Things have returned to normal regarding the weather and the fall fish migration is right on schedule with Spanish mackerel, cobia, kingfish and grouper making their presence known.
On Sunday the fishing was as great as the weather and we ventured out to the hard-bottom areas west of John's Pass in the 90- to 100-foot depths. Every ledge that we fished produced many gag grouper just short of the legal 22-inch length along with the occasional keeper. A piece of dead sardine tipped with a piece of squid resulted in the most bites. Switching to a live pigfish or pinfish after the bite produced the keeper gags, which ranged to 29 inches. These same ledges produced a banner catch of mangrove snapper. Switching to a small circle hook with the tail section of sardine or small live Spanish sardines and cigar minnows was the key to catching these bait stealers. It was necessary to discipline ourselves to simply crank the reel and not "set" the hook whenever a bite was felt.
Dave Zalewski charters the Lucky Too out of Madeira Beach and can be reached at 727 397-8815 or by e-mail at Luckytoo2@aol.com[Last modified October 21, 2004, 02:05:12]
