Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By DAVID BROWN
Published September 18, 2006

David Metheney of St. Petersburg won top honors for the inshore division of the Old Salts Inshore/Offshore Fishing Tournament on Sunday at Gators on the Pass at Treasure Island. Offshore results were not available.

Participants photographed eligible species against an official measuring board. Catches were judged by total length in inches. Metheney and tournament partner Kevin L'Eon, also of St. Petersburg, entered two snook 33 ½ and 27 inches, two redfish (29 and 27 inches) and a pair of 20-inch sheepshead.

The anglers used soft, plastic jerk baits on one-eighth-ounce jig heads for the snook. They floated live pinfish under corks for the reds and free-lined fiddler crabs for the sheepshead.

Metheney and L'Eon found their snook and redfish around dock lights in the Intracoastal Waterway near John's Pass. They caught the sheepshead next to the John's Pass Bridge pilings.

Anglers began fishing at 12:01 a.m. Inshore competitors had to enter their photographs by 2 p.m., and offshore teams had to check in by 5 p.m.

Metheney said he needed nearly the entire time to locate productive areas that were not affected by patches of Red Tide. Also, slow water movement resulted in low feeding aggression among some fish.

"We fished all the way until 5 a.m. this morning," he said. "The snook were the hardest."

Patience, persistence and practice led to his team's success, he said: "You definitely have to put in your time, but you also have to do a little prefishing. I'm on the water about four days a week."

David A. Brown covers area fishing tournaments and can be reached at tightlinecomm@aol.com.

[Last modified September 18, 2006, 02:47:31]