Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By ROB GORTA
Published October 9, 2006

The last time I fished Pinellas Point, signs of Red Tide had moved into the area. While push-poling the skiff into one of my favorite redfish haunts, clients noticed that pinfish were dying all around us. Then we saw mullet floating. I hopped off my poling platform and opened the live well. The pinfish and whitebaits were starting to panic. A couple of baits were dead. I started the boat and headed to the opposite end of the flat, trying to save what bait was left.

Mullet were jumping, a good sign. I poled into the area and found a huge school of reds. We nailed one on a topwater plug. The school became very spooky, and we had to work hard to land the rest. They were not the typical monster bull reds you see this time of year; they were all in the legal slot size. Nine fish were hooked and six were landed. Two died immediately after trying to revive them, a sign of low oxygen in the water.

Rob Gorta charters out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 647-7606 or visit captainrobgorta.com.

[Last modified October 9, 2006, 02:12:03]