Tampa & Pass-A-Grille Fishing Guide

So, I decided to beat the heat this weekend by showing up at the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach prior to sunrise. The snook were swarming under the lights, bait was thick, and the fish were biting. 

Using cut, frozen Spanish sardines, I caught and released about a dozen gag grouper on Saturday, with a couple in the 19″ range. I’m sure there are 22″+ keeps lurking near the pier, but I couldn’t entice them. I returned Sunday with my neighbor Rui, and we had a great time, catching grouper to 19″, a near limit of 11-12″ mangrove snapper, and about a million smaller snapper. The catch of the day, though, was a 35″ snook that grapped a Spanish sardine. Got a couple of great jumps out of her- Rui handled the netting flawlessly, and she was released unharmed.

The small snapper have invaded St. Pete Beach. I fished Saturday and Sunday on the Merry Pier at 8th Avenue in Pass-A-Grille, and it was impossible to escape the small Mangos that seemed to be everywhere. While this is good news for this Fall, it’s kinda’ a pain today.

Mike joined me Saturday, and we caught at least 5-6 dozen fish between us. Most were… small mangos. Oh, there were a few 10-11 inch specimens, but not very many. Most ranged from 6-9 inches. A real pain. We also caught the usual suspects, a.k.a. pinfish, sand perch, filefish, Atlantic spadefish, etc. The highlight of the day was when a big seahorse swam by the pilings. I did hook 1 snook, but he cut me off in the pilings after a brief fight.

Sunday’s highlight was watching a 23+ inch Gag Grouper being caught on a cut Spanish sardine at around 8 a.m. It was a good sign- it’s been awhile since I’ve seen a keeper landed. Hopefully, there will be more soon. I did see a snook hookup, but, again, the pilings proved decisive.

So, I head down to the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach bright and early Saturday morning, and to my surprise, I’m greeted by my colleague Mike. He’s already caught a nice snook with a DOA shrimp on the 7th Avenue Pier. We bought several dozen handpicked shrimp, and got to work.

I was quickly broken off by a big snook by the Shell Key Shuttle, then promptly landed a 29″ linesider. Next came a nice Jack Cravelle, which was followed up by a few hundred of his buddies. Time to target the Mango snapper that haunt the dock.

Over the next few hours, Miike and I managed dozens of snapper, topping out at about 14″; grouper to 18″; another snook which was hanging out by the seawall, and various jacks, sand perch, Atlantic Spadefish, pinfish, and other assorted fish. Mike got the award for the weird catch of the day when a green lipped mussel clamped down on his line. I finished with a nice limit of Mangos for the ensuing fishfry. By the way, Mike, I’ve still got your fishing knife…

Sunday, the bait shop at the Merry Pier was out of shrimp by the time I arrived, but since St. Pete Beach is loaded with schools of small greenbacks, I threw a few dozen in the bait bucket, and proceeded to nail mangos to 15″ from the rocks that range from 20 to 50 feet in front of the Merr Pier. A few freelined greenbacks resulted in Spanish Macks up to 20″, along with a few Leather Jacks. If you’re not familiar with the leatherjack, it’s a purely evil fish. They have spines behind the dorsal and caudal fins. If you tocuh them, they’ll sting at first, but over the next few hours, the pain will intensify, and there’s really nothing you can do about it. I’d prefer a bee sting myself. I handle with care, so it’s been a few years since I’ve been nailed. You’ve been warned- watch out.

St. Pete Beach fishing is outstanding right now, with the strong new moon tides and the influx of bait. Get ‘yer gear and give it a shot!

The weekend was too short, and involved WAY too little fishing. My friend Jim was here from Orlando with his wife and kid. We spent a couple of hours on Merry Pier. The tides were sluggish (we’re between moon phases), but we still managed a few decent fish. We used live shrimp to catch a dozen or so Tampa Bay snapper, including two of around a foot, and I nailed a 30″ snook that was hanging out under the dock. But the catch of the day came from Jim’s daughter, Jordan- a nice, healthy grouper, only the second fish she’s ever caught (the first being a miniscule snapper a few minutes before). Way to go!

Spent a few hours on the Merry Pier Wednesday. Turns out there was a problem with the live shrimp delivery… long story short, there were no live shrimp, and I didn’t feel like making the run up to Gulf to Bay Bait and Tackle. So, I bought a box of frozen spanish sardines, just to see if any gag grouper were still lurking by the Pier.

Yup, they were there. I hooked up right away, and lost a big one to the pilings. I proceeded to catch a couple of decent ones (~14″-16″), when I got another huge hit. The fish ran into the pilings, but remained hooked. The seesaw battle continued for a couple of minutes, with a clearly legal grouper visible below. Finally, the line parted, and the fish returned to the depths. When a big grouper is hooked like that, they tend to emit a ‘distress signal’, which shuts down the bite immediately. And that’s exactly what happened.

There were several pods of small tarpon rolling within casting range, so I hurled sardines their way, but no takers, and I wrapped up early. The plan was to go down to the Bon Aire resort to watch the St. Pete Beach fireworks display, but we never quite made it, watching instead from our neighbors balcony. Good thing, too, ’cause there were a couple large explosions during the finale, which actually shook the house. Turns out there was a malfunction, and about a dozen people at Bon Aire received minor injuries. The blast shattered a number of beach facing windows in the motel. Yes, never a dull moment here in St. Pete Beach….

What a weekend. It started Friday, when I hit the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach between about 6-8 p.m. Rain was falling, and lightning cracked in the distance- but the snook were wide awake. I had at least a dozen hookups, with three landed (28, 30, and 32 inches). Bait was thick, and the snook and jacks were feeding heavily. Lots of fun!

Saturday, I returned to the Pier for some snapper action. Lots of 8-12 inch fish around… but I nailed a 17″ specimen about 4 feet off the end of the dock. And the snook were still going crazy! By the seawall, I was getting a hit on every shrimp I freelined for about half an hour. Landed a bunch, lost a bunch. Snook are very hard on terminal tackle…

Mid-afternoon, I spoke to Cap’t. Dick, and we decided that a full moon snapper trip made perfect sense. We booked the Getaway, with Cap’t Andy at the helm. We both called around, but were unable to get any more fisherman on the boat (you know who you are!). So we headed west at around 7 p.m., with 4 gallons of bait aboard.

We anchored on the Pipeline at around 80 feet, amidst a few other boats, and set up a chumline. I had a bite immediately- but, it was a lowly “mother-in-law fish”. We started pulling up grunts, which were immediately returned to the sea. Then, Cap’t. Dick hooked up to something with a little more fight in it. We were al astonished as he hauled up a live octopus from the depths. It proceded to crawl about the cabin, suctioning itself to various object, until it was gaffed and depositied in the bait cooler (they make great grouper bait).

Soon, we were surrounded by thousands of squid, which would occassionally jet by the transom- and into te boat. Pretty freaky. Next up were boita, with a few nice size fish causing the drags to sing. After that, a few wayward kingfish showed up, and we deposited two in the cooler. Finally, the snapper bite started as the full moon rose.

Over the next few hours, we landed some very fat mangroves- nice fish, running from a few pounds up to around 10. A solitary yellowtail joined the mix (who ever heard of catching a single yellowtail-  they usually hang in very large schools). A big lane snapper added to the variety. Keeping with the solitary theme, one (1!) chicken dolphin showed up in the chum slick. Thought we saw some cobia join the fray, but they turned out to be big remoras. Oh well.

We got back on the dock just before 4 a.m., and, to my surprise, the Pier was buzzing. There was bait everywhere, and snook hitting on the surface, as about a dozen fisherman milled about. Who knew the Merry Pier was busier at 4 a.m. than 4 p.m.?

So, after 17 hours of fishing Saturday, I decided to take a break on Sunday. We threw a small party Sunday eevning, with a new snapper recipe compliments of Cap’t Dick (Place snapper fillets on oiled foil, brush with some more olive oil, sprinkle lightly with Evergaldes seasoning and celery salt, and cover completely with think slices of fresh lemon. I couldn’t resist topping with a little Old Bay. Seal the foil, pop in a hot oven for about 20 minutes, and enjoy! We also blackened some fillets, and these made a nice counterpoint to the baked fish. Yum!