Outdoors

Captain's Corner

By DAVE MISTRETTA
Published February 19, 2007

What's hot: We caught a few decent-sized grouper in state waters before the recent blast of cold air. Sea conditions were not favorable Thursday to head far offshore. The plan was to fish deeper waters for amberjack, but we were forced to change that plan after pounding into 5-foot seas and blustery west winds. Our decision to fish the edge of state and federal waters paid off with a few hefty gag grouper.

Tactics: We didn't catch many fish, but the keepers we did land were impressive. Both fish averaged about 13 pounds. We were on some ledges due east of Rube Allen Reef. Plenty of life on the sonar kept our confidence high during the slow periods. All at once, after about 10 minutes of sitting over the structure, the action picked up. We broke two huge fish off when they hit live pinfish and took our rigs into the rocks. After rerigging heavier leaders, we hit the jackpot.

Two more pinfish sent to the bottom were gobbled up by the hefty grouper almost immediately. The vibration from the giant pinfish was too much for the big grouper to resist. A minute later we caught a 24-inch keeper on a dead sardine. After the short spurt of action, the bite stopped, and it was quiet again. This situation is typical during winter because water temperatures are in the 50s on the bottom, making the fish quite finicky at times.

Finding pinfish: We caught our pinfish a few miles west of Clearwater Pass. The bottom was covered with these great grouper bait. Monitoring sonar while heading west, we detected the big school of bait. These schools of larger pinfish are usually settled on patchy hard bottom during winter months. They leave the bays when the water gets too cool and reside offshore until spring.

Dave Mistretta captains the Jaws Too out of Indian Rocks Beach. Call 727 595-3276, e-mail jawstoo@msn.com or visit jawstoo.com.

[Last modified February 18, 2007, 21:19:15]