Fall is in the air, and the samll grouper are swarming in Pass-A-Grille. Joined by friends Tim and Craig, we caught ‘em by the dozen last weekend, despite a brutal 25 knot north wind. Manatees and dolphins cruised past the Pier. And, variety is on the increase- the day’s catch included gag grouper, mangrove snapper, redfish, ladyfish, pinfish, lizardfish, pufferfish, and… sheepshead.
Yes, the sheepshead are hungry. Live shrimp was the ticket for a couple of hubcap sized beauties. Should be a good fall.
Side note- sounds like my buddy Alan will be cruising in from the backwoods of Kentucky in early December. This calls for some offshore time! And maybe another Captain Mike Homer charter?
Who’d of thought there would still be tarpon rolling in Boca Ciega Bay in November? But, they’re there. Saw three seperate pods on Sunday, unmistakebly tarpon. The dockhand had seen some the week before, too. Time to get out the heavy tackle?
As far as Pass-A-Grille Merry Pier fishing, it was business as usual. Showed up for 5 hours Saturday, and 7 on Sunday. Pretty good crowd, too. Saturday, on the incoming tide, 10 to 16 inch grouper were a given on pretty much every cast, but no sign of the big boys. Snapper are gone, as are the snook. The season change is evident, doubly so when I pulled in a decent pair of flounder. Looking forward to the days when they come in thick!
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There. I said it. Skunked. Wow, it’s been a while, but the combination of unfavorable tides, poor moon phase, thinning bait, and the incredible water temperature drop all conspired to shock the fish into inactivity. Despite a packed dock, nobody else was catching anything, either. Small consolation.
There was, however, one bright spot- a 39″ redfish caught by a lucky angler on Thanksgiving day.
So, a quick morning outing to the Merry Pier on Saturday. Ahh… Fall is in the air… as is the pungent odor of dead fish. There were literally thousands of dead fish floating on the outgoing tide. Not a pretty site- or scent.
I figured fishing would be a waste, but had to make a go of it anyway. Sure enough, there were still some small mangrove snapper lurking under the dock. After catching 7, the bite slowed. Time to move. The tide was going out strong, so I set up on the north end of the pier, and let the select live shrimp drift back under the dock with a 1/4 oz. weight. Any snook home?
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And it’s time for some more fishing! Spent last weekend in Kentucky, and came very close to a bass fishing trip on Kentucky Lake with an old frat buddy. But… lack of a trolling motor, coupled with the arrival of a few dozen more frat buddies quashed these plans. So, next year- look out, bass and crappie!
Meanwhile, I’ve checked the tide tables for Pass-A-Grille, and this looks to be a great weekend- 2 foot drop, and an early afternoon high tide. I’ll be hitting Merry Pier and the 8th Ave dock hard on Saturday- the results will dictate wether I’ll be back Sunday, or watching the Bucs. Report to follow…
Yes, tourist season is fast approaching here on the beach, so as an essential public service, here are 10 quick ways to spot Tourists as they attempt to go fishing:
10. Squid. Tourist just LOVE frozen squid. Big, enormous chunks of it.
9. Wire Leaders. Every Tourist is enamoured with wire leaders. The bigger, the better. Never know when a sharks gonna bite, after all..
8. Snoopy rods. You know the type. A step below the Zebco 202. A healthy pinfish could snap it without breaking a sweat. -OR-
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Spent a couple of hours at the Merry Pier on both Saturday and Sunday (before the game). While lots of sheepshead were evident, they weren’t inclined to bite. The snapper and grouper, however, were very cooperative. Mangos from 8-12″ were swarming under the pier, and voraciously attacked any shrimp thrown their way. Likewise, grouper hit readily on the rockpiles in front of the pier- but only on the incoming tide.
The good news is that the 6-10 inch grouper of the summer are now the 12-16 inch fall grouper. Toss a select shrimp with an oz of lead to the rockpile, count to five, and expect a hookup.
Now… how ’bout those BUCS?
Conditions Saturday were… less than ideal. Strong front had already moved through, 20+ knot wind straight out of the north, very low tide. Didn’t matter. The 12-15″ grouper were still swarming anywhere there was structure. A few small snapper mixed in, too. Saw the first (small) flounder landed- a good sign of things to come!
Well… got out to Merry Pier in Pass-a-Grille on Saturday and again on Monday. Saturday was slow, just a couple keeper mangos and the usual small grouper. Couple big hits from what were probably snook, resulting in a cutoff on the pilings. Overall, pretty slow- but, there was a whiff of red tide in the air….
So, back to Merry Pier on Monday morning. Fishing was pretty much dead all day. Final tally- 1 grouper, 1 rat red, and an undersized snook. This is the first day in months that I haven’t seen a single mangrove snapper. But, back to the red tide- IT HAS ARRIVED! Everybody was caughing from time to time, and there was a pretty significant number of dead fish floating in the weedline. I saw dead catfish, pinfish, mullet, margate, and even 2 small hog snapper. The hog snapper were killed very recently, which would indicate that the red tide is out in the deeper water too. Not good.
Still looking forward to getting offshore on the Getaway Thursday. The weather looks good….
Ok, tomorrow is the big day- an all day charter on the Getawy sportfishing boat. Fingers croosed, but the weateher looks good- a few scattered thunderstorms which we should be able to dodge. First drop will be at around 40 miles out.
The wish list (in no patrticular order):
American Red Snapper
Gag Grouper
Blackfin Tuna
Red Grouper
Scamp
Amberjack
Triggerfish
Mahi Mahi
Once we return, I’ll update my wish list with the actual catch. No hurricanes in the forecast for this week- it’s a GO!
