Tampa & Pass-A-Grille Fishing Guide

A quick note- spent Saturday fishing a friend’s dock on Vina Del Mar. The open views of the Pass-a-Grille Channel are amazing, and the fish were everywhere- just kinda small. DOH! Caught about a thousand little gag grouper- biggest might have been a fot. Bodes well for the future, but doesn’t help my plans for a Bucanneers game fish fry. Add in some undersize mangrove and Lane snapper, a small sheepshead… well you get the picture.

 Anyway, I figure things’ll bust loose after dark, what with the snook light and all. A few small snook did show up- along with a few thousand catfish. And a school of rat reds- caught about a dozen redfish, but they were all undersized. So, it was pizza and another Buc’s embarrassment…

Finally made it offshore with friends/clients Peter, Tim and Matt on the Getaway. Red tide was evident to about 7 miles out, and our bait stops yielded very little- the few blue runners we caught quickly died in the livewell. At least we had a good supply of pinfish.

First drop was about 40 miles due west of Pass-A-Grille. A banded rudderfish was quickly followed by a short red grouper. The Captain opted to move further out. Next stop was at 115 feet. We fired down some small pins, and were rewarded with instant hookups.

For the next 60 minutes, we hauled in a mix of American Red Snapper and Red Grouper. Next, gags joined the fray. A ramora showed up, and I hooked a nice bonita that ran underneath the boat. Why? ‘Cause there was a shark on his tail. After throwing back what was left of the bonita, the bite slowed down considerable- but never really stopped.

 By mid-afternoon, we were out of live bait and headed back to the Merry Pier. The final tally- 4 ARS, 3 Red Grouper, 8 Scamp, 1 Gag, 2 Yellowtail (nice one’s, too!), 1 Mango, a couple Vermillion Snapper, 1 rudderfish, and a triggerfish. Plenty for a Sunday fish fry for the Bucs game.

 All in all, an excellent trip, and I would be more than happy to go out with the crew again!

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!

 

 

 

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….