I Just got back from the reefballs south of Port Everglades in 25 feet of water.First thing to do is castnet some fresh ballyhoo's. I only had one chum block in the water, and within seconds a large school of bait flooded my transom. Then I caught a nice mutton snapper with the fresh ballyhoo plugs. I like to cut them in half just behind the vent. If you cut them correctley, they will twitch for 10 to 15 minutes on the hook.
Using a small but strong jig head,come in from the lower jaw exiting through the top lip. Then cut the ballyhoo as mentioned. Take the tail section and toss it out as far as you can cast, wait a few seconds and then pitch the hooked head portion right at the same spot as the tail. It doesn't have to be right on top, but in the immediate area. Because your only using a lite jig head( !/32 oz no big weight or heavy leader), the two halves will flutter down together. This increases your chances of hooking a nicer fish and probably the Mutton. The tail peice, which is smaller, reaches the strike zone first and is either picked apart by smaller fish, or it is in the belly of the same snapper about to hit your bait on the hook. Muttons investigate things very carefully several times. If any thing doesn't look or smell right they're outtie. Because that tail peice fell perfectly to there comfort zone they inhale it. Next comes your bait and if you flatline properly it will do the same.
The end result is a powerful fight on lite tackle with no weight to screw things up on the edge of the reef. You dont need a leader although occasionally the line will part for unknown reasons. Because of the lite line and just the hook, the bait takes the much needed natural approach to subdue these wary fish. They fry up awesome and their colors always look better and better each time. I f you havn't bagged one or two muttons yet, them get out there and give this a shot. The bycatch is always either a cobia, or a few spanish and cero macks. Eventually you get good at something if you keep trying it, and maybe soon your catch could look like this one from an earlier trip.
ballyhoo all over the place!
