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Outdoors
Daily fishing report
By MIKE WHITMAN
Published December 17, 2004
Today or Saturday may be the best chance for almost a week to get in a grouper digging trip.
Multiple cold fronts have rapidly dropped water temperatures and kept the water dirty. Expect the fishing to be slow.
When water conditions change rapidly it throws off fishing patterns, so you have to change techniques and baits. Normally this early in December water temperatures are in the mid 60s and grouper are readily available in 20 to 100 feet. With water temperatures in the mid 50s, the fish are there but their metabolism slows.
To get the grouper to bite, tackle down. Fishing shallow, you can get away with a 40-pound leader and smaller hooks. You may lose a few fish if you are not right on top of the bite, but the number of strikes will be much higher.
If you lose a lot of fish to the rocks, consider using spinning tackle. Response time is normally quicker than with conventional gear. Use a large spinning rod with 30-pound main line to fish as deep as 70 feet this time of year.
Stay away from live bait and concentrate on frozen sardines and squid combinations, which adds smell. Also, a dead sardine will not outrun a grouper the way a pinfish can.
Inshore fishing has changed, according to Tim Drummond. With the low winter tides the fish are concentrated where the bottom is dark and heated by the sun. The trout are in areas where the water is deeper adjacent to shallow grass flats. As the sun gets higher the trout will move off the dark bottom and to the grass flats, as the water heats there the quickest. As the sun goes down they return to the deeper water.
Snook are moving into residential canals, so look for canals heated by the sun with limited water flow. These hold heat and fish.
The sheepshead bite is hot, and they can be found around docks and bridge pilings.
Mike Whitman charters the Mega-Bite out of Gulfport. Call 727 384-5729, view the Web site at www.megabitecharters.com or e-mail capt@megabitecharters.com
[Last modified December 17, 2004, 00:07:19]
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