Elective Insomnia

Stringing Gogs Like the Pros

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WHILE NEARLY EVERY PELAGIC GAME FISH will attack a live goggle eye, these highly regarded bait fish are notorious for leading anglers down long, sleepless roads—often times with nothing to show for their efforts. Though these super scad can be captured year-round from Jupiter to Key West, lunar phase is perhaps the most significant factor affecting their disorderly behavioral patterns.

Perhaps the most secret and lucrative fishery in the entire state, catching goggle eye isn’t challenging once your target has been located. However, success may come anywhere from 10 feet of water along coastal jetties and piers, to open water as deep as 500 feet. Hunting for scratches on your sonar near anchored container ships waiting to enter port has also proven to be a successful approach. In addition to enjoying a wide range of favorable habitat, goggle eye are temperamental and turn on and off like a light switch. When the bite is on it’s essential you catch as many as you can as quickly as possible.

Appropriately named due to their disproportionately large eyes, bigeye scad are actually more attainable than most anglers think. It’s a lot of work for sure, but if you put in the time you will be well rewarded. With that being said, consistent success requires you develop patterns relating successful outings to moon phase, season, depth and water clarity.