Tampa & Pass-A-Grille Fishing Guide

Saturday’s weather was brutal, with steady winds out of the south at 30 knots, gusting higher. That, coupled with the new moon high tide, made for some tough fishing conditions.

Fishing the Merry Pier, I did manage a small snook, along with a gag grouper that was haunting the pilings. That was it. As the wind and waves picked up, and the conditions deteriorated, I headed for a more sheltered spot.

I had the distinct pleasure of fishing in Belle Vista with V, my better half. She caught a nice sheepshead within sight of the Don Cesar Resort.

Sunday was a rainout. At midnight tonight, gag grouper are back in season. I may have to plot an offshore trip soon.

Friday marked the first day of Spring, and fishing in the Tampa Bay area is really starting to take off. During the last week, I saw the first small snapper of the year; the firs school of whitebait; the first few needlefish; and I caught my first 2009 snook, pictured above. At 25″, it was released quickly, but I know where there are bigger ones lurking.

Sunday was a perfect day for fishing, so Tim cruised over from Tampa and we hit the docks on Blind Pass for sheepshead. The bite was steady throughout the day on fiddlers and mud crabs, even through a couple of tide changes. Tim managed a few trout and ladyfish on corked shrimp, just to provide some variety.

We didn’t manage to land any huge fish, but we catch around 30 or so altogether, including the 9 keepers pictured above. The weather was picture perfect, the water was nice and clear, and the fish were cooperative. Can’t ask for any more than that!

Saturday a fund raiser was held at the Drunken Clam Bar in St. Pete Beach to benefit the local Fire Department. There were games,  live music, a silent auction – but the centerpiece was a ‘low country boil’, and a couple hundred pounds of live crawfish!

Cap’t. Dick headed an all star cast in the cooking tent. The low country boil consisted of fresh jumbo shrimp, corn on the cob, clams, sausage, red potatoes, crawfish and a whole lot of Cajun spices. It looked something like this:

Oh… and fishing is getting ready to bust loose! I hooked (and lost) my first snook of the year under the Merry Pier, using a jumbo shrimp. Sheepshead have invaded Pass-A-Grille. Some of the pilings on the pier had at least a dozen fish on them, but they’re still in spawning mode, so enticing them to bite is not an easy matter. Still, a few decent ones were landed.

And the Spanish Mackerel are in! At least the first couple of the season. The were hitting Gotcha’ lures and small spoons in the deeper water of the Tierra Verde Channel. I caught a few grouper hanging around the pilngs of the dock.

I ventured down to Ft. Desoto on Sunday for a picnic. I didn’t bring my tackle, but I did venture out on both piers. They were packed; there must have been a hundred lines in the water. But, other than a couple of ladyfish, I didn’t see a single fish caught. There were a lot of big whitebaits hanging out under the Gulf Pier, although the bait was absent on the Bay Pier.

With all of the warm sunny days recently, the water temperature is shooting up fast. Fishing is going to shift into high gear any day now!

The water is getting warmer. The bait will be here soon. In the meantime, the sheepshead are moving into the Bay, and make a great target on these warm sunny days.

My buddy Tim came over from Tampa, and we had our usual routine of digging mud and fiddler crabs from the Corey Landings area.  A few dozen select shrimp from Gulf to Bay Bait & Tackle, and we were good to go. We fished the pilings in Blind Pass in the northern tip of St. Pete Beach.

Sheepshead, while not thick, could still be seen cruising among the pilings, picking at barnacles. And our bait. We spent the afternoon hauling in half a dozen, up to 18″. Good fun on light tackle! We then cleaned ‘em and headed to a party at a friend’s condo, where we had blackened sheepshead, and sauteed sheepshead with fennel. Very tasty, and it doesn’t get any fresher.

On another note, I saw a dozen undersized, out-of-season grouper carcasses filleted and discarded at Blind Pass. Unbelievable. When you go fishing, make sure you know the laws and follow them, please.