Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By DAVE ZALEWSKI
Published January 25, 2006

Gag grouper and mangrove snapper fishing really turned on last week in 70- to 90-foot depths. One day most fish are caught using frozen sardines and squid, and the next day, at the same depths and types of structure, most keepers are captured using live bait such as pinfish, pigfish (sometimes called grass grunts) or squirrelfish.

Pinfish can be purchased from most bait shops on the water and many inland bait and tackle shops. Squirrelfish, also called sand perch, can be caught using sabiki rigs tipped with a small strip of squid on sandy areas adjacent to hard limestone bottom. They rarely inhabit large expanses of sandy areas that hold little life in the gulf. Pinfish appear to migrate far into the gulf this time of year to spawn, and we have encountered large schools as deep as 90 feet. We have seen them on the surface, much like schools of sardines or threadfins, and when a sabiki rig is tossed into them we are rewarded with five or six large pinfish at a time. It has paid off for us to hook one of these freshly caught baitfish and lower it to the bottom; often a few large gag and red grouper accompany these schools to feed on stragglers.

Successful bottom fishing this time of year requires being in the right depth; having the right bait, which requires carrying a large supply of frozen and live bait; and anchoring precisely over the structure, because with the colder water slowing their metabolism, the fish are hesitant to move far.

Dave Zalewski charters the Lucky Too out of Madeira Beach and can be reached at 727 397-8815 or by e-mail at Luckytoo2@aol.com

[Last modified January 25, 2006, 00:56:11]