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Outdoors

Sleep in, and fish when it's warm

By ED WALKER
Published December 24, 2005

Inshore water temperatures have dropped into the 50s along the Nature Coast which makes things a little tougher for fishermen.

Weather stations in northern Pasco County show that the water dipped to 50 degrees Friday. Unless you are headed to one of the power plant outflow canals, there is little need to get up early. Morning is when the water, and air, are the coldest.

This not only makes the fish sluggish, cold hands do not work as well for tying knots and bait hooks. I have moved the departure time for my flats charters to 9 a.m. to allow the sun to warm things up a little before we begin casting, and it seems to make everyone happy, especially me.

Artificial baits and live shrimp are the staples right now. Jerkbaits and jigs for trout, spoons for the reds on open flats, shrimp around the docks. On the coldest days the specks may move into the deepest holes they can find.

When they do, it is not uncommon to catch 30 or 40 from the same hole. Hard fighting silver trout may also mix in among them. Good size silvers actually fight harder than their spotted cousins and have no bag limit. They are fond of dark-colored jigs fished tight to the bottom. One of my secret weapons when the silvers and specks are stacked together in a deep hole is a 5 inch purple or black plastic worm fished on a quarter ounce jig head.

Out on the gulf, the near shore grouper bite has slowed. Extremely low water temperatures almost always shut them down. For years it was thought the fish had moved out to deeper, warmer, water.

Last January however, that theory was thrown into question.

An extended period of cold, nasty weather had given way to calm seas and clean water. I friend called and asked if I would like to do a little freedive spearfishing off Bayport. Knowing the water was 55 degrees I was hesitant, but decided to double up on the wetsuits and give it a shot.

We pulled up to a well-known artificial reef and found a rod and reel fisherman there. He gave us a thumbs down to indicate the status of the action.

He said he was leaving so he did not mind if we jumped in and had a look around. We thanked him and waited until he had gone before setting up. Normally I would not bother to take seconds on a potential grouper spot but our captain for the day was confident the fish were there regardless.

After an eye-opening splash into the water and an extended acclimation period, we were able to relax and begin making drops to the bottom, 18 feet below. Sure enough, there were big grouper all over, even directly under where the other boater was fishing.

We speared 15 in less than 2 hours and, although our limit would have allowed us to take more, we had all we needed and left the rest. Clearly the fish were still there, they simply would not bite a baited hook when it was that cold.

With that in mind, rod and reel anglers may want to head out a little deeper this weekend. Party boats such as the Two Georges, Miss Milwaukee and Miss Virginia have been bringing in quality stringers from water deeper than 40 feet.

Ed Walker charters out of Tarpon Springs. Call 727 944-3474 or e-mail info@lighttacklecharters.com

[Last modified December 24, 2005, 01:09:13]