Outdoors

Daily fishing report

Overall fishing continues to improve, though water temperatures remain a little below where they should be this time of year. This, coupled with the red tide outbreak to the south, has kingfish and schools of bait spread out. A week or two of warm weather and calm seas should help to bunch them back up.

The gag grouper bite from Tarpon Springs north has picked up. Dropping a mix of live and frozen bait on rock piles and ledges in 40-65 feet has produced good numbers of quality fish.

Down south, ledges and wrecks in 50-100 feet are loaded with mangrove snapper and some amberjack. Light tackle plus 2- to 3-inch whitebait are key to a limit of snapper.

Starting this month, keep a live bait or two behind the boat while bottom digging. Over the next couple of months kingfish, tuna, dolphin, cobia and a few sailfish will follow the bait schools as they go north. Hang a block of chum from the stern of the boat and drift a couple of baits back in the slick. You might not have time to drop a bait to the bottom.

-- Randy Rochelle runs Islander Charters in St. Petersburg and can be reached at (727) 528-1213 or by e-mail at Islandercharters@ij.net.

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