Tripletail fishing in Florida

Tripletail are odd, mottled fish that float on their sides beside anything that drifts or stands in the water — channel markers, pilings, buoys, crab trap floats and floating weed. They appear along the northeast coast and the Gulf coast in the warm months and in south Florida more in the cooler months. From shore, look along pier and bridge pilings and inlet markers on calm, sunny days when they lie near the surface, usually on the flood tide with clean water. Sight-cast a live shrimp just up-current so it drifts past the fish, either freelined or under a small popping cork, on 20 lb fluorocarbon and a 1/0–2/0 circle hook; a soft plastic shrimp or small bucktail also works. Use a 7 ft medium spinning rod with 15 lb braid, and pull the fish away from the piling quickly because it will dive and cut the line. Their gill covers and dorsal spines are sharp. Excellent eating; check current FWC rules before keeping one.