I boarded the 65′ Sea Trek party boat with Capt. James Clark and headed south towards the Dry Tortugas for an action-packed weekend jigging the wrecks and ledges for a variety of species. I focused my effort on vertical jigging with various metal jigs for Grouper, Snapper, African Pompano, and Kingfish.
We had amazing weather and a consistent bite that let us fill up the boxes with some delicious meat. Our night stops were full of hungry snapper bitting on the moon rise and set, with Capt. Jay’s 25lb Cubera Snapper being a highlight of the trip!
I focused my time yo-yo jigging 3oz – 4oz metal jigs from Hogy Lures. This slow style of jigging requires a lot less effort than aggressive butterfly style speed jigging and can be just as productive. The 3.5oz Heavy Minnow Jig and 3.5oz Squinnow Jig both produced numerous fish throughout the trip. On one wreck stock, I was able to hook up on the 3.5oz Heavy Minnow Jig just about every drop, hooking into an African Pompano or a King Mackerel. Tons of fun to do and during that stop, it was outfishing live and cut bait by a big margin
