Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By LARRY HOFFMAN
Published August 17, 2005

Offshore fishing is excellent, with light winds out of the east making sea conditions perfect for long offshore runs. Craig Lahr on the Team Gators boat fished 50 miles offshore in 150 feet of water and caught plenty of American red snapper, mangrove snapper and gag grouper up to 15 pounds. With red tide still around, they worked hard to find live bait. The traditional live bait stops, Betty Rose wreck, south county reef and the Egmont Channel, were void of bait. Twenty-five miles offshore they found some bait schools and were able to gold hook some nice sardines, which were put to good use on the snappers. Lahr reported the fish feed early in the morning with little mid-day action. The red grouper closure is causing fishermen to change tactics and target only gags. They still caught and released keeper red grouper, but the chance of the fish surviving in 150 feet of water was slim.

For blue water fishermen, this weekend is the Old Salts Loop Tournament. This is an opportunity to be offshore with 30 other boats. The radio channel to monitor is channel 68. Most of the tournament boats will be fishing over 100 miles offshore. They release all billfish and only keep tuna, wahoo and dolphin.

Larry "Huffy" Hoffman charters out of John's Pass, Treasure Island. Call 727 709-9396, or e-mail at hufflyl@tampabay.rr.com

[Last modified August 17, 2005, 01:10:12]