When a hard east wind blows across the Florida Keys, fishing can come to a virtual standstill. There’s no landmass to duck behind on a strong easterly. Days are spent at the tackle shops or tending to repairs. However, there is a fishery that lights up under these conditions, and it’s often overlooked. It’s patch reef fishing in Hawk Channel.

Hawk Channel is a natural trench paralleling the Atlantic side of the Florida Keys chain. It has an average depth of around 30 feet and lies between the shoreline and the first rise of the coral reef tract. Numerous patch reefs, humps and coral outcroppings in the channel hold a wide variety of fish. Many of these fish grow fat and lazy, as many anglers pass up the Hawk Channel fishery, heading for spots offshore. This fact alone means that the fish here are more susceptible to tactics that might not be accepted in the higher-traffic zones. One of these tactics is dancing a jig.

Most times while fishing the patches, you’re anchored up and the boat is swinging with the wind and pitching with the waves. These dancing steps do little to enhance typical bottom-fishing rigs, as sinkers and the leaders become tangled by the constant action of the boat. During this boat dance is where the jig cuts in.

A 1/2-ounce jig is a good size to "test the waters." You can use this to determine current, and feel the bottom for obstructions. From there, scale down to a size suitable for the conditions. In 30 feet of water, I’ve found that a 1/4- to 3/8-ounce jig usually works best for bottom jigging, and 1/16- to 1/8-ounce are best when offering smaller baits into an established chumslick.

Chumming the Patches

Chumming is an excellent way to attract gamefish. Remember that smaller fish are more numerous in the shallows; calling the little ones in close creates underwater commotion sure to attract bigger fish. Catch these smaller fish and attach them to your jigs and lower away. Chances are the fish in your slick are exactly what the bigger predators are using as forage anyway.

For frozen block chum, be sure to use mesh bags with large holes. Smaller holes do not let the chum out easily, and the goal is to feed the area as well as the fish. This extra chum is needed to feed all the visitors to your chumline and not just the targeted species.

I always include a bag or three of salted glass minnows to spice up a chumline. If mangrove snapper are the first to show in the slick, I use only the glass minnows and skip the block chum. Mangroves tend to disperse if hordes of smaller fish arrive for the ground-up chum. You can stick with using the glassies until you have your fill of mangroves. I also like to chunk sections of smaller fish taken incidentally and send them spiraling to the bottom. Nothing sends a grouper out to lunch faster than speedo chunks littering the bottom. Mutton snapper and bigger mangroves all love a chunk.

With the chumline established, it’s time to start dancing a jig. Start by underhand casting a short distance away from the boat and then feel for the jig to touch bottom. Be careful, as many times you’ll get a distinctive tap on your first lift off the bottom. When that happens, rear back and send that barb home. It makes good sense to set your drags near the breaking point, as you will have little room to steer a big bottom banger away from his coral-encrusted lair. You need to apply maximum pressure immediately on the hookup. I use stiff rods and heavier spinners and also have a few conventional reels for jigging. On my spinning outfits, I use 20-pound-test monofilament line and 30-pound fluorocarbon leader; on the revolving-spool conventional reels, I like 25-pound-test line and 40-pound leader. My leaders are a bit light, but in shallow, clear water, you need stealth to keep the bite going. Most fights are intense but short-lived. Be sure to constantly re-tie the knot at the end of the line as they get chafed easily after a few fish.

Positioning Your Boat

Most good fishing areas in Hawk Channel are on the smaller side and boat positioning is critical. Factor in the current direction, and adjust your position using the GPS, so that you’ll be able to chum directly over the widest part of the spot. Anchor uptide in the sand away from the patch and try to chum the fish away from the reef. Anchoring in the middle is a definite no-no. You can also (depending on the current) anchor alongside a patch and have good results, but uptide is usually best. It makes a big difference as to how the boat lies on the spot and you may have to anchor a few times until you get where you need to be. Make a few notes in your notebook as to the wind direction and current; you’ll eliminate some guesswork in the future. Also note the dominant species. Many times the bottom appeals to a particular fish and that knowledge is useful in the future when actually targeting a particular species.

How to Dance a Jig

The best way to dance a jig is to allow it to fall under its own weight until it hits the bottom. Slowly raise the jig up and then drop it, maintaining a feel for the lure as it drops. This drop is when the majority of hits occur. Lift and repeat until you feel that heavy tap—a strike. You can also use the rodholder as your jigger. Lower the jig to the bottom, reel it up a few cranks off the bottom and put the fishing rod in the holder. The motion of the waves and the wind will do the jigging for you. Watch the rod closely in this type of fishing—you can get rocked up by a good fish, if no one notices that rod bent double.

Another way of using the jig is to cast it out as far as you can and then slowly swim it back through the chumline. Mackerels, bonito, barracuda and other midwater fish really like this presentation. Don’t let the jig fall too long, though, as it’s easy to get snagged on bottom. If you do hang up, you can usually free the jig by stretching the line tight, then giving it a sharp "twang" to release the tension—this usually jolts the hook free from whatever you were snagged on. Also, I have a handy de-snagger that has paid for itself many times over by freeing jigs below the boat. It is nothing more than an old spark plug with a length of heavy cord attached to it. The spark plug has several heavy-gauge wires attached that grab the hook and pull the jig free when pulled on from above.

Silence is golden on the patch reefs. In shallow water, many larger fish shy away from unfamiliar noises. I usually tell my anglers to lower the hatches as slowly as they were lifted. No banging chum boxes around or dropping jigs on the deck, either. Be a quiet angler and you’ll have more to show at the end of the day. I use a small section of carpet to muffle foot noise; it doubles as a cooler anti-skid mat, when not patch fishing.

Also, be sure to dump the last bits of chum that you have before going in for the day. Fish that are in the slick have a tendency to stay in that area. Keeping a few places stocked up like this can pay off on iffy days.

Keeping that Catch Fresh

My fish box is a large, expensive cooler (the cheaper ones never last) at least half full of cubed or crushed ice. Crushed ice from a fish house is preferred but cubes work okay. I add just enough salt water to slush it into a sludge that does not swish side to side when the boat rocks. I add more water if necessary throughout the day to keep fish awash in this brine. This mixture of ice and sea water preserves the flavor and color of fish and aids a bit in cleaning, as the fish are usually stiff and easier to fillet. Another thing is, this ice can be reused. Simply get your little bait net and strain the cooler out and put the unmelted ice in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for your next outing. You might not be able to line Margarita glasses with this ice, but it will keep fish very cold on the next trip. —J.S.