Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By LARRY HOFFMAN
Published September 28, 2006

Water temperatures are beginning to drop, so you will begin to see large migrating bait schools. Right behind the bait we will find kingfish, cobia and blackfin tuna. The cooler weather allows anglers to target multiple species in one full day. Kingfish are the target for a lot of us who look forward to fall. The runs offshore may be shorter, and you can catch large kingfish along our coast. Live bait is the method most of us use, but trolling hardware is also productive. With cooler temperatures, the grouper and snapper will move inshore, and the blackfin tuna will move from the Elbow and other offshore haunts to the bait pods that will line our coast. Fish live bait schools in 60 feet of water and deeper to catch blackfin tuna and an occasional sailfish. Gold hook local baits from the bait schools and immediately start slow-trolling around the bait schools. If there are kingfish or tuna in the area, the action is usually immediate. Tuna are schooling fish; to keep the tuna near your transom when you have hooked a tuna, toss cut-up frozen sardines in the area for multiple hook-ups. Forty-pound tackle with smooth drags work well. Use wire leaders 30- and 40-pound-test line to prevent kingfish and barracuda from cutting your lines. Grouper and snapper are in 85 to 95 feet of water. Use live bait near small ledges and hard-bottom areas are producing best.

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

[Last modified September 29, 2006, 06:58:59]