Minnow madness

Four primary species fill area waters this timeof year - becoming food for many kinds of fish.

By ED WALKER, Times Correspondent
Published September 8, 2007

Every year about this time, newly hatched minnows appear in the gulf off the Nature Coast shoreline. They are generally made up of four primary species: Spanish sardines, threadfin herring, scaled sardines and glass minnows. Sometimes they intermingle for safety. From the day they begin life, they become food for many kinds of fish and are pursued day and night. When the open-water fish zero in on them, this mobile food source flees toward shallower waters, often becoming pinned against the beach by game fish.

Unexpected encounter

A few years ago on a typical late summer morning, my charter party and I rounded the north end of Anclote Key headed toward the beach. The big snook had been holding there, and the plan was to try our luck casting at them. As soon as the entire length of the beach came into view, we saw birds diving on something just outside the sand bar. Such a large and dense gathering of birds and bait at this time of year could hold just about anything. The closer we got, the more splashes we could see.

As we slowed amid all the striking fish and bombarding birds, the water appeared black, darkened by a nearly solid mass of glass minnows. Each was only an inch or two long but there were so many. The gamefish had been corralling them, and the tired minnows were stacked so tightly together that one could easily scoop them out of the water with a dip net. When a school has been under attack for a long time, it becomes the marine version of an all-you-can-eat buffet; a wide variety of fish are likely to show up.

The discovery had Spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, bonito, ladyfish, sharks, several large tarpon and many others working it over. The mackerel and jacks were circling the perimeter like sheepdogs keeping a flock together. When the bait ball got dense enough, the tarpon and sharks would glide in and gulp entire mouthfuls with each pass. The tarpon would often turn on their sides to feed, exposing their beautiful silver-mirrored sides to the sunlight.

Other times, all of the fish would simply let loose on the hapless baitfish at the same time and a wide-open melee would occur, with water splashing and fish flying everywhere. It is one of the most exciting things any angler can hope to find.

That day we hooked three big tarpon, landing one in the 100-pound class, mackerel up to 5 pounds, more ladyfish and jacks than we really wanted to, and several black-tip sharks.

Macks and jacks

Getting all of the fish that are working over a bait ball to bite is not always as simple as one might think. The mackerel and jacks are, however, relatively easy. They are not picky and will readily gobble up any type of lure or live bait that resembles what they are feeding on if it is cast into the open water, not into the minnow mass. Small spoons are a great choice, as they are very flashy, easy to cast and good imitations of wounded baitfish.

Tarpon and sharks

Getting some of the bigger fish, such as tarpon and sharks, to strike can present a problem. They seldom bother to chase or eat a single glass minnow. They are there to gulp mass quantities so lone tiny baits or lures will not be looked at.

The best bet is to offer a bigger baitfish, such as a 6-inch threadfin herring or scaled sardine, near the edge of the minnow school. When the fish are between gulps of minnows and cruising the open water, they will grab a well-presented threadfin. Floats can be helpful in keeping track of bait and making sure it stays out of the relative safety of the bait ball.

Bonito

The technique for catching bonito in this situation is completely different. While you want to place your bait out of the minnows for everything else, you must be right in them to get bonito bites. The reason for this is that these members of the tuna family rarely bother to feed anywhere but in the middle of a wide-open "foamer."

They typically race around below the surface checking out the baitpods, then charge in and gobble everything they can for 30 seconds or so. Then it's over, for the moment. Your bait must land in the foaming frenzy to get a bonito bite when they are in this pattern.

Chasing them can be frustrating, especially for fly casters. As you run up to each melee, it dies off and another one starts where you just came from. You pick up and go back, and the same thing happens. One piece of advice when run-and-gunning for bonito is to go early. The best action comes at daybreak, and the action steadily wanes until 10 or 11 a.m., when it generally ends.

Kingfish

On some occasions, big kingfish will come into shallow water to gorge on the bait swarms, and the other fish, such as mackerel and blue runners, that they attract.

This was the case last fall during the King of the Beach kingfish tournament. I received a phone call from another tournament boat that they were catching numerous kings over 20 pounds to the south. We ran to his location and found the skies filled with birds that were working over a huge mass of baitfish in just 9 feet of water. Small Spanish mackerels were leaping everywhere, and there were ladyfish and blue runners tearing up the water.

Having never caught kings so shallow, I opted to slow troll live mackerel outside the sand bar. After a fruitless 30 minutes, I reluctantly trolled inside the sand bar, not far from the swimmers, and a short time later we had a money-winning fish onboard.

Keep an eye open for diving birds this month and into October. They can be the key to fishing success if you happen to be in the right place at the right time.

Bear in mind that from a distance, you usually only see a few of the bigger birds, but as you get closer more may come into focus.

[Last modified September 7, 2007, 20:20:23]