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Current ENSO Phase: La Nina
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| Recreational Fisheries |
| Fish |
Description |
Atlantic Croaker
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- Atlantic Croakers range from Cape Cod in the Atlanticto Texas and Mexico in the Gulf. They are one of the most abundant inshore fish species, especially in the Southeast Atlantic and in the Gulf.
- They generally spend spring and summer in estuaries and inshore areas, and move offshore and south along the Atlantic coast in the fall.
- Croakers prefer muddy bottoms and depths less than 120 meters.
- They are also euryhaline, which means they can tolerate a large range of salinities. Adults have also been found in temperatures ranging from 50 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Croakers are opportunistic bottom feeders, and feed on a large range of invertebrates like mollusks, squids, etc., and eat some small fish occasionally.
- More Information can be found at ChesapeakeBay.net.
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Blue Marlin
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- Found in temperate and tropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean, specifically from 44 degrees North to 30 degrees South.
- Usually found offshore great distances from continents, and also in coastal areas near deep waters, such as near the Mississippi River in the Gulf of Mexico.
- They migrate with seasonal water temperature changes, staying along current lines in waters between 21 and 31 degrees Celsius near the continental shelf drop-off and deep canyons.
- Blue Marlin feed on near-surface fish like dolphinfish, tuna, mackerel, and occasionally squid.
- Best fished using trolling mullet, mackerel, or live tuna; often in combination with a plastic squid.
- More Information can be found at the Thai Fishing Guide or The Florida Museum of Natural History.
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Bluefish
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- Range from Nova Scotia to Argentina, including Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. However, they are quite rare from south Florida to northern South America.
- Bluefish are a tropical and temperate coastal species, found mostly in offshore and nearshore surface waters, and preferring temperatures above 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Migrate northward in the spring and southward in the fall. They frequent inshore bays during July and August.
- Bluefish feed mainly on small fish, squid and shrimp.
- More Information can be found at Gulf of Maine
Research Institute, Virginia
Institute of Marine Science, or FlyFishingConnection.com
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Dolphin (Mahi Mahi, Dorado...)
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- Found from Atlantic coast to the Keys and Bahamas/Caribbean.
- Migrate northward on Atlantic coast past VA in the spring and down to the Keys and Bahamas/Caribbean and the Gulf in the winter
- Only found in waters at 70 degrees or higher, mostly offshore, where different salinity waters meet because of weed clumps which support shrimp and smaller fish for predators.
- Prefer higher salinity waters.
- Bait/Tackle: Trolling rigged natural baits with conventional or heavy spinning tackle. Or, floating objects with live baitfish such as pinfish, dead cutbait, jigs, streamer flies or poppers.
- More Information can be found at Gamefish Profiles or at Florida Sportsman.
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King Mackerel (Kingfish)
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- Found in Atlantic coastal regions from Maine to Brazil, in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.
- Mostly concentrated in the Carolinas in the spring, summer, and fall; in the northern Gulf to northwest Florida in summer; and in south Florida and the Caribbean in winter.
- Found mostly on reef dropoffs and nearshore in depths of 20-100 ft.
Spend most of lifetime in salinities between 32 and 36 ppt.
- Bait/Tackle: For deeper trolling, plugs or spoons. Live baitfish like pilchards or pinfish work well, as well as larger dead baitcuts
- More Information can be found at theNational
Wetlands Research Center
or Here.
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Red Drum (Redfish)
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- Range from Massachusetts to the Florida Keys and along Gulf Coasts to Texas.
- Typically found along shell bars like oyster beds, rocky or grassy shorelines and on shallow flats. Red Drum also frequent areas near bays, and often come up into rivers in the winters looking for warmer water.
- Bait/Tackle: live shrimp and small mullet work best, also Atlantic Croaker and small blue crabs. For tackle shallow spoons, fish-shaped plugs, plastic worms and jigs.
- Red Drum prefer temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius, but have been observed from 2-33 degrees. At higher temperatures, Red Drum move out offshore.
- Prefer salinity between 20 and 40 ppt.
- More Information can be found at TPW, Florida Sportsman, or NOAA.
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Sailfish
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- Range from 40 deg North to 40 deg South in the Western Atlantic and from 50 deg North to 32 deg South in the Eastern Atlantic. Mostly found in the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic coast of Florida, and the Carribean.
- Caught mostly in warm seasons.
- Found mostly in oceanic surface and midwater seas. Considered a "blue water fish".
- Prefer temperatures of 21-28 degrees Celsius.
- Sometimes found in deeper depths as the sailfish is less oceanic than other billfish, making frequent trips to nearshore waters.
- Prefer higher salinities, 35 ppt and above.
- In the Atlantic, sailfish feed most on squid, octopus, and bony fish. Best fished with tuna, mackerel, squid, jacks, needlefish and mullet, on the surface or in midwater.
- More Information can be found at The Florida
Museum of Natural History or The Charter Company.
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Scup
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- Scup range from Massachusetts to South Carolina in the Atlantic, though they have been found as far south as Florida and as far north as Canada.
- They are usually bottom dwelling, found in environments from open sandy bottoms to structured bottoms like reefs, shipwrecks, rocks, etc…
- Scup are found in temperatures from 6 to 27 degrees Celsius.
- When temperatures decrease below 8 degrees Celsius the scup leave the inshore areas and go to the outer continental shelf where the water is warmer. This occurs from Long Island to North Carolina, at depths between 75 and 185 meters. In spring, when the waters warm back up, the scup return to their inshore habitats.
- Scup feed on small crustaceans, mollusks, small squid, small fish, and vegetation
- More Information can be found at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center .
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Sheepshead
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- Range from Canada in the Atlantic all the way to Brazil and the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Found mostly off the southwest coast of Florida. Not found in the Bahamas or Bermuda.
- Prefer warm brackish waters, sometimes come into rivers. Move offshore during late winter and early spring.
- Sheepshead tolerate a large range of salinities and prefer higher temperatures.
- Bottom feeders; eat crabs, snails, and small fish such as Atlantic Croaker.
- More Information can be found at The Florida
Museum of Natural History or at Sport Fishing Magazine.
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Spotted Sea Trout
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- Found from Massachusetts to the Florida Keys on the Atlantic side, all the way to the Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico.
- Primarily found in estuaries, move to deeper bay waters in cold seasons.
- Non-migratory; remain within 5-10 miles of natal estuary.
- Prefer waters between 60-80 degrees Fahrenheit and depths less than ten feet.
- Sea Trout have a large salinity range, but adults are most numerous in salinities approaching sea water.
- Bait/Tackle: Popping cork rig, live shrimp, mullet or pinfish for bait. For bottom feeding specifically, artificial lures such
as spoons, jigs or fishlike lures.
- More Information can be found at ASMFC or at TPWD.
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Summer Flounder
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- Summer Flounder range from the southern Gulf of Maine to Florida in the Atlantic.
- They inhabit inshore and estuarine areas during the warmer months, preferring eel grass beds and sandy or muddy bottoms in bays and harbors. Larger fish are found a little deeper around 50-60 feet.
- In the fall, Summer Flounder migrate offshore to depths between 150 and 500 feet.
- They are most commonly found in temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Flounder feed during the day on shrimp, crustaceans, crabs, squid, mollusks, and small fish like winter flounder, sand lance, red hake, and bluefish.
- Best fished on the bottom, dragging the bait. Light tackle like jigs work well with pieces of squid, shrimp, or cut bluefish.
- More Information can be found at LandBigFish.com or at Cpt. Dave's.
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White Marlin
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- Found in temperate and tropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean, specifically from 44 degrees North to 30 degrees South. Found in the northernmost and southernmost extremes of their range during the respective warm seasons.
- Prefer waters deeper than 100 meters, temperatures above 22 degrees Celsius and salinities between 35 and 37 ppt.
- White Marlins also are common in current lines, near drop-offs and canyons.
- They feed during the day near "fronts" where the edges of water bodies of different temperatures or salinities meet.
- White Marlin feed on squid, dolphin fish, mackerel, flying fish, and tuna.
- More Information can be found at The Florida
Museum of Natural History.
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Illustrations and Copyright by Diane Rome Peebles.
Illustrations are for viewing purposes only.
