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Start Early for Summer Snapper

summersnapper
Maybe it’s the tides. Maybe it’s the temperature. Maybe it’s the moon phase. In any event, this time of year it’s best to get an early start for the best fishing action. And when I say early- I mean well before sunrise.

I met with Tim from Tampa for some early morning fishing this weekend. We tore up the snapper and grouper till around 9 or so, then the bite tapered off quickly… and never did pick up again. But for an hous or two around sunrise, everything was biting – mangrove snapper, undersized grouper, flounder, jacks, mackerel, small sharks, spadefish, and even my first catfish of the year.

Once more, the snapper were running large. I kept 4 Saturday, and another 4 Sunday, while releasing dozens of fish up to a foot. This weekend we enjoyed snapper in parchment; sausage and snapper; and snapper fettuccine Alfredo. Good stuff!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 10:33 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “Start Early for Summer Snapper”

  1. Mike Lemovitz Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 1:02 pm

    Man, I need to start fishing again! I haven’t gone in at least 6 months. I hit Merry Pier Monday morning to grab some photos, though.

    http://www.stillfoundry.com/sunrise-shoot-at-merry-pier-pass-a-grille-florida/

    Hope things are going well!

  2. Steve Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    Mike – good to hear from you! Cool site, too. You can see what I’ve been up to by viewing my blog. And, yes, I’ll be at it again come sunrise Saturday morning. Grab a rod and cruise on down!

    Steve

  3. scc1600 Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 9:20 pm

    Hi there my name is stephen canter and I have just moved to the tampa area. I moved into the area to start a new job as a fisheries biologist. I love to fish hence the profession and was curious about Pass A Graill fishing. Are you able to fish at night? When is the best time to fish? And is there any affordable party boats that are worth trying? Like I said I have just moved into the area and would love any information or anyone who could use some company fishing.

    Thanks,
    Stephen

  4. Jackie from Michigan Says:
    January 27th, 2010 at 6:25 am

    I HEAR IT IS TOOOOO COLD FOR COUSIN “MIKE FROM MICHIGAN” TO FISH MERRY PIER – LOST HIS MICHIGAN STAMINA! NEEDS TO COME UP FOR SOME ICEFISHING TO TOUGHEN UP!!!!!! PERCH FISHING GOOD RIGHT NOW!
    18 DEGREES THIS A.M.. JACKIE FROM MICHIGAN