The new year came in with a bang- after some glorious December weather, a strong winter cold front blew through a week ago. Pre-front, EVERYTHING was biting- I saw a bunch of 16 to 22″ gag grouper caught in Pass-A-Grille, and they were slamming live pinfish with gusto. Macks, flounder, even sea bass were biting enthusiastically.
Once the front came through, everything shut down. The water temperature dropped from 71 degrees down to 54 over the space of a couple of days. All the fish were in shock. I still managed to get down to the Merry Pier yesterday before the Bucs debacle, but there wasn’t much happening. A small grouper here, a little snapper there. VERY slow. Maybe, after this weeks warm-up, things will be back to normal next weekend. Here’s hoping…
Spent some time in Arizona, so I’ve been a little lax with posting-the picture is from a full day trip on Miss Pass-A-Grille a couple weeks ago. Nothing to write home about, but there were a few decent gags and reds, along with the usual assortment of grunts and triggers. The big fish went to those using live pinfish- which will factor into my preparations for next trip.
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Somehow, I convinced myself that getting up at 3 a.m. to do a little fishing made perfect sense. Hey, the tide’s high, the current should be strong, it won’t be too hot… Anyway, I arrived at Merry Pier in the wee hours Friday night/ Saturday morning, to be joined by Mike.
Yeah, there were snook around, but I didn’t hook any. I was reminded that my cast net skills are woefully inadequate, but I did manage to net a few small squid. Mike and I caught plenty of smallish Mangos, with three keepers in the mix. Pretty good eating, huh Mike?
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Hey - I just realized that TampaFishing.net is now over 1 year old! Lots of fishing trips, lots of good times, lots of fun with great friends. Looking forward to even bigger and better things in year 2.
Steve
The mango frenzy continues unabated. Arriving a couple hours before sunup, a five fish limit of tasty 12-15″ snapper is almost a given nowdays. Plenty of hard fighting grouper mixed in, too. The big ones are measuring 20″… still no keepers, but the laws of probability state that I’m due any day now.
The key to the bigger Mangos is big bait- cut sardines are doing the trick. A flourocarbon leader also helps the cause. And being on the right spot doesn’t hurt- while there are a few keepers under the dock, there are thousands of 5-9″ fish swarming there. The bigger fish are located on the rockpiles 20-80 feet in front of the pier.
Snook season is just a week and a half away, and there are dozens milling under the lights of the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach in the wee hours of the morning. You can hear them ‘popping’ bait from every direction. Take note of the fact that 100% of them will completely disappear at 11:59 p.m. on August 31.
Another August weekend, another nice snapper haul from the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach. I arrived promptly at 5:00 a.m., and Mike joined me just minutes later. Armed with cut frozen Spanish Sardines, we went to work on the rokpiles at te north end of the pier. The snapper were aggressive and big. We were throwing back pretty much anything less than a foot - there were plenty of 13″ to 16″ fish.
My goal was to finally nail a legal gag grouper- and, once more, I was unsuccessful, although I did manage to haul in about 17 of them, up to 21 inches. Yeah, that’s right- 21″ inches… and, yes, I was pinching the tail.
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I headed out to the Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grill before the crack of dawn on Sunday, still determined to find a 22″+ grouper. I was joined at around 6 a.m. by my friend David, who was in from Denver. David is a very experienced fisherman, and we’ve fished together coutless times. All in all, we had a great morning at the dock.
I was fishing cut sardines on the bottom out in the rock piles, and was catching a few smallish (10-12″) snapper, when David decided to free line a big sardine. After a couple of minutes, the rod tip bounced, then drag started peeling out- slowly at first, then increasing in speed. I figured ‘big snook’, and headed for the net, but at that moment 100+ pounds of angry tarpon jumped 50 yards from the dock. I have been seeing smaller tarpon rolling over the last few weeks, but this wasn’t one of them.
It was a good hokup, and a tug-of-war ensued, with the big fish screaming off 30 or 40 yards of PowerPro, and David slowing gaining it back. But, as the minutes passed and the big fish got closer to the dock, the fight took an unexpected turn. The tarpon headed for the Miss Pass-A-Grille, the big party boat anchored in a slip. No amount of pressure could stop the ensuing cutoff, and the fight ended abruptly. Fun stuff, though. That’s what keeps Merry Pier fishing interesting. You can use virtually the same tackle, bait and techniques, and one minute you’ll catch a 6 oz pinfish- then a 100′ tarpon on the next cast. Never a dull moment.
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Saturday fishing was a bust, thanks to tropical storm Barry. The lower sections of Merry Pier were literally underwater, as the storm tides peaked in the early afternoon.
Sunday was a different story. My buddy Tim cruised in from Tampa with a bucket of shrimp, and we proceeded to have an excellent afternoon of fishing. Upon arrival at noon, the tides were sluggish, and so were the fish. But as the tides began to recede, the bite picked up.
One thing I will say about Merry Pier- it can offer great variety. We caught:
Mangrove Snapper- Grouper
- Redfish
- Whiting
- Pinfish
- Catfish
- Sand Perch
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Who: Me!
Where: The Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grille, Florida. More precisely, the North East Corner at the pilings.
What: Snapper. Mangos. Lot’s of ‘em. Most about a foot long.
When: Sunday, starting about 7 a.m. High tide was around 8:40, and the bite peaked around 10:30
How: Tossing hand picked live shrimp tail hooked (with the point buried to reduce snags) on a #2 hook WAY upcurrent (despite a 1/2 oz weight). The tide quickly swept the shrimp back to the pilings, where the mangrove snapper were waiting. I used a 2 foot florocarbon leader (30 lb - those barnicals are sharp!) and 15 lb mono. The hooks were from Owner.
Why: Simple. I finished fishing by noon, spent a few hours on the beach, then had some friends over for a fresh snapper dinner. A new recipe:
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June 17, 2007- I ventured offshore yesterday aboard the Getaway with friends Matt, his father Tom (Happy Fathers Day!) and Cap’t Dick. We departed the Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grille at 7:30, and headed west.
Conditions were ideal- a light breeze and scattered cloud cover, just enough to keep it from getting too hot. The first stop for bait at the PassAGrille marker proved futile, so we headed out the Egmont Channel, stopping at the Whistler Bouy. Got a few baits with the sabiki rigs, when the Mate hollers- something big and fast had grabbed his blue runner boatside. Switching gears, the sabiki rigs were hauled in, and the heavy tackle was hauled out. A live pinfish was irresistable to the big cobia that had been lurking in the shadows of the bouy. The fight was on!
After 15 minutes of head shakes, bulldog runs, and deep soundings, the cobia was gaffed and in the cooler. A nice healthy 30 pounder. Not bad for a bait stop. Another stop at the end of the ditch produced good bait, and a cuda hookup.
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