Saturday marked the opening of the fall gag grouper season. So, I loaded up on sardines and headed to the Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grille. There was a strong morning outgoing tide, which somewhat limited the grouper options. But, I did manage to pull 5 of ’em out from under the dock. The biggest was just over 20″. Big, but not big enough. There are keepers lurking there, and it’s just a matter of time now…

On Sunday, I switched gears and focused on flounder. They were present in the slips, and readily took live greenbacks (if the pinfish didn’t kill them first). But, once again, they ran small. There was a report of a big cobia hooked and lost dockside at sunrise. Catch of the day honors go to Robert, for landing a nice out-of-season snook on light tackle.

Wow, the summer is FLYING by… and fishing has been in the doldrums. Don’t get me wrong, there ARE fish around – just few and far between. Merry Pier, Blind Pass and other St. Pete Beach fishing spots have been yielding flounder, mangrove snapper, mackerel, gags (and a few red) grouper, snook and trout. Just not very big, and not very many. No sign of sharks, pompano, cobia, redfish….

Anyway, the plan is to head offshore for an overnighter on September 16th, once gags are back in season. Amberjack, grouper and snapper will be on the menu. Weather permitting… Stay tuned!

OK, yeah, I’ve been slacking a little keeping this site updated. But, hey, fishing has been less than spectacular recently. The Pompano have all moved outside the passes, snook remain elusive since the big freeze of 2009, grouper and amberjack are out of season and the snapper have been spotty. But, for the first time this year, I was able to net some decent size greenbacks at Merry Pier, and there are a few big macks around.

My friend Jim came over from Orlando for the July 4th weekend with his 9 year old daughter Jordan. We fished yesterday at the pier, and she bagged a nice keeper flounder, as well as a short, which was released unharmed. There were a few other flounder caught, but, oddly, not one snapper. Strange year. But, we were able to enjoy good company, stuffed flounder, and fireworks, so all-in-all a great weekend!

As grouper season winds to a close on Florida’s West Central coast, I managed to land one last 24″ gag grouper from the Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grille:

There were a few short gag’s caught, along with several big stingrays. No sign of snapper, cobia or snook.

I visited my Friends Harris, Ginta and Egla on Saturday in Punta Gorda, Harris and I cruised the canals and caught some nice Mangrove Snapper. A big snook broke me off under a small bridge. Fun times – and a tasty snapper dinner.

My mission this weekend was to nail a keeper gag grouper for a batch of fresh grouper nuggets. My plan was to hit Merry Pier in St. Pete Beach just before sunrise loaded with a box of frozen sardines, and see if I could coax one off the ledge just north of the pier. This is usually pretty easy when there is a south wind and an incoming current, but this weekend the breezes were out of the north, and the tides were stagnant. Didn’t mater. I pulled a few short tails before getting the 23″ grouper that I was looking for:

Meanwhile, the pompano bite has slowed in Blind Pass (although there has been a 4 foot ‘cuda cruising around 76th Ave). There are small snook here and there, but nobody’s really catching them. Sharks have shown up in Boca Ciega Bay (got about a 20 pound spinner shark over the weekend, and was bitten off by SOMETHING much bigger). Whitebait is starting to show up at Merry Pier, although the greenbacks remain confined to the beaches, jetty and Blind Pass. Tarpon are rolling thick at sunup. No sign of snapper yet, but it won’t be long. There are still occasional flounder being caught here and there. Mullet are all over the place. With a 3 day weekend coming up, I may try to get one more grouper in before the season closes.

The pompano have been running strong in the passes and near bridges in St. Pete Beach. A Doc’s Goofy Jig with a bright teaser is the ticket to catching these tasty fish. Jig along the bottom, with a sharp snap to lift the jig up, then let it settle to the bottom, raising a puff of sand (this attracts the pompano).  Eventually, when you go to snap the jig up, you’ll set the hook in a fiesty pompano. Early morning is the best time for a strong bite, but we’ve been getting them throughout the day. 15 a day seems to be the norm, although there are lots of fish just shy of legal size. By-catch includes ladyfish (lots), sea trout, lizard fish, grunts, bluefish and macks.

I spent a couple hours Sunday at the Merry Pier. There are still grouper around on the incoming tide, and the first few greenbacks just showed up. There has been a four foot barracuda lurking around the boats. And, finally, the first snapper have arriverd Here’s an 11″ mango:

It has been crazy lately. So, here’s a roundup of fishing related information and observations for the last couple months.

Firstly, it’s been pretty slow at the Merry Pier – until recently. As of this weekend, still no sign of bait, but the fish are there, and they are biting. I’ve had reliable reports of gag grouper to 26″ under and around the pier. I have seen several nice Pompano caught in front of the pier, most on Doc’s Goofy Jigs. Like this one:

There have been macks and the occasional bluefish. This weekend, I found hungry flounder to 14″ hiding under the dock, waiting for small pinfish. And, of course, there are still a few sheepshead around. Here are a few from Juan, the Sheepshead King:

Action offshore is picking up. I went out last weekend with Cap’t Dick and JoeMama. We anchored just North of the Egmont Channel, and set up a nice chumline. Live bait yielded a 12 lb. Kingfish and a 20 ponder, as well as several Spanish Macks. But the highlight of the trip was when Cap’t Dick hooked into a beast of a King. It smoked line off the reel before a couple jumps. It was an EASY 50+ pounds. ‘Course, it bit through the wire leader.

Meanwhile, in Blind Pass, pompano and flounder are being caught on the incoming tides. Schools of mullet and whitebait are showing, and a school of big Jacks was raising havoc last week. A 38″ cobia was caught just off the rocks at the Pass.

it’s been a long, slow winter for fishing, but Spring has arrived at last. The glass minnows are starting to show up, although no sign of greenbacks yet. A couple weeks ago, we nailed a couple dozen nice Spanish Mackerel, and last weekend there were plenty of sheepshead hitting on fiddler crabs. In between, there have been few grouper,  a bluefish, and the occasional small shark. Things are going to get very interesting in the coming weeks.

With winds blowing a steady 30 knots, and temps dropping into the 30’s, fishing has been pretty brutal lately. The last few weeks in St. Pete Beach have been spotty, with the occasional Mack here, the occasional flounder there, but no steady action. This weekend, I arrived at the Merry Pier to discover that all of the bait that had been schooling around the dock since the Spring had vanished, and with it, the bite. OK, yeah, there were a couple sheepshead around, but that was it. No grouper. No flounder. No redfish. No macks. Nada. Perhaps the cold fronts will push some grouper into the shallower waters of Boca Ciega Bay soon…. we’ll see.

The fall flounder run is in full swing. These tasty bottom dwellers are readily hitting jigs, shrimp and greenbacks worked slowly on the bottom in sandy areas with a good water flow. I saw several dozen caught this weekend, with the majority in the 15 to 18 inch range. Bait is still lurking around area piers and passes, so the Macks are still around too. But, if you REALLY want to nail the flounder, get your hands on some mud minnows or tiger minnows – they are a guaranteed hook-up if the flounder are around!