of stuff as far as line color goes, you won't see any red or pink line on our reels.
If your fishing in a large group of boats how do you differentiate what you are offering the fish? If the bite slows down or the water clarity is an issue will your team scale down the size of your gear?
We feel that we are doing what 95% of the other teams do as far as rigs go. One thing we may do differently is how we frequently change our baits. We have found that many times when we put a fresh bait out it will run harder and could get hit quicker. Just that subtle change in the spread can cause a fish to turn on. Kevin (Hannon) is always checking baits, so we don't just set the baits out and sit and wait. At least one bait is always being reeling in or being let out. We stay in the bait. We learned this strategy by watching Sandy Smith up in NC one year. He didn't move more than 50 yards off of one spot and he was catching fish all day.
When we mark good bait we do our best to fish in and around it. If the bite does slow we may reduce the size of our wire trace above the nose hook. We've even been known to use a single hook with no stinger late in the day when we become desperate, but by that time we end up with a result that is not favorable for us.
When you first hit a spot what will your spread look like?
When we first hit a spot the amount of lines we fish is determined by the weather. Obviously if we are fishing in 4 - 6 foot seas it will be difficult to fish more than three lines. In good seas, however, we will fish 5 and even 6 lines.
Our spread consists of one long line that we call "China long". We put this rig on top of the t-top. We then have one line about halfway between our long line and the boat. This rod is placed in the kingfish outrigger. We also have another couple of lines off the two downriggers. The downrigger baits range in depth. One downrigger bait will be bouncing the bottom, while the other is 15 feet below the surface. Finally we will put a bait or two in the prop wash.
How does your team prepare for each tournament? How much pre fishing do you do for each tournament? What are you specifically looking for when you are prefishing?
From a preparation standpoint, we always check line on all reels and replace line that looks worn or if the reel capacity is low. We do a complete check of the boat, from the pumps to the electronics. We check all engine fluids and change them if needed. We will check trim tab pump fluid levels. We check the props to see if there are any knicks in the blades. We also have jack plates on the boat, so we make sure all bolts are tight. Finally, we check all electronics to confirm they are in good working order. We usually do all of this a couple of days before we leave in case there is something other than the engines that needs repaired. If there is an engine issue we call ahead to the Yamaha trailer so they can expect us when we arrive to fix the problem.
Regarding prefishing, we try to prefish at least two days before a tournament on the East coast. One day we actually fish and another we try to concentrate more on finding bait. If we feel confident on buying bait we will spend more time looking for the right fishing conditions. If we are on the East coast of Florida we will also Goggle Eye fish at least one night.
When pre fishing we concentrate more on finding the right conditions; water color and temperature, then actually fishing. We have caught too many tournament winning fish the day before, only to go back and not catch that fish the next day. When fishing the beach on the East coast bait is the key. We want to see it on the surface and on our bottom machine. We want to | |
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