Cubera Moon
A full moon in July and August is just what many South Florida fishermen wait for. That full moon is the time the Cubera snapper move from their depth of several hundred feet to the relative shallow water of 180 to 210 feet deep. They make this move to spawn, and the knowing angler can catch a real trophy if he is there at the right time, and the right place, with the right bait.
The right time is about now.
The moon is half full and waxing toward a mid month high in August. The right time of day is at night. Yes, these voracious fighters feed better at night than they do in the day, as is the case with most of the larger specimens of the snapper family. The full moon in July and August are the prime spawning time for Cubera snapper, the largest and perhaps hardest fighting of the true snapper family.
The right place is right off the Key Largo whistle buoy south of the Pacific Reef Light. There are numerous ledges there and the Cubera snapper seem to find this area preferable. Catch statistics reveal that this area is the prime place to snag that huge snapper in August.
The right bait, in this particular circumstance, is a live Florida Lobster (Crawfish). Weather it is legal for a bait or not (and it is not!), seems to be irrelevant. Approaching the full moon and for several days after, you can find sometimes as many as 100 boats drifting these 200 ft ledges with live lobsters, looking for that one big fish.
I could tell you of the many "busted" trips we took - those ending up running aground at 2 AM in the Caesar's Creek Channel (with no fish!), but I won't. I will tell you about this year's trip.
We put in at Homestead Bayfront Park and ran through Caesar's Creek out toward Pacific Reef light. This light is not manned, but does mark the very shallow coral reef off the south end of Elliot Key. We did not have a chance to dive for any live lobster because we were fishing on August first, and the season for lobster had just started that day. So, we opted for about six fresh, fish market lobster at a cost of about 8 dollars each.
We found ourselves surrounded by other Cubera fishermen, each with their lobster baits, and each making drifts across the 180 foot ledge. There were probably 40 boats there, all within 100 yards of another boat. Each would make the drift, taking about 15 minutes and then crank up and run to the top of the pack and drift again,
This was not pleasant fishing. The seas were running 5 to 8 feet, and while that is not terribly bad in a 23 foot center console, you need to try it at night. Vertigo and nausea can set in very quickly if you can't see the waves coming and prepare your body for the change in attitude!
Several drifts produced only one lost rig in the rocks. On the fourth drift, we had success. After a 15 minute fight on 30 pound tackle we boated a 32 pound Cubera. Not that big as Cuberas go, but plenty big as far as fight goes.
One fish was enough that night as the seas worsened and we thought about getting back to calmer water. Two of the four of us were sick and calm water seemed to be the best solution.
We admired out catch in the July full moon light, and headed back to put the boat on the trailer. A nice trip, albeit somewhat uncomfortable, but - hey, what is fishing all about anyway?
Tell us your fishing experiences and reports on the Saltwater Fishing Forum
The right time is about now.
The moon is half full and waxing toward a mid month high in August. The right time of day is at night. Yes, these voracious fighters feed better at night than they do in the day, as is the case with most of the larger specimens of the snapper family. The full moon in July and August are the prime spawning time for Cubera snapper, the largest and perhaps hardest fighting of the true snapper family.
The right place is right off the Key Largo whistle buoy south of the Pacific Reef Light. There are numerous ledges there and the Cubera snapper seem to find this area preferable. Catch statistics reveal that this area is the prime place to snag that huge snapper in August.
The right bait, in this particular circumstance, is a live Florida Lobster (Crawfish). Weather it is legal for a bait or not (and it is not!), seems to be irrelevant. Approaching the full moon and for several days after, you can find sometimes as many as 100 boats drifting these 200 ft ledges with live lobsters, looking for that one big fish.
I could tell you of the many "busted" trips we took - those ending up running aground at 2 AM in the Caesar's Creek Channel (with no fish!), but I won't. I will tell you about this year's trip.
We put in at Homestead Bayfront Park and ran through Caesar's Creek out toward Pacific Reef light. This light is not manned, but does mark the very shallow coral reef off the south end of Elliot Key. We did not have a chance to dive for any live lobster because we were fishing on August first, and the season for lobster had just started that day. So, we opted for about six fresh, fish market lobster at a cost of about 8 dollars each.
We found ourselves surrounded by other Cubera fishermen, each with their lobster baits, and each making drifts across the 180 foot ledge. There were probably 40 boats there, all within 100 yards of another boat. Each would make the drift, taking about 15 minutes and then crank up and run to the top of the pack and drift again,
This was not pleasant fishing. The seas were running 5 to 8 feet, and while that is not terribly bad in a 23 foot center console, you need to try it at night. Vertigo and nausea can set in very quickly if you can't see the waves coming and prepare your body for the change in attitude!
Several drifts produced only one lost rig in the rocks. On the fourth drift, we had success. After a 15 minute fight on 30 pound tackle we boated a 32 pound Cubera. Not that big as Cuberas go, but plenty big as far as fight goes.
One fish was enough that night as the seas worsened and we thought about getting back to calmer water. Two of the four of us were sick and calm water seemed to be the best solution.
We admired out catch in the July full moon light, and headed back to put the boat on the trailer. A nice trip, albeit somewhat uncomfortable, but - hey, what is fishing all about anyway?
Tell us your fishing experiences and reports on the Saltwater Fishing Forum
Source...