Outdoors

Daily fishing report

Waiting for things to cool down

By MIKE WHITMAN
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 12, 2003

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As of Tuesday, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Henri, the water was dirty out to 60 feet, and bait was scattered between the various south county artificial reefs. Outside of 60 feet, the water started to clear. The late-summer weed lines were broken and scattered.

Capt. Don Brady of Par-T-Time reported banner catches of large yellowtail snapper, mangrove snapper and a few amberjacks on the 160-foot-plus wrecks to the west of Pass-a-Grille. The snapper preferred dead sardines fished on 1/0 hooks tied to 30-pound fluorocarbon and a 3- to 4-ounce egg sinker.

As October approaches, you can expect many changes - inshore and offshore. When the water starts to cool and gets closer to the magic 68-degree mark, the grouper bite will improve dramatically. While you still will need to go deep to find the monsters, there will be a significant number of keepers in water as shallow as 30 feet. Immediately after the first cold fronts, kingfish, Spanish mackerel and cobia will arrive in large numbers through Thanksgiving. Two years ago, blackfin tuna showed up in October with the shrimp boat fleet. It did not happen last year because of El Nino, but we have caught several over the past month, so I expect it to be a good tuna season.

Inshore, the recent rain has cooled the flats and improved the trout bite. The specks are eating best at peak tide movement. Redfish have been schooling on mangrove and spoil islands. Small pinfish have been the bait of choice. A stealthy approach using a push pole instead of an electric trolling motor will keep from scattering the fish.

- Mike Whitman charters the Mega Bite out of Gulfport. Call 727 384-5729 or e-mail capt@megabitecharters.com

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