Tampa & Pass-A-Grille Fishing Guide

While the main push of kingfish is still a few weeks away, I’ve been readying the tackle box in anticipation. Meanwhile, I managed to spend a couple of hours in St. Pete Beach fishing at the Merry Pier. I saw a couple of undersized snook caught over at the ‘bowling alley’, the old piling immediately north of the pier, along with some small sheepshead.

I managed a mixed bag of grouper, Spanish macks and ladyfish. There’s still not enogh bait around foy the macs to show up in force yet. One interesting note- I saw a nice 3 pould pompano caught by ‘Lita, a Merry Pier regular. Good fish! From the rumor department, a guy came into the bait shop talking about a tourist who hooked a doormat flounder (in the 10 pound range). He got it up to the seawall, had no clue what it was, and cut the line when he saw the teeth. Yipes!

With the wind Saturday, and the fog Sunday, I wasn’t able to hop a boat and head offshore. Still got in some good fishing, though. Sheepshead were the target, and they’re finally starting to show reliably. Using fiddler crabs, a bagged about a dozen of ‘em on Sunday, ranging up to about 4 pounds. Man, they sure bite LIGHT. You need to be focused constantly on the rod tip if you want to hook them.

 Other reports are coming in- I saw sheepie’s landed at Blind Pass (by Woody’s), and I heard about a big run of early Pompano at the Jetty in Pass-A-Grille. I may have to check that out…

Meanwhile, the plan is to head out to the deep water on Friday afternoon and bag some grouper now that they’re back in season. Then, the fishing will change to snapper under the full moon. Should be fun!

Crispy Fried Sheepshead

Fillet sheepshead, making sure all bones are removed. Heat peanut oil. Dust the fillets with flour; then dip in a milk/ egg wash, coating completely. Next, roll in a seasoned flour and breadcrumb mix (I always throw in a couple pinches of Paul Prudohme’s Seafood Seasoning, fresh ground sea salt, and a seven pepper blend). Deep fry till golden brown, drain on paper towels, and serve with lemon, Tobasco, and ice cold beer. Enjoy!

It’s been crazy at work- sorry for the late post. Yes, I was fishing last weekend. Yes, they were biting. For starters, check out the catch from the full day trip on Miss PassAGrille:

Yeah, they were chewing the bottom out of the boat. Even a nice flounder! Imagine if grouper were in season- they threw back a bunch of keeper size gags and reds. The word was, ever since the eclipse, offshore fishing’s been red hot.

Here’s a couple of Merry Pier regulars with a typical string of grunts: