Outdoors

Captain's Corner

By ED WALKER
Published October 17, 2007

Falling water temperatures and an influx of baitfish have inspired heavy feeding activity among a variety of species in the North Pinellas area. Both inshore and just off the beach, there has been outstanding rod-bending action. The hardest part has been deciding which kind of fish target.

On the flats: On the shallow side, there has been tons of bait. This makes loading the well easy and has the fish fired up. Snook action has been best early and toward the end of the day. Late afternoon, when the sun is lower in the sky and most of the boat traffic dies down, has been particularly good, producing linesiders up to 36 inches along the mainland shore.

Redfish action has also been good with double-digit catches common among those live bait fishing at high tide. Also joining the party are speckled trout. They have become much more active and are a possible catch anywhere between the barrier islands and the coast.

Just offshore: Pretty much every morning that the weather is decent, there have been schools of frenzied Spanish mackerel, jacks, ladyfish and bonito within a mile of the beach. The hard bottom off Honeymoon Island is one of my favorite places. Tossing a spoon or jig into the frothing frenzies is as close to a sure thing as you'll find. When the mackerel are thick, big smoker kings are usually lurking nearby. We have caught numerous kings over 25 pounds by pulling a live mackerel behind the boat while casting at the macks and bonito from the bow.

[Last modified October 16, 2007, 23:04:39]