Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER
Published April 27, 2006

It's a great time to fish the Tampa Bay area. The trick to a successful trip is knowing when to leave fish that won't feed. The tarpon that are rolling on the grass flats in lower Tampa Bay are difficult to get feeding. Most of the hookups come when you slowly reel a large-scaled sardine across the face of a tarpon. Rigging baits to a cork or letting them swim freely on an unweighted rig will draw few, if any, strikes. Almost all have come from a freelined presentation and slow retrieve.

Snook are feeding sporadically. Some days they feed at the start of the incoming tide and the next day it's the outgoing tide that has the best action. The snook's fickle feeding might be due to large amounts of baitfish available. Most of lower Tampa Bay is loaded with schools of small threadfins, whitebait and scaled sardines, giving snook an unlimited food supply. When you locate a school that won't feed, target another species. The best fishing has been mackerel and kingfish off of John's Pass. Look for boats working the bait schools just south of the pass. If bait is not visible on the surface, head north until you see birds flocking or bait schools on the surface. A slow trolled scaled sardine worked along the outside of the bait schools has drawn the most strikes.

Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 347-1389.

[Last modified April 27, 2006, 02:20:16]