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Outdoors
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 3, 2003
Spring fishing conditions are finally here, and the fishing couldn't be better. Mike Hubbard and Capt. Garner Koons clobbered the gag grouper in 40 feet of water last week.
The best bite has been late morning and early afternoon during and after the tide change. Live bait has been preferred by the bigger gags, some weighing over 15 pounds. Fluorocarbon 40-pound leaders will get the bigger gags to feed.
Kingfish were caught off Sarasota last week. They were "schoolies" weighing 12 to 15 pounds. That tells us the kingfish are on their way north for their annual spring migration. Huge bait schools are showing up just south of the Egmont Channel and over most near-shore shipwrecks and reefs. Amberjacks are feeding aggressively and can be found in 80 to 130 over wrecks and springs. The bigger your baits, the bigger the jacks you will hook.
Look for shrimp boats offshore in 90 to 120 feet and have some great action with blackfin tuna. Live Spanish sardines, threadfins and cigar minnows work best when freelined off the boats' transom. You may have to weed through bonitos to get the tuna. If they are thick, try chumming them to the surface. Then use a 4-ounce weight with a 6-foot leader to try to get your bait deep, as the tuna sometimes hang out down under.
-- Larry "Huffy" Hoffman charters out of John's Pass, Treasure Island. Call (727) 709-9396.