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Tampa Bay Grouper Fishing

Tampa Bay Snook - 2007

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.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 30th, 2007 at 8:30 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “Tampa Bay Grouper Fishing”

  1. Mike Says:
    July 30th, 2007 at 10:18 am

    That is so disgusting! The one day I can’t get out of bed! Congrats on the great catch, and I’ll see you down there this weekend. Sigh…

    – Mike

  2. Steve Says:
    July 30th, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    Mike,

    Earlier is better! After getting brutalized the last few weeks by the afternoon sun, getting there at 6 (or even earlier) is definately the way to go. The fish are more active early too, it seems.

  3. Mike Says:
    August 2nd, 2007 at 3:38 pm

    Steve,

    I went down to Merry Pier this AM from about 4:30 – 6:30. Caught a couple of 12-13″ snapper with some poorly rigger Spanish Sardines, and saw a ~28-30″ snook landed. I had one BIG hit, but it totally ran with my cheap reel’s drag, and cut me off on one of the boats. Can you recommend any really good line, that may reduce line cuts?

    Mike