Tampa & Pass-A-Grille Fishing Guide

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!

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?

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-

7. 10/0 Marlin Rods. Hey, it’s saltwater- after all, you never know when a 2000 lb. great white might swim by the dock, looking for frozen squid.

6. Giant Hooks. Doesn’t matter if they’re using the Snoopy rod or the marlin rod, all Tourists believe that any hook smaller than 6/0 is just too small. Besides, you can fit a lot more frozen squid onto an 8/0.

5. Weight. 2 ounces? 3 ounces? Nah! Heck, the waters 5 feet deep, with a 1 knot current. Let’s use 5 ounces of lead!

4. Laws. What Laws? For those few Tourists that actually do catch something, it’s common to see them with a few dozen 10″ grouper, and a few 5″ snapper. After all the fish have died in their bucket, they’ll ask, “Are these any good to eat”?

3. Sunburns, crappy tshirts, socks & sandals, and NE accents. ‘Nuff said.

2. Upside down spinning reels. Having trouble getting it to work? Um, yeah, the reel part goes on the bottom. Reely.

1. Frozen Shrimp. Yes, the staple of every Tourist ‘fisherman’. Hook a few through the back on your 6/0 hook, add a half pound of lead, check your wire leader for kinks, add a hunk of frozen squid for good measure, and fling it on out. Good luck, there!

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…

No fishing this weekend. Just football.

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?

No snook, but a rat red ambushed the shrimp. Another shrimp- another redfish. Hmmmm… must be a school of them. Sure enough, one after another landed on the pier. A few may have been barely legal, but with all the red tide around, I was in no mood to clean fish. So back they went. I stopped counting after a dozen. All in all, a couple hours of fun, in an otherwise bleak setting.