The driver speeds up to the school of pilchards, quickly stops alongside them, and Houghtaling throws the net immediately. On a good day, he can get all the bait he needs in two or three throws. If there are no pilchards to be found, Houghtaling recommends using live shrimp. Pilchards are more than a mouthful for many larger fish, and thus weed out the little stuff. But even without GPS, a boat's depth recorder will show the spikes and holes where the reef sticks up, surrounded by flatter bottom.
Many anglers make the mistake of anchoring the boat directly on top of the patch reef.
That means nearly every bait will be snagged on a sea fan or dragged into a crevice by a tricky grouper. Houghtaling recommends heading upwind and upcurrent of the patch and anchoring so that there is 100 feet between the boat's transom and the reef. The bait flits around the bottom, as the angler leaves the reel's bail open, keeping light tension on the line and feeling it with a finger. When the line starts peeling quickly out, Houghtaling tells the angler to close the bail and quickly reel in the slack. Dinner is all but guaranteed to be forthcoming.