Tampa & Pass-A-Grille Fishing Guide

After two very long months in Arizona, I finally made it back to Florida, and back to the Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach. For the last few days, we’ve had a good moon, with a strong incoming tide right at sunrise – ideal conditions for the Pass-A-Grille grouper bite.

Frozen sardines are the ticket. The scent is carried by the tide, and the grouper will quickly find the bait. Look for them in the rocks, structure and ledges around the pier. They are there. And they are big. Most of the fish I’ve been catching are running around 20 inches, but there are plenty of legal fish around too, including some bruisers. Gear up accordingly. When the sun’s been up for an hour, the bite is pretty much over, so get an early start.

As the water continues to heat up, and the bait schools show up with increasing frequency, the fishing in St. Pete Beach is starting to take off… finally.

Last weekend, Merry Pier regular Juan nailed a nice 36″ cobia:

And this weekend, the mangrove snapper FINALLY started showing up. Here’s Mike with a 12″ mango:

And there are still legal flounder biting, too. My highlight for the weekend was a 24″ gag grouper:

The fishing should continue to improve in the coming weeks, as long as we don’t get hit by a hurricane or an oil slick.

With fishing fairly quiet inshore, I headed offshore on Memorial Day. Conditions were spectacular – bright and sunny, light breeze, strong tides. Cap’t Dick was at the helm, joined by JoeMama and friends. We hit a few bait spots, and we worked hard to come up with some decent threadfins, hardtails, cigar minnows, pinfish and blue runners. Then we noticed the bait was dying off. Not a good sign. We hit The Sulphur Barge first, looking for amberjack. They were there, just on the small side. We landed a few up to around 20 pounds, then decided to bring the bigger ones to the boat with a chum line.

We chopped up old frozen sardines, while freelining a big live sarding 30 yadrs behind the boat. Strange… no amberjack in the chum line. Suddenly, the rod went off, and Pat was hooked up to something big. Line screamed off the reel, and there was a huge splash a couple hundred feet behind the boat. The fight was on:

The battle went on for about an hour, till a big bull shark in the 400 pound range was boatside. It was a clean release.

Next up was a ledge holding grouper and snapper. The bite was off, though, probably because we were fishing 3 days off the full moon. I nailed a nice mango, and we boated a 28″ gag grouper. We landed plenty of short red grouper, along with the occasional Key West grunt. I lost a big cobia boatside. And we were rocked by a few big gags. Plenty of action, just not a lot of fish in the cooler. Then Joe caught a doormat flounder using a big sand perch:

All in all, it was a great day on the water. Looking forward to the next trip!

As the action heats up offshore, Pass-A-Grille pier fishing remains slow. No snook. No redfish. And no snapper. They should have arrived a month ago! Sunday saw the arrival of some big greenbacks, so it shouldn’t be long. Meanwhile, short gags, short flounder, big blue runners and the ever-present macks provide some entertainment. With Fridays full moon, and the accompanying strong tides, things should bust loose soon.

After a VERY long winter, I finally ventured offshore last weekend. Conditions were perfect as we set out from Punta Gorda at 6 a.m. aboard Running With Scissors. Cap’t. Bowers was at the helm, along with two of his coworkers. I was joined by Cap’t Dick and his son David.

We hit a couple bait spots and loaded up on blue runners, pinfish and big greenbacks. Next stop – the Bayronto, a 400′ wreck off Venice in 100′ of water. David dropped a big runner on a heavy rod. By the count of ten, we were hooked up. We proceeded to land big amberjack one after another, and had our limit by noon. Cap’t Dick landed the biggest fish of the day, a nice 60 pound brute:

The problem with the Bayronto is that is is just LOADED with Goliath grouper. Every time we hooked a snapper (or even an amberjack under 20 pounds), we’d get nailed. Sometimes immediately; sometimes up top near the boat. These 400 pound fish really make it tough. Even the barracuda (which were thick) didn’t stand a chance.

I had a big greenback out on a light spinning rod, hoping for a kingfish or even a blackfin tuna. Pretty soon, the drag started screaming out. It was a good fish, and I only had a 30 lb. leader on, so I couldn’t pressure the fish too much. After an hour long battle, I discovered that it was…. another amberjack! Fun fight, anyway:

Here are a few more pix:

amberjack-video

Temps finally broke into the 90’s this weekend, and, despite the blustery wind, I managed to get in a bit of fishing. Although bait was scarce, the fish are becoming more active. The Merry Pier saw catches including grouper, bonnethead sharks, macs, ladyfish, flounder and sheepshead. I even caught a remora, of all things. A cormorant surfaced with a mangrove snapper- the first one of 2010.

I was targeting grouper using frozen sardines and live pinfish. And, hey, there’s always the chance a big cobia might be cruising in the area. Anyway, I got a few, up to 21″, and lost some bigger ones.
 

Of course, all eyes are on the Gulf, as the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon continues to grow. I certainly hope St Pete Beach isn’t affected, but I’m not optimistic at this point. If, as predicted, it takes 90 days to stop the flow, we’ll be smack in the middle of hurricane season. Oil and water don’t mix; but… oil, water & hurricanes?

After the most brutal winter on record, Spring fishing on Florida’s Gulf coast is at last heating up. Bait schools are working north, with greenbacks and scaled sardines moving through the passes and frequenting the docks and piers. With the bait come the predators. Ladyfish, jacks, mackerel, flounder and even early sharks are now making an appearance in Pinellas County.

This weekend, the macks showed up with a vengeance at Merry Pier in South St. Petersburg Beach. Freelining live bait and casting flashy lures resulted in an almost sure hook up (or cut off) every cast. Most fish were running small, but there were plenty of 15″ and larger fish mixed in.
 

There are still a few sheepshead lurking around the pilings, but after a slow start to the year, looks like they’re headed off the beach to spawn. Meanwhile, everyone is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the mangrove snapper.

While the bite is still slow, things are picking up rapidly. Bait schools have moved into Blind Pass, a few stray greenbacks are starting to show up at Merry Pier and at the Jetty in Pass-A-Grille, and fish are starting to get frisky. I’ve had reports of flounder and Mackeral in Pass-A-Grille, redfish and trout at Ft. Desoto, and pompano at Blind Pass and the Jetty. Sheepshead are starting to show nicely, with a few big ones biting tube worms and fiddler crabs.

I even managed to pull a small grouper out of the pilings:

Miss Pass-A-Grille went out on a 1/2 day trip Sunday, and returned with a great haul of key west grunts, a few keeper grouper, and even a hogfish.

Spring fishing is ALMOST ready to bust loose. I spent a few hours this weekend fishing St. Pete Beach. Glass minnows are starting to show up in Boca Ciega Bay, and in Blind Pass. In Pass-A-Grille, the Spanish mackerel and sheepshead are beginning to bite. There are ladyfish, mullet and even a few small gag grouper around. Offshore, the Key West grunts are on fire:

Very soon, there will be some spectacular fishing here. Meanwhile, another front is projected to blow in Friday, dropping the nighttime temps back into the 50’s. Hope that’s the last of it!

OK, so it’s Spring. The bait should be showing up in the passes and by the piers; the sheepshead should be haunting all of the pilings; the macs should be slashing through the bait schools; the redfish should be hanging out in the shallows. But… not happening. Not yet, anyway. I did fish Saturday with Joe in Pass-A-Grille, and we did manage a couple short sheeps, and one big one lost to the pilings. And I fished the river near Ruskin for hours on Sunday without a bite. But it was all good- we had a party at JoeMama’s, and a good time was had by all.