Chapter 14 - Fun With Salt-Water Pan Fish

What is the most popular kind of salt-water fishing? Which type of angling is practiced by most of the people who wet a line in the ocean? Trolling for sailfish in the Gulf Stream is fine sport and makes the headlines. Casting for tarpon in the Florida Keys or the Everglades offers plenty of excitement and if you boat one of these leaping, silver fish you also can take a bow. In northern waters the angler who catches a big striped bass also makes like a hero.

But none of the fish mentioned above attract the great majority of anglers who fish in salt water. When the average angler goes fishing he doesn't have the time, energy or inclination to seek wary, unpredictable glamor fish such as sail-fish, tarpon, snook, striped bass and similar species. He wants quick action with a minimum of fuss, preparation and frustration. So day in and day out you'll find most men, women and kids going after the so-called bottom fish.

Salt-water bottom fish are really pan fish like their freshwater cousins, bream or sunfish, crappies, yellow perch and white bass. The salt-water pan fish include porgies, flounders, sea bass, croakers, spot, grunts, snappers and similar species which dwell or feed on or near the bottom. They are usually small or medium in size,  although a  few,  like southern snappers, may weigh 30 lbs. or more. However, what the small ones lack in size they make up in numbers. Salt-water pan fish often literally pave the bottom of the sea.

The fishing tackle usually used for salt-water pan fish is the so-called boat rod of light or medium weight. The rods designed for small fish and light sinkers are about 5 ft. in over-all length and fairly limber. For bigger fish and heavier sinkers they may be 6 to 7 ft. in over-all length. Almost any good salt-water reel holding up to 150 or 200 yds. of line can be used with these rods.

However, more and more anglers seeking salt-water pan fish are using spinning tackle. Spinning rods and reels in the light and medium weights are fine for this fishing if the bottom is free from rocks, coral and other obstructions and if the water isn't deep enough to require heavy sinkers. Spinning tackle is also used for those salt-water pan fish which can be caught on lures. You may have to cast some distance and light spinning lines enable you to sink and work artificial lures better than the heavier conventional boat rods, reels and lines do.

The basic bottom or deep-sea rig is usually used when fishing on the bottom for pan fish. Chapter 4 describes and illustrates these.

The type and size of the hooks you will use depend on the fish you are seeking and where you are fishing. Hooks such as the O'Shaughnessy and Eagle Claw patterns are used for a wide variety of salt-water pan fish. Other popular hooks are the Sproat, the Limerick, the Virginia and the Carlisle. These, of course, come in various sizes, but as a general rule, you should use small hooks for small fish with tiny mouths and big hooks for big fish with large mouths. If in doubt about the pattern and size of hook to use, ask your local fishing-tackle dealer to recommend the best hooks.

Salt-water pan fish are usually caught on natural baits, such as clams, crabs, sea worms, shrimp, squid and pieces of cut fish such as mullet or small whole fish such as kylies, spearing, sand eels or sardines. You can buy this bait in most fishing-tackle stores or you can try to obtain your own by digging, probing under rocks and in seaweed, or using various nets and traps. (See Chapter 5, which covers most of these baits.)

A porgy on a light spinning outfit fights all the way to the top, especially if hooked on an artificial such as a diamond jig-

Many salt-water pan fish can also be caught on artificial lures such as buck tail or feather jigs, spoons, metal squids, diamond jigs and plugs, so it pays to carry an assortment of such lures if you have a spinning or other casting outfit which can cast lures a good distance.
 
One of the most popular pan fish of the sea is the porgy or scup, found along the Atlantic Coast from Cape Cod to the Carolinas. This deep-bodied, silvery fish is small, running from a half-pound to about 3 or 4 lbs. in weight. They fight hard for their size and you can usually catch them by the bag full. They are normally caught on pieces of clam, sea-worms or shrimp fished on the bottom with a sinker. They are most plentiful from May to September and are found over rocks and mussels or oyster beds.

Buck Tail Jig-

Diamond Jig

Two popular and effective lures which can be used when "jigging" for salt-water pan fish.
 
If you really want to have fun with porgies, try jigging with a small diamond jig and a light spinning outfit. Let the jig down to the bottom under an anchored or drifting boat and work it up and down. If the current is too strong to keep the jig near the bottom try casting it to one side and then let it sink. As it hits bottom give it a sharp yank and then lower it again quickly. If porgies are around it won't be long before your rod will bend and you'll be into a fish. They really go for the shiny chrome-plated diamond jigs. And you can get some big ones this way, too.

Another popular fish which can be caught by drifting in a boat is the summer flounder or fluke. They are also found from Cape Cod to the Carolinas, but they are most numerous from Rhode Island to New Jersey. Fluke are caught on a long 3-ft. leader tied a few inches above the sinker. A long-shanked Carlisle hook on the end is baited with a strip of squid and live fish such as a kylie, or a dead spearing or a sand eel. When fluke come in heavy they pave the bottom of bays, inlets and the ocean along the beaches up to a couple of miles offshore. As a boat drifts along the sinker bounces off the bottom and the fluke lying there chase the rig and grab the bait. Most fluke average about a pound or two in weight. But big door mats going up to 15 lbs. or more are sometimes caught. The fluke or summer flounder can be called a "pan fish" because there is no better fish for eating when filleted and fried.

Other fish caught in northern waters by bottom fishermen are sea bass and blackfish or tautog. Both of these fish are found around sunken wrecks and rocks and over mussel and oyster bottoms. Sea bass can be caught on clam or squid bait. Blackfish will also take clams as well as seaworms and fiddler or green crabs. When you fish for blackfish bring along plenty of rigs, hooks and sinkers, for these fish are found around rocks and you'll lose plenty of rigs when angling for them. For best results blackfish should be fished from an anchored boat. Two anchors are better than one for holding the boat steady over the spot being fished.

Those who fish in southern waters around Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico are fortunate because they have different kinds of pan fish to choose among. The prolific and ever-present grunt is one example. It does not grow very big, averaging about a pound or less in weight, but large catches are made and most of them make good eating. To get the most sport from this small fish use the lightest tackle possible. Small No. 1 or 1/0 hooks are best for grunts. The hooks should be baited with bits of shrimp, crab, clam or pieces of fish. The types of grunt you'll usually catch include the mar-gate, gray grunt, blue-striped grunt, white grunt, French grunt, black Margate, pork fish and pigfish.

Then there are the crafty snappers, which, on many occasions, offer a challenge to any angler. In fact, when it comes to wariness, the snappers, especially the mangrove snapper, often makes such fish as sea trout, snook and tarpon seem dumb by comparison. In clear water around many parts of Florida you can watch snappers swimming around by the hundreds. But just try to hook and catch them! It's not always easy—in fact, in some places where the water is very clear and they are fished hard, it's almost impossible. Time and again I've thrown shrimp, pieces of mullet and small fish into the water and watched the snappers grab these tidbits without hesitation. Then I would use the same bait on a hook and they wouldn't even look at it.

If you fish for mangrove snappers in clear water use light nylon leaders and small hooks. Use live baits such as shrimp, crabs or small fish in preference to dead ones such as frozen shrimp or cut mullet. If possible try to fish without a sinker and let your boat drift or float along naturally. This call be done in shallow water where the tide isn't too strong. Of course, more remote areas and murky waters often make it possible to catch mangrove snappers with less difficulty. Also they'll at times strike lures such as small plugs, spoons and buck tail jigs if cast around rocks, coral reefs and mangrove tree roots.

She's holding a fluke or summer flounder over a mess of porgies. Both fish are popular with anglers seeking salt-water pan fish.
 
The mangrove snapper isn't the only one you'll catch. There are other members of this large family, such as lame snapper, dog snapper, schoolmaster, muttonfish and yellow-tail which will take a live shrimp or cut mullet. And if you go far enough offshore you'll catch the big red snappers around reefs and banks.

Another large family of fish found in warm water is the grouper. They aren't exactly pan fish because some kinds of groupers run to 500 lbs. or more. However, they are often found in warm waters in shallow, inshore spots in smaller sizes ranging from about a pound to several pounds. One of the most common is the red grouper, which is found around Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. The red grouper likes to frequent coral reefs, offshore banks, cuts and inlets. Hooks from 4/0 to 8/0 are used for most of the smaller- and medium-sized groupers. The tackle should be on the stout side; a stiff boat rod, 40- to 50-lb. test line and a good reel will do. Because groupers have the habit of running for a cavern or piece of coral, which can cut your line, you need this stout tackle. You have to hold them back or at least slow them down if you don't want to lose the fish. Groupers will take such bait as shrimp, crab and dead or live fish such as mullet and small grunts or snappers. Some of the groupers you can catch include the Nassau grouper, the rock hind, the black grouper, the yellow grouper and the rock grouper.

Of course, when you are out fishing for salt-water pan fish you can also be set for larger game, such as tarpon, jewfish, amberjack and barracuda in tropical waters. You can use the same rod you use for pan fish, if it is heavy enough. If not, it's a good idea to have a heavier, stronger rod and line rigged up and ready to use. If you see the bigger fish or think they are around, you can cast or troll a lure. Or you can take one of the smaller live fish, like a small snapper or grunt, and hook it through the back and let it swim around. When a big fish, such as an amberjack or barracuda, takes the bait give him time to swallow the small fish before you set the hook. However, if salt-water pan fish are biting well there will be no need to fish for the larger species. The small pan fish will provide enough sport and fun to satisfy anyone. And when you have caught enough salt-water pan fish you can look forward to some fine eating. These small fish are not called pan fish for nothing. They not only fit the pan but they also fry up to make a mouth-watering dish.

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