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© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2003
The spring fishing season is in full swing. Snook, trout and redfish have been active on the flats. Spanish mackerel, kingfish and grouper are keeping anglers busy on the reefs, and good catches of cobia and permit have been reported near some of the deeper wrecks.
Vince Dilella has been landing permit in the 18- to 25-pound class at an undisclosed location in 45 feet of water for several weeks. Most have been caught while casting live blue crabs to the schools as they mill around on the surface.
When the fish go deep, drifting a free-lined crab below the surface can produce hook-ups from permit even when you can't see them. They have keen sight and won't fall for a bait offered on heavy tackle or with heavy leader material.
Twelve- or 15-pound test line usually is light enough to get bites but heavy enough to pull the fish away from the structures they inhabit. When using braided line for permit, experiment with different lengths of flourocarbon leader to fool them. Sometimes it is necessary to try 10 or more feet of 30-pound flourocarbon to draw a strike.
The tricky part about permit fishing is finding them.
While there are a few places they can be found fairly often, many spots will have schools of a hundred or more one day that will be gone the next. For that reason, it's a good idea to have a back-up plan. Large and small kingfish have been schooling near many of the same wrecks as the permit. If you don't see the permit when you first arrive, try slow-trolling a live threadfin herring or Spanish sardine on a wire leader for kings while waiting for the permit to surface.
By keeping at least one rod rigged with a live crab or shrimp at all times, anglers will be ready if the black tails of the permit begin to appear.
If you're not sure if the spot selected is holding fish, work a quiet drift over the wreck at slack tide. While most fish disappear during this tide, it's when the permit most often rise to the surface.
Cobia fishing has been improving after a foul weather system last week when the water became dirty and the temperature dropped nearly 10 degrees. There has been a handful of fish on the flats, but most have remained in the deeper water.
The best baits are live pinfish or small live crabs. Artificials that resemble eels are popular.
Tarpon were beginning to return from their winter migration but were set back a week or more by the cold front. Prior to that, four or five per day were appearing in a variety of places. Now there seems to be few around.
For an easy day of steady action, try anchoring and hanging a chum block over the side of the boat in an area of good tidal flow. The scent trial will draw mackerel, bluefish, blacktip sharks, specked trout, cobia and many other species. Be sure to switch to a long shanked hook once the toothy critters start biting to avoid cut-offs.
The FSDA Florida State Freediving Championship Spearfishing Tournament is going on today out of Bayport. Scouting trips in the area have revealed surprisingly good numbers of gag grouper and hog snapper in 25-35 feet of water.
If you would like to see the winning fish, the weigh-in is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Bayport Pier on the Weeki Wachee River.
Ed Walker charters out of Palm Harbor. Call (727) 944-3474 or e-mail info@lighttacklecharters.com.