Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By JAY MASTRY
Published February 3, 2005

Grouper digging the mouth of Tampa Bay can be a good alternative when unable to get far offshore, and now is the time for it.

The shipping channel between the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and Egmont Key is lined in many areas with rock piles and ledges. Mullet Key provides protection, especially against north and northeast winds. Grouper will often gang up on these edges to ambush bait that gets flushed in and out of the bay.

On Tuesday we were able to weed through more than two dozen gags while managing a few to keep. Jiggling gold hook rigs at the Pass-a-Grille sea buoy provided the live pinfish and whitebait we sought, but frozen sardines outperformed them. Using 50-pound test line and 60-pound fluorocarbon leader kept the odds of getting them out of the rocks in our favor.

The relatively slow tides of the last quarter moon phase allowed us to keep baits down with a three-ounce weight. As we approach Tuesday's new moon, tides will be much stronger. At midtide, baits become nearly impossible to effectively keep down, chum gets swept away before it can do its job and even anchoring can become a chore. If you go, study your tide charts; figure out when the changes are and plan your trips abound those slower periods of tidal flow.

Jay Mastry charters Jaybird out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 321-2142.

[Last modified February 3, 2005, 01:07:17]