See AR362, AR366, & AR368 for GPS numbers.

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The Little tunny, Euthynmus alletteratus, is a member of the tuna family and is also known as false albacore, albacore, little tuna, bonito, and fat alberts.  It is also often confused with the Atlantic Bonito.

Little tunny grow to 20 pounds and have a typical tuna shaped body.  The top of the fish is steel blue in color and silver below with wavy stripes along the rear portion of the back. 

They are migratory, spending their winters off the coast of Florida and then moving to northern waters in the spring and summer. 

They often feed in large schools, surrounding pods of bait.  This usually results in lots of splashing and foaming of the water and attracts many different species of birds.  It also attracts anglers.  Many anglers target this fish with fly rods or light tackle.

N34 14.160 W77 37.870

It’s a great spot for using a sabiki jig to jig up some bait or bottom fishing in the winter.  In the summer and fall you will often find king mackerel, barracuda and Little Tunny on patrol in the area.

See Little Tunny

The Atlantic tarpon, Megalops atlanticus, is a large coastal fish prized by anglers. The Atlantic tarpon is also known as the silver king.  They grow up to 8 feet in length and sometimes weigh 200 pounds. When swimming in oxygen-poor water, tarpons can breathe air from the surface. Tarpon are superb sport, with a long-lasting, powerful fight generally including several leaps. While edible, they are seldom eaten, as their flesh is considered too oily to be palatable.

The body is greenish or bluish on top, and silver on the sides. The large mouth is turned upwards, and the lower jaw contains an elongated bony plate. The last ray of the dorsal fin is much longer than the others, reaching nearly to the tail.

The Atlantic tarpon is found in the Atlantic ocean typically in tropical and subtropical regions, though it has been reported as far north as Nova Scotia and as far south as Argentina. Diet includes smaller fish and crustaceans.

Black sea bass, Centropristis striata, are also known as blackfish, Atlantic sea bass, bass, rock bass and pinbass.  They are sometimes confused with black drum, bank sea bass, and rock sea bass.

Their bodies are black.  The exposed parts of the scales are paler than the margins making the fish look like it is barred with a series of dots running lengthwise. The belly is slightly lighter in color than the sides.  The fins are dark and the dorsal is marked with a series of white spots and bands.  During the spawning season, males may have a conspicuous blue hump at the nape of the neck.  Black sea bass grow to 24 inches and 6 pounds but fish in the 12 - 18 inch range weighing up to several pounds are common.

Black sea bass inhabit irregular hard bottom areas such as wrecks, ledges, and reefs.  They are found from Cape Cod, MA to Cape Canaveral, FL.  They are often found with other tropical reef fish such as snappers, groupers, porgies, and grunts. 

Anglers generally fish for black sea bass on wrecks and reefs using a bottom rig.  Common baits are strips of squid and cut bait.

Vermillion snapper, Rhomboplites aurorubens, are also known as beeliners.  They are found in the tropical waters from Cape Hatteras to southeastern Brazil including the Gulf of Mexico.  The prefer irregular reef-like bottom in waters ranging in depth from 80 - 350 feet.

Vermilion snapper have streamlined bodies, are pale to silver white below and vermilion above. Narrow yellow-gold streaks, some horozontal and others oblique, occur below the lateral line. The dorsal fin is rosy colored with a yellow margin. The caudal fin is red , but has a faint black margin.

Vermilion snapper can reach lengths up to 24 inches, feeding on small animals found high in the water column.  Anglers target them with small hooks do to their small mouths.  They are not true bottom feeders so many anglers will suspend their baits in mid-column or above the hard bottom.  Squid and cut bait are most commonly used.

Red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, are found offshore at depths of 150 to 300 feet on the continental shelf.  Juveniles are found over sandy or mud bottoms.  Adults prefer rocky bottoms, ledges, wrecks and similar structures.

Red snapper have deep bodies with a long, triangular snout. The back and upper sides are brick red in color with a more pinkish color on the bottom of the fish.  Smaller fish have a dark spot on the upper sides just before the soft dorsal fin.  The iris of their eyes are dark red. They grow to 35 pounds.  There is no black spot at the base of the pectoral fin. They are some times confused with Vermillion Snapper.

They eat a variety of invertebrates, crustaceans and small fishes.  Anglers catch them by finding bottom structure and then using a typical bottom rig.  They can be caught with live or cut bait.

White Grunt, Haemulon plumieri, get their name from an audible grunting that is produced by grinding of the pharyngeal teeth, with their air bladder acting as amplifier. Spawning occurs on OFFSHORE hard bottoms or reefs from May through June. They feed on crustaceans, mollusks and small fishes.

The white grunt is silver-gray, with numerous blue and yellow stripes on the body and head. On some individuals the scales are tipped with bronze. The pectoral fins are chalky and the other fins are gray. The lining of the body cavity, or peritoneum, is black.

White grunt occur in tropical and warm-temperature waters, inhabiting irregular bottom areas of the continental shelf from Virginia to Brazil, including Bermuda, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.  The species is reported to live as long as 13 years, attaining a length of 25 inches and weight of 8 pounds. White grunt are carnivores that feed on bottom-dwelling invertebrates by rooting around in the sand and shell hash between rocky ledges and at the bases of coral formations.

They are usually caught by anglers while bottom fishing.  Cut bait, shellfish and squid are used as baits.  They are good table fare.