Summer’s here, and dock days are getting hot- both the weather and the fishing. I had the pleasure of meeting Big Mike on the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach on Saturday. By the time I arrived, Big Mike had already caught and released dozens of mangrove snapper- mostly small, but still fun to catch. And remember- the 8-11 inch snapper of June will be the 13-17 inch snapper of September!
Figured since Big Mike had travelled alll the way from Ohio for a little fishing, I should show off a bit. So… first cast, first shrimp, I promptly nailed a 32″ snook. It was a fun fight, and it was a battle to keep the fish out of the pilings. I thought this would be the start of a great day of snooking, but, alas, that was the only one of the day. I did end up catching about 3 dozen Snaps, keeping 4 foot longs. By 2 p.m., the sun was blazing, the current was slack, and the bar was calling.
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A few quick observations:
-At the east end of Corey Avenue in St. Pete Beach, bait is beginning to show on the grass flats and around the old Leverock’s dock. I saw a school of a few dozen 10-15 pound Jack Cravelle tearing them up yesterday, while a pair of large snook came in and cleaned up the leftovers.
-Blind Pass is showing signs of life. Between 73rd Avenue and 79th Ave., I’ve seen snook, a few large schools of mackarel, abundant sheepshead, and today, for the first time in many months, a mangrove snapper.
-The Pass-A-Grille Jetty has been producing pompano, sheepshead, and a few macks. No great catches, but a few nice fish.
Got in a few hours both Saturday and Sunday- nothing spectacular, just steady action. The spanish mackarel were cooperative, as were both large and small Jack Cravelle. There were a few sheepshead around, but they weren’t biting. I hooked a monster snook under the dock, but it made short work of my 20 lb. SpiderWire. Interesting, on the Merry Pier in PassAGrille, I caught several 12 - 15 inch gag grouper. Wonder where they’ve been all winter?
Looks like, weather permitting, next weekend could be some serious action. I’ve got several friends that’ll be in town, all wanting to go fishing. And I saw pictures from the Getaway - their trip Friday yielded an amazing catch of red and mangrove snapper, scamp, red grouper and gags.
Despite the hazy, smoky conditions, I hit the East end of Corey Avenue on Saturday with my friend Tim, looking for sheepshead, snook and macks. I did manage two out of three- with no sign of snook. Got a bizzare fish- it looked like a sheepshead/ pinfish cross. That was a first! Also, out on the grass flats, something big and fast grabbed my Gotcha lure, but it managed to throw the hook.
Sunday was more of the same, starting on Corey (pinfish and a nice Mac), then moving to Pass-A-Grille (sheepshead… small ones, though). I am definately needing to get offshore soon…!
Made a quick stop this morning at Blind Pass (by Woody’s Restaurant in St. Pete Beach). There was a commotion in the pass, with a strong incoming tide. At first I thought it was a school of dolphin, but…no it was a pod of about a dozen 50-80 pound tarpon rolling away. Looks like the tarpon have arrived a little early in Tampa this year. Time to catch ‘em up!
So, on Saturday I headed over to my friend Walter’s dock in Treasure Island for a little fishing and drinking. Tossing live shrimp into the channel produced immediate results, and surprising variety. One cast would be a Jack Cravelle; the next a mangrove snapper; and the next would be a big ladyfish. So it went… lane snapper, pinfish, catfish, you name it. We scraped some barnicles and dropped live fiddler crabs next to the dock, which produced a huge hookup, and a broken 20 lb test leader. Blak drum? Big sheepshead? Who knows, hopefully it’ll still be there next trip.
Sunday… was a bust. Spent several hours on teh East end of Corey Avenue in St. Pete Beach, in pursuit of the elusive sheepshead. They were there, alright. Every 30 minutes or so, I’d get a bite… with either no hookup, or a breakoff. Very frustrating. At least the weather was cooperative (wind was brisk, but not as bad as Saturday). Dophin and manatees were nearby. Just no fish!
If you can believe the 7 day forecast, looks like the winds may finally lay down next weekend. If that’s the case, I’m gonna track down a boat, and get offshore.
The Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grille provided some great fishing this weekend. Plenty of variety, steady action… and the Pier was surprisingly uncrowded for Memorial Day wwekend.
Snapper- The snaps are back! After a long hiatus, the mangrove snapper are beginning to return to their haunts in the shadows under the Pier. It’s still very early in the season, so they’re running small; but still, out of a couple dozen, there were some foot long specimens. They’ll be joing me for dinner tonight!
Snook- Now that the snook season has shut down, the snook are ready to feed. They key was large, lively shrimp free-lined under the dock as the tides surged outward. The snook tended to be in the shallows, with some literally inches from the seawall. Sizes ranged from about 22″ to over 30″. And, for each snook caught, there were 2-3 that were lost- hey, that’s snook fishing!
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Just a quick note- I braved the crappy weather this weekend for a few hours in Pass-A-Grille. The wind was blowing hard, the water had dropped form crystal clear to… murky; and the bite was off. I did pick up a huge sheepshead for my efforts.
But the story of the day on Easter Sunday was snook. Just as I arrived at Merry Pier, a guy was tossing a 33″ beauty into the cooler. Said he nailed it on a smallis, tail hooked shrimp, with a 25 lb. test leader. Sorry I missed that fight! I saw another on hooked, and a smal redfish landed. Looks like things are just starting to get good. Stay tuned… won’t be long now!
There weren’t any. Plain and simple. The Spanish Mackeral were there, as were the big blue runners that kept attacking our slow trolled squid spoons… just no sign of the Kings.
I joined my friend Allen, who was in from Kentucky, along with his daughter Hannah for some ’serious’ fishing on Saturday. Our plan for inshore redfish was a bust, so we booked the Getaway out of Pass-A-Grille for a 3/4 day charter. We probably trolled 3-4 hours with liitle to show for it. We made a couple of stops on some god bottom that was showing fish… but, all we managed was squirrelfish after squirrelfish. The flat line was untouched. We even found a huge flock of diving pelicans, and there were a bunch of dolphins busting fish on the surface. We worked the school for a half hour, with 1 spanish mackeral to show for it.
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One more weekend to go…. And I plan to make the most of it. ‘Course, you already know how it’ll go. No snook to be had. Then, as soon as May 1 hits, they’ll be everywhere- and hungry.
Heard one of the employees at The Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grille managed to best a 42″ snook on Saturday. The snook, nicknamed ‘Scar’, was released unharmed. I saw a few small snook hiding under the dock, but they were’nt interested in either my shrimp nor my pinfish.
May is fast approaching- time to start thinking about a serious offshore trip. Not sure how things’ll work out, but I do plan to get out to the deep water for some American Red Snapper and some Blackfin Tuna action. Stay tuned.
