Friday was WAY too nice a day to spend in the office, so I hit Merry Pier in the morning, and didn’t leave till the evening. Loaded up with select shrimp and fiddler crabs, I was ready for a good day of fishing. And it was.

Catch of the day was sheepshead- big ones that succumbed to the fiddlers. There were plenty of smaller ones around, too. The snook were lurking, but not biting. Other fish caught were grouper, spanish mackeral, ladyfish (including one that HAD to be 5 pounds!), and the usual assortment of lizardfish, squirrelfish, pinfish, etc.

The water clarity was excellent, although there was no sign of bait. Strange. Anyway, top catch was a large redfish. Sunday, I head to Clearwater for some redfishing with Cap’t Homer, a 4th generation Tampa fishing guide. He caught over 80 redfish yesterday, so I’m anxious to see what we come up with.

OK, so it must be Spring- temperatures are in the mid 80’s, drunken spring breakers litter the beach, the top’s down on the convertible, the water’s up to the magic 72 degree mark… and the fish are starting to wake up after a very long, very ‘un-fishy’ winter.

Saturday was highlighted by a couple of decent Spanish Mackeral from the Merry Pier. Snook were lurking about, and the pilings were giving up sheepshead to those anglers using tube worms or fidler crabs. Sunday proved more productive, as I met my friend Cletus and his son “Q”. Cletus stocked up on fidlers, and we nailed a good half dozen sheepshead, although none were particularly large.

A spent a couple of hours hurling a Gotcha’ lure in hopes the big Mackeral would be back… but, no sign of ’em. There was a school of big ladyfish, and they provided a fun diversion.

Cletus had a select shrimp soaking under the dock, and he got nailed by something BIG. Two more shrimp, and 2 more break-offs. I’m pretty sure it was a snook that was pestering him. Looks like they may finally be getting hungry again after a long winter of lockjaw.

The bait was pretty thin near the Pier, although I have seen a couple decent schools of greenbacks in the Blind Pass area. Any day now, it’s all gonna bust loose, and we’ll be enjoying great fishing right through the Fall!

Saturday was the long awaited ‘Spring Fling’ fishing trip- and we couldn’t have picked a worse day! We left Punta Gorda Isles Friday afternoon through rain and a healthy chop on Charlotte Harbor. After an entertaining Friday Night at the Boca Grand Resort, we awoke to howling north winds. The origianl plan called for a 32 mile run offshore… but the bouys were reporting wave heights to 8+ feet. So much for that.

We stayed inside, making a brief stop at the old railroad bridge. Nothing happening there… so it was onward to the Phosphate Docks, an always reliable spot. Anchoring in 20 mph winds, with higher gusts, proved a bit of a challenge. Eventually, we nailed a ladyfish and a couple of decent sheepshead from the pilings, but the boat (and passangers) was getting beat up pretty bad, so we headed to a small island behing Caya Costa.

The wind was still pretty brutal, and depite a very fishy looking mangrove shoreline, we didn’t get a single bite. The run back to Punta Gorda was rocky, but eventually we made land again. Bit of a relief, too.

We still hope to get out to the Bayronto when the whether is better… perhaps when American Red Snapper are back in season. And when there aren’t 8′ waves…

Still, a very fun weekend, despite the fishing.

It must be spring- the Macks are in! Fishing the Merry Pier today, I was having no luck with live shrimp. There were a few sheepshead around, but the weren’t biting. And there was no sign of flounder. snook, or redfish. So, time to break ot the Gotcha’ lures and see if there were any Spanish Mackeral lurking about. And there were…

For a while, just about every cast yeilded a hit or two. I lost three lures before I finally wised up and started using wire leaders. The Macks were running large, with several in the 4-5 pound range. Fiesty fighters on light tackle, it was a lot of fun. I threw most of them back, but saved a few for the grill. The party wa over when flipper, baby dolphin in tow, arrived. The presence of the dolphins shut the bite down almost instantly.

I hear that the Ft. Desoto Pier also saw a few schools run through. It’s a little early for the macks, but ist’s a very good sign of things to come.

Next week, I head to Punta Gorda on Friday. We set sail on Running With Scissors, out of stump pass, and on to the wreck of the Bayronto. Looks like a wek front may come through on Thursday/ Friday- hopefully, the wind will lay down, and we won’t be rockin’ too much. The targets- grouper )back in season!); snapper (mangos and yellowtail- probably a little shallow at 105 feet for any American Red Snapper_; amberjack )the reef donkeys should be thick!); and early kingfish (yes, we’ll have a flat line out). Other targets of opportunity may include permit; scamp; goliath grouper (aka jewfish); porgies; barracuda; blackfin tuna (I wish); sharks; and whatever else may happen along.

….Saturday of fishing. Not much to show for an hour on the Merry Pier. Saw a guy catch a not-quite-legal redfish, and there were a few smaller snook swimming over the grass flats. From the rumor department, I heard about a 40″ snook landed ahead of the front, as well as several legal reds, and a school of monster black drum that made an appearance.

So, I have the need to fish. Headed down to Pass-A-Grille, figuring I’d take the half day trip on Miss Pass-A-Grille. It was breezy and chilly, despite the forecast. Both the Captain and the Mate warn me that it’s been really slow since the cold snap last weekend, but I fuigure.. why not?

On the first drop, I nailed a small grey snapper (aka key west grunt, aka white grunt). Normally, I’d have thrown it back, but- if it’s slow, I’ll take what I can get. Long story short, four drops later, and I’ve got is a squirelfish- so, I throw the sorry excuse for a grunt back, and head home empty handed. There were a few decent grunts, and a couple of triggerfish caught- even a short gag grouper- but that’s the sum totla for a couple dozen fisherman. Looking forward to March 17, when I’m off to the wreck of the Bayronto, and some serious fishing- for a change!!!

…but I went anyway. No sign of snook. No sign of sheepshead. No sign of redfish. The final tally- a dozen shrimp produce a few (smallish) whiting. Probably could have gotten a bucketful, but… it was WAY too cold for fishing!

Saturday at Merry Pier was a wee bit frustrating- to say the least. With gin clear water, you could see snook stacked up under the dock like cordwood. They just weren’t chewing- at all. Nada. Plenty of sheepshead around, and the same story.

So, Sunday I headed to Joe’s dock on the Pass-A-Grille Channel side of Vina Del Mar (aka Mud Island) with ’bout 7 dozen shrimp and high hopes. Tossing the small shrimp out to a rockpile in about 20′ of water, it was only a matter of seconds before a hit- but the hits were from a plethora of pinfish, squirrelfish, lizardfish, and a few small lane snapper. One short gag eventually hit, but that was about it. Undersized sheepshead were abundant, but not inclined to hit- even when presented with barnacles and fiddler crabs. Altogether a pretty tough weekend for fishing.

The good news- I’ll be headed out to the wreck of the Bayronto out of Boca Grande on ‘Running With Scissors’ with Harris on March 3 and again on March 17. No luck inshore? Time to head offshore!

Well, I tried to get a snook for the big game… no luck, though. Saw ’em- just couldn’t get ’em to bite. I saw redfish too, with similiar results. Sheepshead were the only cooperative fish, and they weren’t all that enthusiastic. Think it’s time to try a few new spots- maybe hit the docks over on Vina Del Mar (mud islnad). Yeah, that’s the ticket…

Chores wrapped up, I headed down to the Merry Pier for a couple of hours late afternoon Saturday. I figured I’d burn through a dozen select shrimp, and be on my way. The dock was fairly crowded, but no fish were evident.

One dock denizen tried my trick from last week- drop a lizard fish down among the pilings, and see if any snook were hanging around. They were there. In seconds, he was struggling with a huge bruiser, probably approaching 40″. His 50 lb. braid and 60 lb. leader held up fine, but the fish managed to throw his hook, and was gone.

So, I’ve got a big shrimp down on the bottem. All of a sudden, it gets really nervous- I can feel it jumping at the end of the line. Concerned it might be the subject of a puffer attack, I brought it up to check it’s condition. As it neard the surface… WHAM! A snook the size of my leg appeared from the depths, inhaled the shrimp, and headed back down. I set the hook, and managed to turn her towrd open water.

The snook screamed off about 30 yards of my 17 lb. mono, then turned and headed back toward the safety of the pilings. I kept the fight up for a couple more minutes, but soon the line was cut among the barnacles. ‘Course, this snook would have been way to big to keep had it been in season- still, I’m looking forward to grilling up a filet or two once the season opens.