Spring fishing here in the Tampa Bay, Florida area continues to produce outstanding results. I spent the morning Sunday at the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach, targeting grouper on the incoming tide. They were aggressively hitting whole frozen sardines, and I landed around a dozen, up to 20″:

There were a few mackerel around, and even a decent flounder. But the big fish of the day was a 40″ cobia that nailed a Spanish Sardine. With fairly light spinning tackle, and 20 lb. test SpiderWire, it was a fun fight. Thankfully, Cap’t Joe was on the pier, and had a gaff handy- this fish wouldn’t fit in the net!  It’s the first legal cobia that I’ve caught on the pier. Fresh grilled cobia steaks tonight!

I spent Friday and Saturday at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life event on the beach behind Sloppy Joe’s in Treasure Island. Our Team, Digital Eel (a Tampa web design company), has raised over $10,000 to date for this worthy cause.

 Cap’t Joe preparing to fillet the catch of the day:

It was another spectacular Spring weekend here in Florida. I managed to spend a few hours pier fishing in St. Pete Beach using live pinfish and frozen sardines.  The current was running decent just after sunup, and the fish were active.  My first catch was a surprise- a red grouper, caught from a pier. It was about a foot long, and took a sardine:

After that, it was all gag grouper till the current went slack. I caught two over 20″, including one that JUST missed being legal. The last fish of the day was also a surprise; a feisty little cobia, again on a sardine. There were a few mackerel around, but no sign of the snook. I did see one decent mangrove snapper landed. They should be following the bait in any day now.

Just got a few more pictures from last weekends trip.  Here’s a great shot of Cap’t. Joe tossing the bait net. I’ve seen him throw many times, and am always amazed by his flawless technique.

And, here’s the result of the throw- an incredible quantity of big whitebait. We had plenty to share with another boat that was futilely trying to sabiki them one at a time.

And, after a long day on the water, it’s time to bring out the fillet knife. Cleaning big fish like this takes time, skill and practice.

Looking forward to getting offshore again soon. What a great time of the year to be on Florida’s Gulf Coast!

I got the call Saturday evening. The Getaway fishing  charter out of St. Pete Beach had a couple empty spots on Sunday for a full day in the Gulf.  At sunrise Sunday, Tim and I were on the Merry Pier and ready to go.  Joe was at the helm, and Cap’t Dick played mate, while Chuck, Joe and Whyatt rounded out the passenger list.

A quick stop at the Pass-A-Grille tripod, and a couple throws of the net, and the livewell was blacked out with big whitebait. We hit a couple markers in the Egmont Channel for big blue runners and pinfish, and headed West through the fog.

We arrived at a fishy looking spot in about 80 feet, and fired down a big runner. It took about the count of ten before the rod was doubled over with a 40 pound amberjack. After an epic fight, he landed in the box.

We circled for another drift, and Cap’t Joe tossed out a couple handfuls of whitebait for chum. After a couple minutes, I glanced off the starboard side and spotted a pair of big cobia cruising. They circled the boat a couple times before they saw our freelined pinfish. Wham! The fight was on. Tim took the rod, and it was indeed quite a fight on 20 pound test.

While the battle raged, I dropped a big pinfish down on a grouper rod. Pretty soon- whack! We had a double header of big cobia on. Tim’s succumbed first, while mine sounded. Lots of drag screaming and headshakes, but a managed to get it within gaff range. It was a good 50 pounds – nice fish!

We boated another AJ, then headed for a little grouper digging. I thought they’d be on fire after the long closure, but the bite was spotty. Plenty of fish there, they just were a bit spooky. We watched a big loggerhead turtle check out the boat, while a Portuguese Man o’ War blew by. We had mid-80’s, sunshine, and a nice breeze. We ended up catching:

-Red Gouper
-Gag Grouper
-Scamp
-Nice Mangrove Snapper
-Triggerfish
-White Grunt
-Bar Jack
-A Keeper Kingfish

Another fantastic day on the water with The Getway. If you’re looking for a great offshore trip, give Joe a call at 727-743-8705, and tell him you saw this report on TampaFishing.net!