In just a few hours, Game 1 of the World Series starts. I’ll be in Section 109 (Loge Box) taking in all the action as the amazing Rays continue this unbelievable season. But, if anyone reading this needs a ticket for tomorrow, I have one for sale….

Actually, I’ve got two tickets for Game 2. The first is in Whitney Bank Club, section 106, right behind home plate. Wide leather seats, unlimited beer and wine, exclusive buffet… a great way to experience the game. First $875 takes it. The other seat is… well…. pretty much the best in Tropicana Field. It’s in the Home Plate Club, Section 107, 3rd Row.  Private entrance, full buffet, leather seats, waitress, and a chance to be seen on TV; yes, it’s just a few feet from the Philly’s On Deck Circle. $1,500 buys it- this is the same Section that’s going for $2500 – $5000 on StubHub. If you’re interested, email me ASAP at steve@tampafishing.net . I’m only selling one, and then using the other.

GO RAYS!!!

What a weekend! After a tough game Friday, I was wired for a Rays win on Saturday. Cap’t. Dick and I headed to Tropicana Field Saturday evening, and, sure enough, we had the best seats in the house – right behind the plate, and next to the on-deck circle. Evan Longoria warms up before going yard:

It’s a good thing we had comfortable seats… because it was a long game. 5 hours, 27 minutes. The Trop was ROCKING, and the Rays fans were loud from start to finish. We came from behind three times, to win in the 11th inning. The celebration:

It was, perhaps, the Rays best game of the entire, incredible 2008 season. I finally dragged home around 2:30 a.m.. By 8 a.m., I was helping Capt’ Dick load up the boat. Tim, Joe, Dave and I then headed out in search of mackerel. We had solid reports that bait, birds and macs were tearing up the beach on Saturday. Well, it was pretty quiet on Sunday. We trolled hardware from the Pass-A-Grille tripod up to Blind Pass and back, and only managed a couple macks and 1 kingfish.

Switching strategies, we headed inside, and saw diving birds by the Tierra Verde bridge. Sure enough, the Spanish mackerel were there, skyrocketing through schools of glass minnows. We ended up with a dozen or so for the smoker, along with a few hard pulling Jack’s in the 10 lb range. A fun day, and a great weekend.

 

OK, so fishing was a little slow last weekend. And my report is a little late. Tim and I caught a couple snapper, a grouper or two, a single flounder and a lonely mac. Forget all that. The real story is the Tampa Bay Rays! I’ve got a ticket for Saturday night’s game Ray’s game RIGHT behind home plate. I’m talking 3 rows from the action. Wide leather seats, full free buffet & beer, private entrance… the works! Yup, I got lucky in the ALCS lottery, and I guess I hit TicketMaster at just the right time. GO, RAYS!!!

 

Fall fishing is in full swing- early morning temps are low 70’s, the water is cooling off, the bait is big and plentiful, and the fish are increasingly active.  This weekend, action was a little slow in the deeper water- I had a lively pinfish out front for a couple of hours, and it was never touched – so I decided to change strategies and fish along the seawall in Pass-A-Grille. Good plan, as it turned out.

I caught small mangrove snapper by the dozen, with a few foot long specimens mixed in. I was able to sight cast to a BIG sheepshead, who promptly inhaled my shrimp. There were grouper there too, including the 19″ gag pictured above. The jack crevalle were tearing into the bait schools, mac’s were splashing in the deeper water, and I heard that cobia and keeper grouper were caught at Merry Pier on Friday. Yeah, this is a good time of year for fishing!

The water visibility remained poor for the recent winds and high tides, and the bite was a little slow this weekend. The bait was plentiful and large, and a couple of throws yielded all I needed for the day. I managed a few legal mangrove snapper, and a dozen or so undersize grouper. A lost a couple of snook to the pilings… The macs were pooping the bait, but didn’t cooperate when I threw a corked greenback out. I did see a nice flounder landed, but that was about the extent of the action.

Just to add a little weirdness to the weekend, my friend Thao pulled a nice Penn rod and reel from under the dock. Looked like it had been there a couple of months. Anyway, he set it on the dock, and soon a baby octopus crawled out. It was released unharmed. Pretty cool, though.

Fishing this weekend was pretty sad. The tides were running 2-4 feet above normal, due to Hurricane Ike. The water was terrible, with less than a foot of visibility. And… the fish weren’t biting. I did manage a few scattered grouper and 1 snapper, but that was about it.

Between the big tides, the full moon, and lots of boat traffic, Merry Pier has sustained some minor damage in the last week. Hopefully, the city will be quick with repairs.

Another weekend, and more fish stories. Tim returned to the Merry Pier on Saturday, but the cobia were elusive. We bagged plenty of medium size grouper, a few snapper, and some very healthy Spanish Mackerel. We saw an 18″ flounder caught, probably the best fish of the day. We had plenty of action early, but once the tide went slack, the bite died off.

Sunday, I figured to get in a little fishing before the Tampa Bay Buc’s game. I was nailing small grouper and snapper using netted silver Jenny’s and whitebait. As I pulled a small snapper out from the pilings, a huge snook nailed it. The fight was on! At first, she went away from the Pier, peeling off drag. Then she turned and rushed back underneath, wrapping around a piling. Fortunately, I was using 20 lb. test SpiderWire, so I was able to work the big fish out from the pilings and onto the dock. It measured around 35″, too big to keep. A couple of friends on the dock tried (unsuccessfully) to work my camera phone, so I have no pictures. But, the snook was released safely back into Boca Ciega Bay.

Other highlights of the weekend included a small 20″ cobia caught by Mike; a BIG cobia that broke Thao’s line; and plenty of rolling tarpon. Yes, it’s a good time of the year. Now, if I can just catch a SMALLER snook….

OK, first off…. the fish won. But my friend Tim from Tampa had his hands full on Saturday at the Merry Pier.

After a long sabbatical, Tim ventured over to St. Pete Beach on Saturday for a little fishing. The day started typically, with a few mangrove snapper, and lots of 12 to 18 inch gag grouper. The fun began when Tim threw a big live shrimp out in the deeper water off the front of the Pier. He had a big hit as the shrimp was drifting in the current, and the rod was soon doubled over as a big fish headed across the bay toward Tierra Verde.

The fish came to the top, and splashed around a bit. At first I thought he’d hooked up with a tarpon, but the fish sounded and began a series of strong headshakes. Aha! Cobia! Tim was using a toothpick of a fishing rod, strung with what looked like 10 lb. test mono; not exactly an ideal combination for battling a strong fish. The cobia swam along the top, looking like a big shark with it’s raised dorsal fin. The fish ran Tim from one end of the Pier to the other, and he had to loosen the drag and lift the rod over the various pilings at least a dozen times.

Soon, a crowd of a couple dozen spectators gathered to cheer Tim on. For 20 long minutes the fight continued. Each time Tim managed to get the fish near the dock, it would spook. You could tell it was eyeballing the net. Finally, as the fish neared the dock a last time, it eluded the net, and made a lunge for the pilings. Pop! It was gone.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I was busy enjoying the battle. The cobia was probably in the 40 lb range, so it was quite a feat keeping him on that long. As for the rest of the weekend, well, there were plenty more fish, including grouper, snapper, flounder, mackerel, big bluefish and more. Here’s a nice keeper snapper displayed by Mike:

 

This weekend at the Merry Pier, I caught a little bit of everything… but not a lot of anything. A couple of keeper snapper; a few undersized grouper; a ladyfish; some small flounder. My friend Thao, pictured above, managed to land not one but two nice keeper flounder. And Mike landed another snook.  Breezes and a few showers from Tropical Storm Fay kept the dock from getting too hot.

The good news is that the bait is getting bigger, and snook season is just a few days away.

Tropical Storm Fay looks like it may put a crimp in my offshore plans. At least it made a clear miss of the Tampa Bay area, except for some overcast cloud cover. But the wave heights are pretty high offshore. Looks like another Merry Pier weekend ahead.

Last weekend was all about the gag grouper. I must have landed a few dozen, all undersized. Most were in the 12-18″ range, although I did see a tagged 21″ caught (and released). Some guy landed a small cobia, and there were a few snapper around, although they weren’t particularly inclined to bite after gorging themselves under the full moon.