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Game plan trips around Red Tide

By DOUG HEMMER
Published October 6, 2006

Red Tide has affected the fishing from John's Pass to the Skyway Bridge. Red Tide moved on to the flats around Fort De Soto Park on Monday. Whitebait and pinfish could be seen dying on the surface. There were still a few schools of redfish that would feed. Hopefully these schools will move out of the area before the Red Tide kills them.

Most of our trips have been inside the Skyway Bridge. Bait was easy to find over the deeper grass flats. Snook and redfish are hanging near the docks from Pinellas Point to Weedon Island. The trick to locating a productive dock is to live-chum the area and look for surface strikes. Have a bait ready to cast as soon as you see a strike. It's best to cast past the strike and reel the bait back to where the fish broke the surface. If you cast short, reel in and re-cast. Keep fishing until your chumming baits stop drawing strikes. Then move to a new area and repeat the process.

Your tackle should be at least 20-pound line and 40-pound leader. Anything lighter will allow the fish to cut you off on the pilings. These same areas will have oyster bars and swash islands close by. Work the up-current side during the end of the incoming and the start of the outgoing tide. When chumming these areas, try to keep your tossed baits low to the water so the birds won't move in to eat them. If the birds see the baits flash during the throw, they'll dive on the baits and spook all the fish.

Trolling and bottom fishing for grouper along the shipping channel has been red-hot. If you don't have a good spot to fish, try trolling the drop-off of the channel and mark a spot as soon as you hook a fish. You can then return and bottom fish that area. Most anglers troll with a No. 3 planer rigged with 30 feet of 80-pound line and a large crankbait tied to the end. Drop the planer down so it can run in 26 feet of water without tripping. Work the drop into the channel from 26 feet to 34 feet. Be ready to throw a jug or mark the spot on a recorder as soon as you get a strike. Anglers are reporting catching gags in the 22- to 32-inch range. Anglers bottom fishing caught all their keepers using live pinfish.

The Gandy Bridge is holding good numbers of pompano. You can drift the bridge while working a pompano jig along the bottom. Once you locate the fish, anchor the boat next to a piling and scrape the barnacles off the piling. This will attract the school to the back of the boat and really pick up the action. Quickly ice down the ones you want to eat, as allowing them to sit in the sun makes for a poor-tasting meal.

Tarpon are following the bait spawn as it moves through Tampa Bay. The spawn will not move into the Red Tide, so this causes them to bunch up where the algae bloom ends. When this happens the tarpon will stack up in large numbers and feast on the spawn. Keep your eyes open, because this unique occurrence is happening right now.

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

[Last modified October 6, 2006, 06:49:13]