Tampa & Pass-A-Grille Fishing Guide

Spent some time in Arizona, so I’ve been a little lax with posting-the picture is from a full day trip on Miss Pass-A-Grille a couple weeks ago. Nothing to write home about, but there were a few decent gags and reds, along with the usual assortment of grunts and triggers. The big fish went to those using live pinfish- which will factor into my preparations for next trip.

Fishing has been slow, with the cooler water and the fronts that have been pushing through. I’ve been seeing a few snook hanging around Blind Pass, and the action at Merry pier has generally revolved aroud small grouper, flounder, and the few remaining snapper (odd- they were all gone this time last year). I can report my first sheepshead in a LONG time - a nice 14″ fish which was released unharmed. And I saw a big one lurking around the bait house pilings- a good 6+ pounds. Yup, just about time to break out the fiddler crabs and tube worms.

The new year came in with a bang- after some glorious December weather, a strong winter cold front blew through a week ago. Pre-front, EVERYTHING was biting- I saw a bunch of 16 to 22″ gag grouper caught in Pass-A-Grille, and they were slamming live pinfish with gusto. Macks, flounder, even sea bass were biting enthusiastically.

Once the front came through, everything shut down. The water temperature dropped from 71 degrees down to 54 over the space of a couple of days. All the fish were in shock. I still managed to get down to the Merry Pier yesterday before the Bucs debacle, but there wasn’t much happening. A small grouper here, a little snapper there. VERY slow. Maybe, after this weeks warm-up, things will be back to normal next weekend. Here’s hoping…

On Sunday, December 23, I headed out on the Getaway with a make-up party consisting of Cap’t Dick, Maurice, and his 15 year old son Gabrial. Captain Joe was at the helm, so I knew we were in for a great day offshore.

We left late, around 9, and headed out through the fog. By the time we got to the Tampa shipping channel, the fog was burning off, and the day was looking quite promising. Cap’t Joe made a few throws of the net, and we were loaded up with greenbacks and pinfish. We hit a few channel markers on the way out for good measure, adding sardines and blue runners to the livewell.

The first stop was just off of a wreck in 100′. The amberjack were a little finicky, but we still had a limit of tasty 15 to 20 pound fish in about an hour. Next, we headed for a break- when we anchored up, the fish finder was lit like a Christmas tree!

First up was a healthy 15 poung gag. Then we began hauling in red grouper. Some were pretty nice, in the 10 pound range. After limiting out on the reds, we pulled anchor and made a run of a couple miles to the next spot. Again, a great show of fish.

We proceeded to haul up reds, scamp, and mangos. Action was good, but not the frenzy we were expecting. We soon realized that the full moon was the night before- the fish were full and lazy. Still, we did pretty well.

We had lost a couple of BIG (presumed) gags, when Cap’t Dicks rod bowed over. He battled a huge fish for the next 10 minutes- we were all expecting a 30 pound gag. Alas, it was a 6 foot nurse shark, which was returned unharmed to the deep.

Fishing conditions could not have been more ideal. Water temps were around 70, winds were 5 knots, waves were under a foot, and the air was a pleasant 75. Amazing, considering that Christmas was just a couple days away.

So, here’s the final tally:

• Amberjack
• Red Grouper
• Gag Grouper
• Banded Rudderfish
• American Red Snapper
• Mangrove Snapper
• Scamp Grouper
• Nurse Shark
• Grey Snapper
• Porgy

If you ever have an opportunity to go out on The Getaway with Cap’t Joe- Don’t hesitate. You’ll have a great time. Merry Christmas to all!

 Well… almost made it offshore on Saturday. I showed up at the Merry Pier in St Pete Beach for a little fishing aboard the Miss Pass-A-Grille, only to find out that the 1/2 day trip had been cancelled. So, as I was chatting with the Captain of The Getaway, I found that they were booked on a full day charter- but the fishermen had not arrived. 8:00 a.m. came and went, and by 8:30, the Cap’n said- “Let’s head out”! About that time, though, the tourists showed up, and my plans were quashed.

So, fishing from the Pier, I rounded up the usual suspects- snapper, grouper, flounder, Macks and trash fish. Fun, but nothing noteworthy (although one angler drifting a live pinfish under the dock scored a small snook).

The Getaway returned in the afternoon as the seas were building. They scored a half dozen decent amberjack, some nice mangos, and a lone gag grouper. Not a bad day!

Now that the big cold front has moved through, expect fishing to change- perhaps dramatically. I expect to see sheepshead and whiting begin to show up, and perhaps some larger grouper. There were reports of a few legal size gags caught on the Pier over the last week- perhaps a good omen!

OK, so it was a slow weekend for fishing- the weather was amazing, mid 80’s with plenty of sunshine, so it was great just to get out. On Saturday, I rounded up the usual suspects at the Merry Pier, including small grouper, feisty Spanish mackeral, small snapper and flounder, and an assortment of various trash fish. I had a big pinfish out on the heavy rod for a couple hours, in hopes tha a big cobia might chance by, but no dice. From the rumor department, word was that a 23″ grouper had been caught a couple days before.

When Sunday started out the same, I figured I’d head round to the Pass-A-Grille Jetty just for a change of pace. The jetty was packed, and all of the prime spots were taken. Quite a contrast to Merry Pier, where there’s almost always plenty of elbow room. Anyway, fishing was slow. I caught a couple Mac’s, and I saw some small flounder and one big sheepshead pulled in.

By the way, here’s a tip if you’re going to be fishing in Pass-A-Grill in 2008. Stop by the St Pete Beach Police Department during busines hours and pick up a “B” parking permit.

http://www.stpetebeach.org/police/Permits.asp

“B” permits are valid at all meters within the city.  Both residents and non-residents are eligible to purchase these permits.  They are valid for the calendar year in which they were purchased and are valid at all metered spaces with the EXCEPTION OF THE COUNTY PARK located at 4700 Gulf Blvd.  These decals must be permanently affixed to the vehicles back bumper or rear window.

Ah, another weekend, another plethora of fish. Arriving once again at The Merry Pier on Saturday morning, I found plenty of bait, and plenty of predators. Grouper, snapper, mackeral, flounder and bonita joined the party. But the fish of the day was cobia, with two landed. They were 32″ and 31″, JUST shy of the 33″ minimum. Cobia are hard fighting fish, lots of fun to catch, and great on the grill. Hopefully next weekend there will be some keepers cruising around the pier.

Wow! Got to fish 5 consecutive days over the Thanksgiving weekend. I kicked things off on Thanksgiving day at the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach. Fishing started a little slow, but soon changed- a school of Bonita came through. Havoc! Everybody up and down the Pier was hooking up- and each hookup was followed by the sound of screaming drags as these hefty, powerful fish peeled off a hundred yards of line (or 200…). People were running madly up and down the Pier, trying to keep from getting spooled. The result:

Now, a lot of peple will tell you that bonita are inedible, and only good for shark bait. They’ll say the meat is too bloody and oily, and that you shouldn’t even try to consume Bonita. Well, I beg to differ. When properly prepared, Bonita can be quite delicious. It takes some time, some imagination, and a great recipe, but a well prepared Bonita can become an excellent meal. Here’s how it turns out when properly prepared:

So, Friday I made the mistake of going out on Miss Pass-A-Grille. The predicted 1-2 foot waves were more like 4-5 feet, and a cold north wind was up at 20+ knots the entire time. Not exactly ideal conditions. I managed 3 short gag grouper, along with a small grey snapper, and, of all things, another Bonita. The entire boat, around 25 people, ended up with a single keeper grouper. Certainly not the fault of the Captain or crew- sometimes Nature conspires against fisherman. It was just one of those days.

The next couple of days were devoted to morning/ early afternoon fishing on Merry Pier, aptly named now that it’s decked out in Christmas lights. I had the distinct pleasure of fishing with Daniel from Denver on Monday afternoon- he landed a very nice Spanish Mackeral, his first:

So, for the long weekend the tally included:

• Bonita (four of ‘em!)
• Spanish Mackeral
• Grouper
• Grey Snapper
• Flounder
• Bluefish
• Lane Snapper
• Pinfish
• Grunts
• Pufferfish
• Lizardfish
• Squirrelfish
• Filefish

A quick note- the baitshop at the Merry Pier has live shrimp, frozen baits, tackle, lures, sandwiches, smokes, cold beer, soft drinks, hats, candy, t-shirts, ice cream, gifts, and a whole lot more. Check it out!

Well, one thing about fishing at the Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grill, Florida- you can count on variety. Once more, the seasons are changing, and so is the fishing. After a great run of summer and fall snapper, all of the mango’s that had been hanging out at the pier disappeared overnight. 100% gone. Oh, well, they’ll be back come Spring.

Meanwhile, a newcomer has appeared. Big flounder just started showing up in the last couple of days. This is a really good sign, as they’ve been VERY scarce over the last couple of years, due to the big red tide hits we took. On Saturday, I saw about a dozen caught, up to 21″ (see photo above). I managed to bring in about a dozen decent mackeral, along with some undersized grouper, too.

The key to catching flounder is to slowly move a live bait along the shallow sandy bottom in about 4-8 feet. You see, the flounder is an ambush predator, and they’ll just sit there in the sand until something tasty comes within range- then, bam! Whitebait and shrimp work, although they really seem partial to mud minnows.

4 a.m. Saturday came mighty early. Harris, Egla, and I were joined by two of Harris’ employees for a day of fishing in

Charlotte Harbor. We left Punta Gorda Isles on the good ship Running With Scissors and headed west. The north wind made for a chilly run as we exited Boca Grande Pass. A quick stop at one of the channel markers left us with a full livewell. The original plan called for a run out to 105′ to the wreck of the Bayronto, but conditions and nature conspired against us, so we stayed inside.

A stop at Caya Costa yielded a 23″ snook- lots more around, but they weren’t inclined to bite. A throw of the cast net brought up a surprise - an old, barnacle encrusted reel. We threw it on the floor of the boat, and low and behold- a tiny baby octopus came crawling out! Pretty cool. He was returned safely to the sea.

Next stop was the old Phosphate Docks, always a reliable spot. We caught lots of gag grouper, up to 17″, along with tasty Key West Grunts and magrove snapper. We were chumming with glass minnows, and a big curious cobia came up the chumline. He hit a cigar minnow that we had out, but we didn’t hook up. Tarpon were rolling, a boat was teasing the Goliath Grouper with a 10 lb. bonita- all in all, a beautiful day, lots of fun.

We spotted some diving birds, and decided to troll for a bit. Using small squid spoons, we picked up a decent Spanish Mackeral, then one of the rods started screaming drag. The fish almost spooled us, till Harris hit reverse and we regained some line. It was a great fight for about 10 minutes, till we pulled up a healthy 15 pound bonita. Next, a 7 pound Mac joined the party- it looked like a small kingfish… but it was, indeed, a Spanish Mackeral. All in all, it was a great day on the water!

I headed down to the Mary Pier at 6 on Saturday morning, hoping for a little snook action. The snook were there, alright, and I lost a nice slot size fish trying to net it one-handed. It hit a Gotcha’ lure, of all things. Man, those are some great lures! Anyway, I switched to frozen sardines at sunrise, hoping for some grouper. I wasn’t disappointed, as there were plenty of 10-20″ grouper hitting, along with foot long mangos. I was ready to call it a day around 11……

Then, my friend Al pulls up in his boat and asks if I’m up for an hour or two of fishing off the beach. The kingfish are in, so I figgured… sure, why not? Off we went, first trolling, then anchoring by some structure (no, I’m not giving a specific location- but we were within sight of the Don Cesar the entire time).

Live whitebait and big greenbacks, coupled with a good chumline, proved to be a winning combination. We caught bluefish, Spanish Mackeral- and then, got a couple of schoolie kings:

Suddenly, three curious cobia cruised by the boat. A big whitebait proved irresistable, and we had a nice 15 pound cobe in the cooler. But, there was a bigger one there, so I tossed a big frisky greenback out. Sure enough, in a couple minute my Penn 3340 was singing, as the big bruiser stripped line. After a fun game of tug-of-war, Al gaffed the 25 pound cobia, and it joined a rapidly filling cooler.

About that time, Al’s reel started singing. I kid you not- this fish screamed off 300 yards of line without ever slowing down. Had to be a big smoker kingfish, we both thought. We pulled anchor and gave chase. After about 20 minutes, we got the fish to the boat. Oops. It was a tail wrapped 15 pound bonita. Ahhh….

All in all, it was a pretty good day, with 2 nice cobia, 2 kingfish, a bunch of big Spanish Mackeral, plus bluefish, grouper, snapper, jacks, ladyfish, etc.

After partying till 4 am in Ybor City, we had some friends over for the Buc’s victory, followed by the Indy-NE game. Lots of grilled cobia and kingfish steaks for everybody! A big win for the Buccaneers, too. Yeah, Fall weekends are great. And next Satuday, looks like I’m headed to Punta Gorda for some offshore fishing with my friend Harris. Good times!