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© St. Petersburg Times, published April 17, 2003
Plan a multiple species trip and get the most out of your fishing day. April and May is the best time of year to live-bait fish for tuna, kingfish and Spanish mackerel, then transition to amberjack, grouper and mangrove snapper.
Start on your favorite shipwreck or spring for amberjack and mangrove snapper. Use live, big blue runners for the jacks and small whitebait and frozen sardines for the snapper. Grouper have been feeding on frozen sardines near wrecks and springs, with bigger gags tearing up live baits. The same areas can hold kingfish and blackfin tuna. Deployed flat-lines with live Spanish sardines will get the attention of the pelagic speedsters and keep the fishing action hot.
It is not uncommon to produce five or six species at one location this time of year. The keys are using live bait and matching the tackle to the targeted fish. Amberjack and grouper require 50- to 60-pound class, mangrove snapper and tuna 30-pound class and kingfish 15- to 20-pound class tackle. Fishing with different tackles at the same time can keep the anglers busy. The rewards are worth the effort of carrying numerous rods and rigs. Try chunking and using a frozen chum block to attract tuna and kingfish.
-- Larry "Huffy" Hoffman charters out of John's Pass, Treasure Island. Call (727) 709-9396.