Tampa & Pass-A-Grille Fishing Guide

I headed out to the Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grill before the crack of dawn on Sunday, still determined to find a 22″+ grouper. I was joined at around 6 a.m. by my friend David, who was in from Denver. David is a very experienced fisherman, and we’ve fished together coutless times. All in all, we had a great morning at the dock.

I was fishing cut sardines on the bottom out in the rock piles, and was catching a few smallish (10-12″) snapper, when David decided to free line a big sardine. After a couple of minutes, the rod tip bounced, then drag started peeling out- slowly at first, then increasing in speed. I figured ‘big snook’, and headed for the net, but at that moment 100+ pounds of angry tarpon jumped 50 yards from the dock. I have been seeing smaller tarpon rolling over the last few weeks, but this wasn’t one of them.

It was a good hokup, and a tug-of-war ensued, with the big fish screaming off 30 or 40 yards of PowerPro, and David slowing gaining it back. But, as the minutes passed and the big fish got closer to the dock, the fight took an unexpected turn. The tarpon headed for the Miss Pass-A-Grille, the big party boat anchored in a slip. No amount of pressure could stop the ensuing cutoff, and the fight ended abruptly. Fun stuff, though. That’s what keeps Merry Pier fishing interesting. You can use virtually the same tackle, bait and techniques, and one minute you’ll catch a 6 oz pinfish- then a 100′ tarpon on the next cast. Never a dull moment.

Anyway, the bite continued fairly steady the rest of the morning- no really big fish, but lots of medium snapper and grouper. The macks were working the bait schools off the dock, and I managed to nail a small one between getting cut off by the sharp teeth of these predators.

Another August weekend, another nice snapper haul from the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach. I arrived promptly at 5:00 a.m., and Mike joined me just minutes later. Armed with cut frozen Spanish Sardines, we went to work on the rokpiles at te north end of the pier. The snapper were aggressive and big. We were throwing back pretty much anything less than a foot - there were plenty of 13″ to 16″ fish.

My goal was to finally nail a legal gag grouper- and, once more, I was unsuccessful, although I did manage to haul in about 17 of them, up to 21 inches. Yeah, that’s right- 21″ inches… and, yes, I was pinching the tail.

Once the sun was up and the sardines were dwindling, Mike started throwing the net. He hanldes a 10″ cast net greta, and soon we had some big lively greenbacks. We freelined a few, resulting in some stron Spanish Mackeral hookups (and cutoffs). I soaked a few on the bottom, and was rewarded with more big grouper and snapper. All in all, a pretty fun day… and I was still home by noon for weekend chores…

The mango frenzy continues unabated. Arriving a couple hours before sunup, a five fish limit of tasty 12-15″ snapper is almost a given nowdays. Plenty of hard fighting grouper mixed in, too. The big ones are measuring 20″… still no keepers, but the laws of probability state that I’m due any day now.

The key to the bigger Mangos is big bait- cut sardines are doing the trick. A flourocarbon leader also helps the cause. And being on the right spot doesn’t hurt- while there are a few keepers under the dock, there are thousands of 5-9″ fish swarming there. The bigger fish are located on the rockpiles 20-80 feet in front of the pier.

Snook season is just a week and a half away, and there are dozens milling under the lights of the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach in the wee hours of the morning. You can hear them ‘popping’ bait from every direction. Take note of the fact that 100% of them will completely disappear at 11:59 p.m. on August 31.

Hey - I just realized that TampaFishing.net is now over 1 year old! Lots of fishing trips, lots of good times, lots of fun with great friends. Looking forward to even bigger and better things in year 2.

 Steve

An early start was the key to limiting out on tasty Tampa Bay mangrove snapper this weekend. I arrived at Merry Pier on 8th Avenue in St. Pete Beach at around 5 a.m., loaded up with frozen spanish sardines. The plan was to nail a few big grouper, but the snapper were so thick, the grouper barely stood a chance. Snook were pooping bait by the dock, as well as out in the channel, and there were a few taron rolling as the sun came up.

The rigs were simple; a light 2/0 Owner hook, about 16″ of flourocarbon leader, a #10 swivel, and 3/8th oval sinker.

Somehow, I convinced myself that getting up at 3 a.m. to do a little fishing made perfect sense. Hey, the tide’s high, the current should be strong, it won’t be too hot… Anyway, I arrived at Merry Pier in the wee hours Friday night/ Saturday morning, to be joined by Mike.

Yeah, there were snook around, but I didn’t hook any. I was reminded that my cast net skills are woefully inadequate, but I did manage to net a few small squid. Mike and I caught plenty of smallish Mangos, with three keepers in the mix. Pretty good eating, huh Mike?

Anyway, the highlight of the outing was a large, glowing cloud that appeared in the Eastern sky well before sunrise. Everyone on the dock was speculating as to what it was, but it sure looked strange, lit up in the otherwise dark morning sky. Turned out we were seeing the launch of a Mars probe from Cape Caniveral. Very cool.

Sunday was more of the same, but with a later start. Lots of small mangrove snapper, a few keepers, some small grouper, and a couple of big hits that ended in cutoffs. It may be time to venture offshore soon….