tripletail

Finally a break from the cold and some incredible fishing! This winter has been a chilly one but thankfully we have started to see a pretty good warm up and the fishing is heating up as well!

My favorite thing to target this time of year in particular is triple-tail, these fish can be found along the beach and intercostal along the entire coast, tripletail are a highly migratory fish that have been around for ages and are found further south than the Florida keys and all the way up into the carolinas. These prehistoric looking fish are some of the hardest fighting, and best eating fish that swim (despite their odd appearance).

Anglers can find these fish in many different scenarios from free swimming edges and weed lines offshore and along the beach, to fishing man made structures such as buoys and crab traps. It’s not uncommon to see them laying on their side just waiting for prey just as small baitfish, shrimp, and other small organisms. Anglers often mistake them for trash or debris but when approached cautiously and not run over these fish can be targeted using a large handpick shrimp, finger mullet, or any other small baitfish you might can get your hands on. Generally, they aren’t too picky, however, some circumstances can definitely be frustrating where they just flat out don’t wanna eat.

It’s important when seeing tripletail you make a well placed cast, just like an other fish. Toss your bait of choice out beyond them and reel your bait in until it’s within a foot or so of their face; they often don’t like to chase, so the closer the better without just down right smacking them on the head. Some anglers will even use a cork as most of the time these fish don’t like to hang on the bottom and prefer from on the surface to 10-15 feet deep. My favorite rig is a large free line handpicked shrimp on 30/50 lb leader and a 4/0 hook depending on the scenario and in some cases a soft plastic jig or even a fly works great, too.

The window for these fish is typically short but when they are here they make great fun. The next few months we should see some exciting fishing especially as spring quickly approaches!