Offshore fishing report

Kingfish top the wish list

By JAY MASTRY
Published October 14, 2005

Starting this weekend and continuing for the next month and a half, king mackerel tournaments will dominate much of the offshore activity.

Though there have been reports of early arrivals, the peak kingfish season likely will begin in another couple weeks. Cold fronts will drop water temperatures into the preferred 70s and expedite the migration of the fall kingfish run from the north. Increasing numbers of bait schools also will work their way toward shore, and kingfish will be in hot pursuit.

Some kings in the 20- to 30-pound class have been caught, mostly by offshore grouper anglers in 100 to 110 feet. Guide Angelo LoGrande battled an estimated 40-pounder all the way to the boat before getting cut off. In several instances these early kingfish have inhaled fly-lined dead sardines.

Bait is the key to a successful fall kingfish run, particularly for tournaments. Many of the monster baits that tournament anglers seek have been slow returning to the dock lights and bridges in parts of the Intracoastal Waterway affected by the summer's long Red Tide outbreak. Ladyfish, shad, trout and mullet will be drawn back to these structures as conditions improve. Blue runners, Spanish mackerel and bluefish round out the best of the rest and will be available with either gold-hook rigs or by working tandem-rigged jigs along the edges of the grass flats or passes.

A bait-scouting mission during the week revealed plenty, though not all the baits were suitable for kingfishing. The gulf pier at Fort De Soto Park has attracted huge schools of mid-size whitebait and greenbacks. Other bait schools could be seen on the surface well away from the structure. While most seemed better suited for Spanish mackerel, some larger flicks on the surface near the "T" of the dock revealed some full-grown bait mixed in.

The most impressive showing of bait was at the Skyway fishing piers. Schools of assorted kinds and sizes of minnows could be seen along the shadow lines. Though you may have to move around until you find the size you want, they are there.

Although the Red Tide definitely seems to be improving, patches of contaminated water continue to plague some areas for anglers transporting live bait. An angler reported losing all but a handful of three dozen pinfish after leaving John's Pass on the way to 70 feet.

While grouper fishing on and around the pipeline in 100 to 120 feet remained strong this week, much of the action picked up in shallower water. Brian Hasson guided Jakki Storm and her party on her first grouper trip and ended up with 15 keepers weighing as much as 12 pounds. Working a ledge in 70 feet, they caught most of them with frozen sardines. After bumping out to a wreck in 85 feet, the crew also caught two dozen mangrove snapper up to 5 pounds.

Hasson had to lighten up to get the mangrove snapper to bite. Twenty-pound line with 1/0 hooks and a 1-ounce weight did the trick, as did live shrimp.

Ledges in 85 feet also produced good catches of grouper, yellowtail snapper and triggerfish this week. For the triggers, try tipping your large gold-hook rigs with squid before dropping them to a ledge.

Familiarize yourself with the Gulfstream natural gas pipeline, which has become a well-publicized fish haven. There is a fish/dive chart available to put you right on it. Waterproof chart #155F for Clearwater to Venice shows the path of the pipeline from its start near Port Manatee inside Tampa Bay to more than 200 feet deep in the gulf. Though it doesn't necessarily reveal all the habitat replacement sites, it does show a chronological set of coordinates all the way out. By following a compass course between them, you will be able to discover the boulder and reef-module sites that have made it so popular.

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

[Last modified October 14, 2005, 01:41:14]