Fall fishing is in full swing- early morning temps are low 70’s, the water is cooling off, the bait is big and plentiful, and the fish are increasingly active.  This weekend, action was a little slow in the deeper water- I had a lively pinfish out front for a couple of hours, and it was never touched – so I decided to change strategies and fish along the seawall in Pass-A-Grille. Good plan, as it turned out.

I caught small mangrove snapper by the dozen, with a few foot long specimens mixed in. I was able to sight cast to a BIG sheepshead, who promptly inhaled my shrimp. There were grouper there too, including the 19″ gag pictured above. The jack crevalle were tearing into the bait schools, mac’s were splashing in the deeper water, and I heard that cobia and keeper grouper were caught at Merry Pier on Friday. Yeah, this is a good time of year for fishing!

The water visibility remained poor for the recent winds and high tides, and the bite was a little slow this weekend. The bait was plentiful and large, and a couple of throws yielded all I needed for the day. I managed a few legal mangrove snapper, and a dozen or so undersize grouper. A lost a couple of snook to the pilings… The macs were pooping the bait, but didn’t cooperate when I threw a corked greenback out. I did see a nice flounder landed, but that was about the extent of the action.

Just to add a little weirdness to the weekend, my friend Thao pulled a nice Penn rod and reel from under the dock. Looked like it had been there a couple of months. Anyway, he set it on the dock, and soon a baby octopus crawled out. It was released unharmed. Pretty cool, though.

Fishing this weekend was pretty sad. The tides were running 2-4 feet above normal, due to Hurricane Ike. The water was terrible, with less than a foot of visibility. And… the fish weren’t biting. I did manage a few scattered grouper and 1 snapper, but that was about it.

Between the big tides, the full moon, and lots of boat traffic, Merry Pier has sustained some minor damage in the last week. Hopefully, the city will be quick with repairs.

Another weekend, and more fish stories. Tim returned to the Merry Pier on Saturday, but the cobia were elusive. We bagged plenty of medium size grouper, a few snapper, and some very healthy Spanish Mackerel. We saw an 18″ flounder caught, probably the best fish of the day. We had plenty of action early, but once the tide went slack, the bite died off.

Sunday, I figured to get in a little fishing before the Tampa Bay Buc’s game. I was nailing small grouper and snapper using netted silver Jenny’s and whitebait. As I pulled a small snapper out from the pilings, a huge snook nailed it. The fight was on! At first, she went away from the Pier, peeling off drag. Then she turned and rushed back underneath, wrapping around a piling. Fortunately, I was using 20 lb. test SpiderWire, so I was able to work the big fish out from the pilings and onto the dock. It measured around 35″, too big to keep. A couple of friends on the dock tried (unsuccessfully) to work my camera phone, so I have no pictures. But, the snook was released safely back into Boca Ciega Bay.

Other highlights of the weekend included a small 20″ cobia caught by Mike; a BIG cobia that broke Thao’s line; and plenty of rolling tarpon. Yes, it’s a good time of the year. Now, if I can just catch a SMALLER snook….

OK, first off…. the fish won. But my friend Tim from Tampa had his hands full on Saturday at the Merry Pier.

After a long sabbatical, Tim ventured over to St. Pete Beach on Saturday for a little fishing. The day started typically, with a few mangrove snapper, and lots of 12 to 18 inch gag grouper. The fun began when Tim threw a big live shrimp out in the deeper water off the front of the Pier. He had a big hit as the shrimp was drifting in the current, and the rod was soon doubled over as a big fish headed across the bay toward Tierra Verde.

The fish came to the top, and splashed around a bit. At first I thought he’d hooked up with a tarpon, but the fish sounded and began a series of strong headshakes. Aha! Cobia! Tim was using a toothpick of a fishing rod, strung with what looked like 10 lb. test mono; not exactly an ideal combination for battling a strong fish. The cobia swam along the top, looking like a big shark with it’s raised dorsal fin. The fish ran Tim from one end of the Pier to the other, and he had to loosen the drag and lift the rod over the various pilings at least a dozen times.

Soon, a crowd of a couple dozen spectators gathered to cheer Tim on. For 20 long minutes the fight continued. Each time Tim managed to get the fish near the dock, it would spook. You could tell it was eyeballing the net. Finally, as the fish neared the dock a last time, it eluded the net, and made a lunge for the pilings. Pop! It was gone.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I was busy enjoying the battle. The cobia was probably in the 40 lb range, so it was quite a feat keeping him on that long. As for the rest of the weekend, well, there were plenty more fish, including grouper, snapper, flounder, mackerel, big bluefish and more. Here’s a nice keeper snapper displayed by Mike: