By Capt. Randy Baker

The cold fronts starting to come through regularly, usually on the weekends! and the setting back of the clocks are sure signs the fishing season is wrapping up for the year. With the exception of the Gulf’s consistent bottom fishing, those of us here along the coast are preparing to put away the fishing gear and boats, and break out the guns and four wheelers and head north. But before we get lost in the woods for the rest of the winter, here is a short recap of this year’s Big Game season in the Gulf of Mexico, and what you can look forward to for next year.

Starting with the annual spring run of Cobia, generally beginning in early to mid-March and running into early May, these are the first of the many heavyweight game fish along the gulf coast, from Panama City west to Orange Beach, is to cruise the beach just off the second sandbar, in 20 to 50 feet of water, sight fishing for them. In a sense you are hunting for fish, so if you are not on the ball and paying attention your results will be poor. Ideal conditions for cobia fishing along the Panhandle include, bright sunny skies, a south-east wind 5 to 15 knots, and a water temperature around 68 degrees or above.

Most boats arm themselves with spinning tackle in the 20 to 30 lb. class. Lures consist of lead headed jigs with bucktail or feather bodies, often dressed up with a large curly tail grub, tube lures, and swimming plugs. When the fish turn down artificials, or a really big fish has been spotted, live baits are thrown. The live bait of choice being eels, followed by pinfish, mullet, catfish, rockfish and grunts.
During the peak of the season it’s not uncommon to see 5 to 15 fish a day, with an average weight of 25 to 50 pounds. Cobia in the 50 to 80 pound range are also quite common and a few 90 to 100+ pounders are usually caught each year. In fact the largest cobia ever caught in the world was out of Destin at 137 pounds.
This past season saw some excellent fishing. Overall catch numbers were up, with the average size being a little smaller than the last two years. Several fish in the 60-80 pound class, but no one broke the century mark this year with the big fish of the season weighing 99 pounds.

Yellow Fin Tuna can be targeted starting in the spring and running all the way through December, depending on winter weather. The most consistent fishing happens around the many oil rigs located in the gulf.
Some of the top producers are Petronus, Marlin, Ram-Powell, Mars and Beer Can. The best bite takes place at sunrise and sunset, with the bite lasting into the night. Most boats time their departure to arrive for one bite or the other, or two-day overnight trips being quite popular also. The two most popular ways to fish for tuna round the rigs are trolling or live baiting.

If the fish are actively feeding, trolling can produce nicely, most fish are caught on cedar plugs, tuna feathers, jet head lures and rigged ballyhoo. When the bite slows down or targeting larger fish, live bait becomes the key. Top bait choices include herring and cigar minnows, which must be caught or bought along the beach and brought out, blue runners, rudder jacks and pinfish.
This year‘s average size, 30-60 pounds, was down from the last few years average of 50-100 pounds. Some of the larger fish this year, 100-175 pounds, were caught on the troll out in open water or around grass patches and weed lines, often while marlin fishing.

Once May comes around and the offshore waters warm up into the 80’s that’s when the Big Game season really gets into full swing. Dolphin and Wahoo are two of the most common game fish anglers are seeking. Both are most often caught trolling, especially along weed lines and grass patches, over bottom structure and around the rigs.

Best bets for dolphin include cedar plugs, medium sized lures and rigged ballyhoo. Another exciting way to catch dolphin is to stop around grass patches and chum for them, casting jigs, chunks of bait or small live baits. This year dolphin fishing was fair early in the summer, fish in the 20-40 pound range, but fizzled out by mid-summer and stayed that way through the fall. Although a few nice ones have been weighed in during the Destin Fishing Rodeo in October.
On the other hand wahoo fishing was almost non-existent until September. In the last two months the bite has been pretty good, lots of fish in the 20-50 pound class with a 78 pounder being one of the biggest of the year. Wahoo techniques can vary from the basic trolling spread with wire leaders added to high speed trolling with specialized lures to using downriggers and extra large swimming plugs.

Billfish also show up when the water temperature gets right and the offshore currents bring in the blue water. The Blue Marlin is definitely the most sought after fish on the rip. Blue Marlin fishing in the gulf can be anything from fantastic to frustrating, with all points in between. Average sizes usually run the the 200-400 pound range, and fish in the 500-800 pound class have been caught on numerous occasions. In both 2001 and 2002 there were blue marlin weighed in during tournaments that broke the 1000-pound mark. The tournament season runs from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, with events fished out of Panama City, Destin and Pensacola, FL, Orange Beach, AL, Biloxi, MS and South Pass, LA.

Tournament fishing most boats use 80 and 130 pound tackle and either troll or livebait fish. Trolling patterns consist of an all lure spread, an all rigged natural bait spread or a combination of the two. The most popular and abundant live bait for marlin in the gulf is the blue runner, with bonitos and small tunas being an excellent choice also if available. This year’s blue marlin fishing was definitely off compared to the last several.

May and June saw some okay fishing with a few weighed-in during the summer and fishing has struggled, with several tournaments not having fish big enough to meet the minimum size caught and only a few being tagged each weekend. Although just recently there was a 958# Blue weighed in Venice, LA and a 502# and 528# Blues weighed in Destin, FL.

When targeting White Marlin and Sailfish most boats scale down their tackle to 20 and 30 pound gear with lighter leaders and smaller baits. White Marlin typically make their best showing in the fall months. White Marlin and Sailfish average in the 30-50 pound range and are quite often finicky and difficult to hook. A typical trolling spread would consist of 3-5 small ballyhoo, a Spanish mackerel for a blue marlin and a couple of daisy chain teasers, with boats working the in the 50-100 fathom depths.

This year, along with the past several, the whites just haven’t been around in the numbers they used to be. Quite a few boats have been fishing for them the last two months and on any given day a couple of boats will get 1-3 shots and the rest none, with all fish being released.
Swordfish have come back in good numbers in the last several years since the limiting of commercial longlines in the Gulf and Atlantic. The best sword fishing in our area takes place in Desoto Canyon, in 100-400 fathoms of water. Swordfishing is a nighttime fishery, with most boats starting about sundown and fishing all night while they drift. Top swordfish baits includes; squid, Boston mackerel, live and dead blue runners, live herring and ballyhoo.

Two to four lines are usually fished with a weight and a glow-stick attached to the snap swivel about 20 feet from the bait. Baits are staggered at different depths, from 100-400 feet, with depth being controlled by either the outriggers or by balloons attached to the fishing line. For the few boats that take the time and make the effort to go results have been good. Several boats over the last three summers have reported catching from 1-4 swordfish a night, with an average weight of 50-100 pounds.
Well this should give you a pretty good overview of our Big Game fishing in the northern Gulf, what’s been happening, our season this year and some things to think about over the winter and look forward to next year.
Born and raised in Destin, FL. Captain Randy Baker started fishing at an early age. As the son of a charter boat captain he spent his childhood growing up around the charter docks fishing for anything that swam and learning the trade. At the age of 18 he started his fishing travels, first on the Gulf Coast tournament circuit in the summer and South FL., the Bahamas and Mexico in the winter and spring.

In 1990 Randy had made his way to Australia for the Black Marlin season, it was while in Australia that he got a job working for Jerry Dunaway aboard his mothership operation The Madam & The Hooker. In his 11 years on The Hooker he has gotten to experience some unbelievable fishing and wildly remote locals, such as Pinas Bay Panama, Cocos Island Costa Rica, the Cape Verde Islands, Canary Islands, Medeira and the Azores. Much of the fishing done on The Hooker was ultra-light line world record fishing, and Randy was part of 22 IGFA billfish world record catches. Back in Destin now, Randy is running the Mattanza for Jonathan Arn of Brundidge, AL with continued plans to travel.

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