Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER
Published September 19, 2006

Red Tide moved inside John's Pass this past weekend. Dead fish could be seen floating inside the residential canals. This will make catching fish and live bait more difficult.

It's easy to see what areas are affected. Not only are there dead fish, but the water is cloudy and you can smell the Red Tide. This outbreak may last until water temperatures drop considerably. Now is a good time to start exploring fishing areas farther from the pass.

My next trips will be in areas that were not affected during last year's outbreak. The grass flats north of the Madeira bridge and the flats north of the St. Petersburg pier are good places to start. When searching for new areas to fish, the first thing I want to find is bait. I'll run the dropoff of the flats in search of surface action or bird activity. Then I'll chum the area with jack mackerel to see what size the baits are. When the right size whitebaits are located, I'll overfill the live well and head for the nearest mangrove shoreline.

Drifting along the mangroves while tossing handfuls of live baits near or into the branches will let me know if there are fish in that area. Trout, redfish and snook will pop at the baits and give away their location. I won't waste time fishing. It's better to cover as many spots as possible before the bait runs out. I can then return at a later date and fish the areas where the baits got slammed.

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

[Last modified September 19, 2006, 01:33:49]