Rookie Needing Help

[MISTER]

I have been doing light fishing almost my entire life, but now I am looking to step it up. I take my boat out of Biscayne Bay (Miami, FL) to a place called light.asp?ID=704" target="_blank">Fowey Rocks, where I anchor and bottom fish at about 80 feet of water. Out of any place I have tried, this has been the most successful, but not nearly as successful as it should be.

What we would do is simply hook a defrosted shrimp to a hook (size 4/0) with no leader, and a weight (size usually around 1/2) about two feet up from the hook. We caught at least a thousand baby snapper, and when we started getting big bites, the line would snap. That was about when we started using leaders. A friend of mine brought 25 lb monofilimanet line that we used as leaders. He tied two lines to the swivel, one that had a sinker and one (the leader) that had a hook. This worked a bit better for us, as we started catching some keepers. They were only around 2-3 lbs, and we know we can do better.

This was all in the last two weeks. We really want to step it up and start coming home with an ice chest full of fish that my dad won't laugh at when he opens the lid. A friend of mine was telling me about "knocker rigs", and that I should use live bait. I did a bunch of research, and found that a knocker rig or california rig with a whole squid works well, too.

My main questions are: What lb test should I use at this depth? what lb / type of leader? What type of rig should I use? What size/types of hooks and sinkers do I need? What bait works best?

And if you are familiar with Biscayne Bay: Are there better spots? How deep should I go? I was told to anchor right around 70-80 feet depth, near the light house, and that is the best spot... unless trolling, which I am not interested in at the moment.

Thanks to all who help.

[BrassyHooker]

Pick your bottom rod, or use a spinner, 40lb test with and egg sinker to a swivel to 60lb flourocarbon to a 5/0 circle hook.. All knots should be a uni.. Once your weight hits bottom try reeling up a couple of cranks.. The bigger fish are braver and come up to get it.. Take shring, cut mullet, sardines and try to get some livies with a sabiki..

[MISTER]

Originally Posted by BrassyHooker

Pick your bottom rod, or use a spinner, 40lb test with and egg sinker to a swivel to 60lb flourocarbon to a 5/0 circle hook.. All knots should be a uni.. Once your weight hits bottom try reeling up a couple of cranks.. The bigger fish are braver and come up to get it.. Take shring, cut mullet, sardines and try to get some livies with a sabiki..

thanks.. that is exactly what i'll try.

[Blackout]

Originally Posted by BrassyHooker

Pick your bottom rod, or use a spinner, 40lb test with and egg sinker to a swivel to 60lb flourocarbon to a 5/0 circle hook.. All knots should be a uni.. Once your weight hits bottom try reeling up a couple of cranks.. The bigger fish are braver and come up to get it.. Take shring, cut mullet, sardines and try to get some livies with a sabiki..

I've had better luck on the north side of the light at that depth. You should also always keep a livie out on a flat line with a light wire leader, there are plenty of kings right around that area.

Tight lines.

[poolman]

When you fish just off the bottom,use a good long leader 8-12ft.You have a lot of current down there and clear water,so they will be a little more leader shy.Try getting some fresh ballyhoo,cut off the head to make a plug.Muttons like that ,but yellowtails will hit it too.

[OldBigBucks]

Hang a chum bag over and you should get ballyhoo, runners, speedos, etc behind your boat that you can catch and use for live bait.

[Catch-All]

Mister - all good advice here. But especially Poolman and Blackout's info.

For shallowwater bottomfishing IMO the heavy spinner with braided combo is key.

Catch

[MISTER]

Originally Posted by Blackout

I've had better luck on the north side of the light at that depth. You should also always keep a livie out on a flat line with a light wire leader, there are plenty of kings right around that area.

Tight lines.

the north side of fowey? what depth? i went out yesterday and was able to see the bottom.. as soon as i got 30+ feet deep all i could see was sand..

also, i was told to pass 100 feet depth to find kingfish. is this accurate?

[MISTER]

Originally Posted by poolman

When you fish just off the bottom,use a good long leader 8-12ft.You have a lot of current down there and clear water,so they will be a little more leader shy.Try getting some fresh ballyhoo,cut off the head to make a plug.Muttons like that ,but yellowtails will hit it too.

that's a lot of leader.. i will try that next time.. i've been using about 4 foot 25lb fluoro leaders.

does fresh herring work the same? ballyhoo is pretty big and harder to catch.

[MISTER]

Originally Posted by OldBigBucks

Hang a chum bag over and you should get ballyhoo, runners, speedos, etc behind your boat that you can catch and use for live bait.

yea i found a spot where i can catch a ton of herring in about 25 minutes. last time i went all we caught were baby jacks, but those worked pretty well when we cut em up.