The clock winds down on Spring 2007 snook season at midnight tonight. So… maybe… I’ll watch 24, then grab the sturdy equipment and head out. Hey, 90 minutes should be plenty of time… doncha’ think?
Archive for March, 2008
Spent a half day Sunday at Merry Pier. You already pretty much know the story- tons of pinfish, puffers (oooh!), grunts, lizardfish, and sand perch. The catch of the day was a nice 19″ Spanish Mackeral that attacked a live shrimp as soon as it hit the water. Tim joined me, but we came up empty handed in our search for redfish. We fished the bottom of the outgoing tide, so that probably had a lot to do with it.
The local headboat, Miss Pass-A-Grille, returned from a half day trip with a pretty decent catch, I saw some heavy stringers of Key West grunts, along with some huge triggerfish, and some black sea bass. A big cobia rounded out the catch- all caught within 7 miles of shore. I’m thinking it’s time for a little boat trip.
Shrimp are the universal bait- pretty much anything that swims will eat a shrimp. The are readily available year round, inexpensive, easy to keep alive, and can be used to target pinfish to tarpon. Tampa Bay fisherman rely on live shrimp!
Shrimp are graded according to size. “Regulars” are, in fact, small- and sometimes tiny. These are the ones that are left if you don’t get to the bait store soon enough. These are also typically the only size available during the heat of the summer. “Select” or “Handpicked” shrimp are usually pretty hefty. These are the ones you’re looking for if you’re targeting fish larger than a couple of pounds. The largest, “Jumbos” are actually not often seen. If you are able to get a couple dozen of these, forget fishing and head straight for the nearest grill. I’ve seen Jumbos that topped half a pound… scary stuff.
Staurday, spent a couple of hours at the Merry Pier. The usual assortment of trash fish- but, there was a school of snook in the vicinity. Out of curiosity, I hooked a lizardfish in deeper water, and reeled it up to the dock. There, I let it swim around near the pilings, about 3 feet down.
Sure enough, a nice size snook came up from the depths, and looked it over. Wham! ‘Course, he had me in the pilings in a few seconds. I repeated this process several times. If only I had brought some heavier tackle.
Sunday, went out on Miss Pass-A-Grille for the half day trip. Took forever to get out 7 miles, where we made the first of three drops. Bagged a nice key west grunt, then we moved. On the second drop, I nailed a 20″ gag- fun on the light spinning tackle I was using. We moved again, and on the third drop, I caught a few nice triggerfish- which is what I was really after in the first place.
So, Tim and I arrived at the Merry Pier bright and early Saturday morning for the full day fishing trip aboard Miss Pass-A-Grill. Hint #1- make reservations. We didn’t, and almost didn’t make it on board. Anyway, the slow, lumbering boat cast off around 8:30, and headed west.
Hint #2- Dress warm for a January trip. With the wind blowing and the temp in the low 60’s, it was a little chilly headed out (and, particularly, headed back in later in the day). We arrived at our first drop around 11:00, in 60′ of water, about 20 miles offshore.
A few small grouper and reef fish were landed, and it was time to move. This pattern would repeat for about a dozen drops over the next few hours. It seemed as if, just as the bite started, the engines would fire up and we’d be on our way.
Chores wrapped up, I headed down to the Merry Pier for a couple of hours late afternoon Saturday. I figured I’d burn through a dozen select shrimp, and be on my way. The dock was fairly crowded, but no fish were evident.
One dock denizen tried my trick from last week- drop a lizard fish down among the pilings, and see if any snook were hanging around. They were there. In seconds, he was struggling with a huge bruiser, probably approaching 40″. His 50 lb. braid and 60 lb. leader held up fine, but the fish managed to throw his hook, and was gone.
Well, I didn’t get skunked yesterday in Pass-A-Grille. Not exactly bountiful fishing, though. The highlight of the three hours was a single 14″ grouper. A few lizard fish, pinfish, and puffers joined the party. Yup, still slow. I did see a few small fish caught by other anglers, including a Spanish mackeral, sheepshead, and a pair of small redfish.
After the warming trend we’ve had this week, and the return of two tide days, and the impending front due tomorrow, it sure seems like all the conditions are perfect for great fishing. Guess somebody forgot to tell the fish, though. Maybe next weekend….
The question, “What’s the best bait?” often arises when fishing Pass-a-Grille and Southern Pinellas County. So, here’s my two cents worth.
Bait falls into two catagories- live bait and lures. We’ll save lures for another day. The best live bait depends largely on the species that you’re targeting. Common inshore live bait includes shrimp, tubeworms, whitebait, greenbacks, grunts, pinfish, fiddler crabs, and more.
Fiddler crabs and tubeworms are pretty much exclusively used when targeting sheepshead. A common tactic is to scrape barnacles from the pilings, and allow them to drift in the current. This sets up a scent trail that the sheepshead will follow to the source. Barnacles, by the way, also make a pretty decent sheepshead bait if you can figure out how to get them on the hook.
A quick Sunday trip to the Merry Pier yielded the first sign that winter has arrived- in the form of an enormous Whiting. Seriously, I thought it was a rat red as I brought it to the dock. As you may know, whiting are schooling fish, so I expected to get a few dozen more, but it was not to be. A small grouper and a few lizardfish were the only other action of the day. Still better than getting skunked.
Spent Saturday on Merry Pier with Tim and Craig. The trash fish were in abundance, as we hauled in a steady stream of pinfish, lizardfish, small grunts, puffers, etc. The lone highlight occurred as I was reeling in a bare hook- a small Spanish Mackeral smashed it, the sole gamefish of the day. No sign of grouper or sheepshead, which is a little perplexing. A decent black drum came in on the Pass-A-Grill jetty.
I was over at Sunset Park, next to Woody’s, this weekend, and I did observe lots of small sheepshead, along with a couple preety big snook hanging in the current. Maybe that’ll be the target next trip.
