Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER
Published August 15, 2006

The bait situation in lower Tampa Bay has changed. For more than a month, you could throw a net along the edge of most flats and catch whitebait and sardines. These areas are now infested with whitebait spawn small enough to get snagged in a quarter-inch mesh net. The trick for catching larger baits is to set up a chum slick and look in the water to see what size baits show up before casting the net. Sometimes the spawn shows first. Keep chumming until you see larger baits. The longer you wait, the bigger their numbers. You will get enough of the right-sized bait to start fishing, but you will get more than a few small baits snagged in the net. If you're lucky and get the large baits to show first, cast the net as soon as they show. Keep chumming and casting until the small baits show.

For those who throw a large net, look for schools of threadfins and scaled sardines around the Skyway area, range markers and channel markers outside the passes. The threadfins are running in the 4- to 6-inch range. The sardines are medium to extra large.

The snook are forming large schools as they prepare to leave the beach and head for their winter hangouts. The new moon at the end of the month probably will be your last shot at schools this size. If you can't find them along the beach, try the bridges that cross area passes.

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

[Last modified August 15, 2006, 09:56:28]