Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By LARRY HOFFMAN
Published April 11, 2006

Kingfish season is in full throttle from Boca Grande to Clearwater. Numerous kingfish over 30 pounds are busting up live bait schools and live bait offerings.

Randy Comans on the Voyager fished the Egmont Channel on Saturday and caught and released 15 kingfish, each more than 20 pounds. They had a really big one but it cut his line. Comans attributed his success to live blue runners, No.8 treble hooks and 12-inch wire leaders. They were slow trolling using two downriggers and four lines on top.

We fished Channel marker Nos. 5 and 6 on Wednesday with six Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity brothers from Emory University having a 15 year reunion. We trolled hardware to cover a bigger area; Mark Wolberg, Danny Moses and Chuck Grossman caught their first kingfish. The biggest was 18 pounds and others were "schoolies." We were trolling mirror lures - deep-diving purple and tiger colored lures. We tied the line directly to the lures using a loop knot. We prefer live bait and slow troll but sometimes hardware rules.

Offshore action is heating up with the shrimp fleet south of Sarasota. Blackfin tuna are moving north with the shrimpers. There have been a few reports of permit caught south of the Egmont Channel. Live pass crabs or large live shrimp are excellent baits for permit, found in 50-60 feet of water over shipwrecks. Light tackle with 20-pound test on open face spinner reels work best in casting to the permit. Look for sailfish in 60 feet of water and slow-troll live Spanish sardines around bait schools.

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

[Last modified April 11, 2006, 02:45:09]