So, it was a glorious weekend for fishing- lots of sunshine, clear water, ample bait, decent tides. I hit Merry Pier Saturday mornign, stocked up on select shrimp, and freelined a big one under the pier on a 7′ Star rod and Shimano 6500 Baitrunner spooled with 20′ mono. BAM! 1 shrimp, 1 snook. It came in just under legal size at 27″, so back it went. Only snook of the day, as it turns out. There were lots hanging around, easy to spot in the gin clear water. There was a scool of about 30 cruising around, including some real bruisers, but they weren’t chewing. Think I’ll try again this week after sundown.

But, while the snook were reluctant to bite, the grouper were not. I must have caught two dozen, up to about 19″. They were in the pilings, under the dock, and in the rockpiles in front of the pier. Even caught a couple of red grouper! Spanish Mackeral were patrolling in packs, occassionally slashing through the schools of glass minnows. I caught a few nice jacks, always fun for a fight.

Another encouraging sign was my first mangrove snapper of the year- a fiesty foot long specimen. I saw a few more hovering around- soon, they’ll be so thick that they’re a nuisance. Also, I saw a guy pull up a 17″ pompano that hit a live shrimp on the outgoing tide. He was only fishing about 30 feet in front of the pier. Yes, it’s that time of year- everything starting to fire up!

Trolling for kingfish? Sure! Trolling for grouper? Why not. But… trolling for snook? This was a new experience for me. On Saturday, I met my friend David and we headed down to Bellaire Beach for a little surf fishing. It was a beautiful day, but the fish weren’t cooperating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later that afternoon, we headed to the Seminole boat ramp in Clearwater, and met up with Captain Mike Homer, a Clearwater Inshore Fishing Guide. We headed out to a local creek that emptied into the bay, tied on some YoZuri crystal minnows, and began slow trolling the deeper channel, as well as the dock pilings. Conditions seemed perfect, and we did get a couple of strong hits, but no hookups. I’m convinced that the snook were there; they just weren’t biting. Well, that’s fishing.

We eventually switched gears, and began casting gold spoons. David soon hooked up to a nice redfish that was hanging out over the oyster bars. We hit a small spoils island, and I jumped a fiesty little snook. David was next up with another snook. We continued to see signs of activity around the island, and had a few more strikes, but no more fish. After a couple hours, we were headed back to the marina. Lots of fun, and definately something I’d like to try again.

On Sunday, the sun was shining, and Merry Pier was calling. The grouper were stacked up, and hungry. I caught a couple dozen, up to 18″, on live shrimp and small pinfish. Most were hanging around the pilings, rather than on the rockpiles. I hooked and lost a big snook, and landed a 17″ sheepshead, which was released unharmed.

The winds were howling Saturday, quashing any chance of getting offshore. I did manage to get in a little St. Petes Beach shore fishing, with sheepshead, grouper, ladyfish and Lane snapper to show for the effort. I’ve been getting a number of St. Pete’s Beach area fishing reports, though..

Tarpon have made their official appearance. I saw them rolling in Boca Ciega Bay, and got several more reports ranging from Ft. Desoto to John’s Pass. Looks like they’re early this year!

There are schools of smaller snook hanging out around docks and structure in Blind Pass. They’re reluctant to bite during the day,but it may be a different story after sundown. At the Jetty in PassAGrille, there have been some great Pompano catches over the last week or so, with plenty of ladyfish and a few mackeral mixed in for good measure.

Seawalls have been yielding a mixed bag of flounder, sheepshead, trout and macs, although none in great quantity. The redfish SHOULD be around, but I’m not hearing of any consistant catches. Ft. Desoto would be the prime area to target, with all of the grass flats down there.

Offshore is a big question mark. Winds have kept the boats in, but there should be plenty of kingfish, grouper, snapper, bonita, sharks, barracuda and all the rest out there. I hope to get a trip together later this week. Stay tuned…