Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Daily fishing report

Even though water temperatures remain high for October, many fall species have started to arrive.

Grouper action has picked up considerably as shallow as 35 feet. Ralph Warner and a group of friends fished west of Honeymoon Island this week and landed 15 keeper gags within 10 miles of shore. Most of the keeper grouper have averaged 7 pounds with a few 10- and 12-pounders. The cooler the water gets, the better the grouper fishing.

Scattered reports of kingfish have come in from many areas, but a large concentration of big kings has moved into the offshore waters north of Tarpon Springs. The best action has been in 40-60 feet. Most of the kings in this first wave of the fall migration have weighed more than 25 pounds, and at least one has been more than 40.

These kings should move south and closer to shore over the next week or two, depending on water temperatures. Now is the time to keep a live bait on a flatline rigged with a wire leader behind the boat on every stop. If you are lucky enough to stumble into a school of smoker kings, it can be an unbelievable experience.

In early October last year a school of preseason kings took over the reef we were fishing for grouper. When the frenzy settled, we had landed several kings of more than 30 pounds with numerous smaller ones and had gone through all the live bait and wire leader onboard.

-- Ed Walker charters out of Palm Harbor. Call (727) 944-3474 or e-mail TarponEd@aol.com.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright