Outdoors

Calm conditions here and beyond make longer runs easy, productive

By Jay Mastry, Times correspondent
Published August 17, 2007

The light wind and calm seas of this past week were similar to the conditions we experienced during a weeklong fishing trip near Marathon in the Florida Keys.

Even in ideal conditions we had to work at it and weed through a bunch of "shorts" (and nurse sharks) to manage 50 lobster to bring home.

Scattered grass and no real definition to the weed lines made dolphin fishing a challenge inside 30 miles. But, the mangrove snapper fishing couldn't have been much better.

The natural reef line that runs nearly the entire length of the Keys from 3 to 6 miles offshore can be productive for a variety of species at almost any hour of the day.

The reef really comes to life, especially for "mangos," after the lights go out.

From 9 p.m till just after midnight, our two-boat party landed more than 100 snapper, ranging up to 6 pounds. Howard Miller, his son Cameron and their party went the next night and got 70 more.

After an hour of combination chumming in 70 feet of water - using chum blocks in a mesh bag, and slivers of sardines and ballyhoo - the mangrove and yellowtail snapper came to the surface.

We were able to catch all we wanted on 12 and 15-pound test spinning tackle. It made it that much more of a challenge, then we left them biting.

Whenever fishing out of town there is no substitute for local knowledge. The operators of bait and tackle shops can steer anglers in the right direction, clue them in on the most productive depths and offer advice on the better baits. We found the local shops most helpful.

Reports from those getting offshore in the Tampa Bay area did better the farther they traveled.

Kevin Farner and Tony Cellemare on the Dream V out of the Anclote River had an impressive catch of mangrove and a few red snapper on an 8-foot ledge in 80 feet of water.

Most of those fish were caught on live bait that they gathered in pinfish traps the day before.

A couple of outstanding catches were reported by those venturing out to the "Pipe" in and around 160 feet.

Large gag and black grouper were the headliners, but dolphin and wahoo were bonus catches that made the trip worthwhile.

The better reports of red grouper catches seem to be in the 120-foot depths and most of them are southwest of the Egmont ships channel.

Start each drop at new locations with dead bait. You can often reignite a bite that has slowed with live bait later. At least during the summertime, bottom fish that have been spoiled by live bait first will seldom turn back on with the dead stuff.

Jay Mastry charters Jaybird out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 321-2142.

[Last modified August 17, 2007, 00:21:23]