So, on Saturday I headed over to my friend Walter’s dock in Treasure Island for a little fishing and drinking. Tossing live shrimp into the channel produced immediate results, and surprising variety. One cast would be a Jack Cravelle; the next a mangrove snapper; and the next would be a big ladyfish. So it went… lane snapper, pinfish, catfish, you name it. We scraped some barnicles and dropped live fiddler crabs next to the dock, which produced a huge hookup, and a broken 20 lb test leader. Blak drum? Big sheepshead? Who knows, hopefully it’ll still be there next trip.

Sunday… was a bust. Spent several hours on teh East end of Corey Avenue in St. Pete Beach, in pursuit of the elusive sheepshead. They were there, alright. Every 30 minutes or so, I’d get a bite… with either no hookup, or a breakoff. Very frustrating. At least the weather was cooperative (wind was brisk, but not as bad as Saturday). Dophin and manatees were nearby. Just no fish!

If you can believe the 7 day forecast, looks like the winds may finally lay down next weekend. If that’s the case, I’m gonna track down a boat, and get offshore.

 

Made a quick stop this morning at Blind Pass (by Woody’s Restaurant in St. Pete Beach). There was a commotion in the pass, with a strong incoming tide. At first I thought it was a school of dolphin, but…no it was a pod of about a dozen 50-80 pound tarpon rolling away. Looks like the tarpon have arrived a little early in Tampa this year. Time to catch ’em up!

 

Despite the hazy, smoky conditions, I hit the East end of Corey Avenue on Saturday with my friend Tim, looking for sheepshead, snook and macks. I did manage two out of three- with no sign of snook. Got a bizzare fish- it looked like a sheepshead/ pinfish cross. That was a first! Also, out on the grass flats, something big and fast grabbed my Gotcha lure, but it managed to throw the hook.

Sunday was more of the same, starting on Corey (pinfish and a nice Mac), then moving to Pass-A-Grille (sheepshead… small ones, though). I am definately needing to get offshore soon…!

Got in a few hours both Saturday and Sunday- nothing spectacular, just steady action. The spanish mackarel were cooperative, as were both large and small Jack Cravelle. There were a few sheepshead around, but they weren’t biting. I hooked a monster snook under the dock, but it made short work of my 20 lb. SpiderWire. Interesting, on the Merry Pier in PassAGrille, I caught several 12 – 15 inch gag grouper. Wonder where they’ve been all winter?

Looks like, weather permitting, next weekend could be some serious action. I’ve got several friends that’ll be in town, all wanting to go fishing. And I saw pictures from the Getaway – their trip Friday yielded an amazing catch of red and mangrove snapper, scamp, red grouper and gags.

A few quick observations:

-At the east end of Corey Avenue in St. Pete Beach, bait is beginning to show on the grass flats and around the old Leverock’s dock. I saw a school of a few dozen 10-15 pound Jack Cravelle tearing them up yesterday, while a pair of large snook came in and cleaned up the leftovers.

-Blind Pass is showing signs of life. Between 73rd Avenue and 79th Ave., I’ve seen snook, a few large schools of mackarel, abundant sheepshead, and today, for the first time in many months, a mangrove snapper.

-The Pass-A-Grille Jetty has been producing pompano, sheepshead, and a few macks. No great catches, but a few nice fish.

 

The clock winds down on Spring 2007 snook season at midnight tonight. So… maybe… I’ll watch 24, then grab the sturdy equipment and head out. Hey, 90 minutes should be plenty of time… doncha’ think?

 

One more weekend to go…. And I plan to make the most of it. ‘Course, you already know how it’ll go. No snook to be had. Then, as soon as May 1 hits, they’ll be everywhere- and hungry.

Heard one of the employees at The Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grille managed to best a 42″ snook on Saturday. The snook, nicknamed ‘Scar’, was released unharmed. I saw a few small snook hiding under the dock, but they were’nt interested in either my shrimp nor my pinfish.

May is fast approaching- time to start thinking about a serious offshore trip. Not sure how things’ll work out, but I do plan to get out to the deep water for some American Red Snapper and some Blackfin Tuna action. Stay tuned.

There weren’t any. Plain and simple. The Spanish Mackeral were there, as were the big blue runners that kept attacking our slow trolled squid spoons… just no sign of the Kings.

I joined my friend Allen, who was in from Kentucky, along with his daughter Hannah for some ‘serious’ fishing on Saturday. Our plan for inshore redfish was a bust, so we booked the Getaway out of Pass-A-Grille for a 3/4 day charter. We probably trolled 3-4 hours with liitle to show for it. We made a couple of stops on some god bottom that was showing fish… but, all we managed was squirrelfish after squirrelfish. The flat line was untouched. We even found a huge flock of diving pelicans, and there were a bunch of dolphins busting fish on the surface. We worked the school for a half hour, with 1 spanish mackeral to show for it.

Despite the wind, the seas only built to 2-3 feet. The conditions were perfect, and we were pre-front. The Captain and Mate on the Getaway were, as always, outstanding. Everything was perfect… except for the fish biting. Maybe next time.

Just a quick note- I braved the crappy weather this weekend for a few hours in Pass-A-Grille. The wind was blowing hard, the water had dropped form crystal clear to… murky; and the bite was off. I did pick up a huge sheepshead for my efforts.

But the story of the day on Easter Sunday was snook. Just as I arrived at Merry Pier, a guy was tossing a 33″ beauty into the cooler. Said he nailed it on a smallis, tail hooked shrimp, with a 25 lb. test leader. Sorry I missed that fight! I saw another on hooked, and a smal redfish landed. Looks like things are just starting to get good. Stay tuned… won’t be long now!

Spent sunday morning fishing with Cap’t. Mike Homer- what a blast! We hit some grassy flats in Clearwater. My first cast yielded a nice trout. The next ten casts wen something like this:

Redfish
Redfish
Redfish
Missed one!
Redfish
Redfish
Redfish
Missed another!
Redfish
Redfish

You get the idea. They were fiesty little guys, ranging up to about 20″ or so. We caught a few dozen, then went in search of snook. Cap’t Homer knew exactly where they’d be, too. They just weren’t biting. Big ones were evident, though.

If you’re looking for a great day of fishing in Clearwater, I recommend Clearwater Fishing Guide Mike Homer at 727.418.5005.