I am starting to think Hogfish are just a myth

Upvote for the pic. We don’t get them really in the northern gulf coast where most of us are located so it not sure how much help you will get?

Seems like they are somewhat like black snapper in that people generally target them specifically when fishing for them. Not just general reef bottom bumping.

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We don’t get them really in the northern gulf coast where most of us are located so it not sure how much help you will get?

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They are around here. Some of the guides are catching him every day. Basically using a dropshot with shrimp or a hog ball with shrimp. Same areas that I'm fishing in general. Some of the numbers that I used came from one of the guides. I just have not been lucky enough to get on them when they're around those areas I guess. But we will keep trying.

Nice snapper
The hogs are nice too...

I don't think the eat a lot of what people are typically using for bait. They dig in the sand looking for small critters and crabs. Not sure what a hog ball is, but probably a good bet. And like what another poster said, I've mostly shot them on sand bottoms, adjacent to reefs.

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Not sure what a hog ball is,

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A hog ball rig is this. It's basically a weight with a hook on a free swing. It's saltwater version of a swing rig. You could even consider it a jighead replacement. Since we are required to have a circle hook while fishing for reef fish, this gives you that. At this time, I dont think there is a company who makes a circle hook for jigheads. I have been looking for my own company. cant find one


You basically put a shrimp or two on there and put it on the bottom for the hogs From what I have found, that or the basically knocker rig with a couple of 8mm beads is the preferred rig.

four hogfish and a snapper

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these two are hogfish.

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Ok, but what kind of fish are those four?

She's cheating with that stink bait between her legs

It's like chum

They tend to be off structure or at least caught off structure compared to most reef fish (spearing them is a whole different story from what I have been told). A mutton rig will catch them and big mutton both...if you're boat is on the reef you are too close...idea is to drift past the reef with your bait 30 feet or so beyond the swivel and sinker...and use the lightest sinker that allows it to maintain contact with the bottom. Start drift up current and drift the reef in all directions but not directly over it...it is supposed to put the fish down or at least not interested in being aggressive enough to feed with a boat shadow over them. The other reef species seem not to be put off by the boat but supposedly Muttons and Hawgfish will be less likely to feed if the boat shadow is directly on the reef...but when the boat is not near the reef suddenly they are as aggressive as the rest. I do not know that this is so but I know it works...especially on Muttons but I have caught a lot of hogfish while targeting mutton in this way. Its also a good way to beat sharks when they are eating everything coming up because the fish are off the structure and the sharks are concentrated on the structure.