The gulf has cleaned up dramatically compared with a few days ago from high winds.
All we need now is for king fishing to return to normal.
That shouldn't be too far away, because the bait is thick right off St. Pete Beach. Huge schools of scaled sardines (whitebait) are over hard bottom areas in 20 feet. Blue runners are abundant there, too. If you're looking for grouper bait, pinfish also are thick. Hang out a chum block and all the bait you need will congregate right behind it.
Cobia action has cooled off a bit along the beach, but look for it to pick up with the water clearing. A nice surprise is the amount of flounder that has been caught while anchored up fishing for macks. The flounder are hungry enough to come off the bottom and attack free-lined whitebait.
- Rick Frazier runs Lucky Dawg Charters out of St. Petersburg and can be reached at 727 510-4376 or by e-mail at captainrick@luckydawg.com
