Outdoors

Captain's Corner

By DAVE MISTRETTA, Times Correspondent
Published January 28, 2008

Awesome fishing: Even with all of the bad weather, fishing has been outstanding. Grouper are at the top of the list for most offshore anglers, with 60-plus feet of water seeming to hold the most activity. We have been sneaking out between each front, which happens to be about every three days.

Where to catch bait: Live pinfish are easily accessible about a mile from shore on the sandy bottom. Monitoring the sonar allows you to see the massive schools of bait as they hover directly off the sandy bottom. The pinfish are ravenous, attacking every hook on the sabiki rigs. This allows anglers to fill the live wells quickly before going bottomfishing. Once arriving to 60 feet, watch the sonar closely.

Location: Grouper have been showing themselves about 3 feet above many of the rocks. Live coral and sponges atop natural limestone rocks have been our main targets. If you see a few grouper on the sonar, give it a whirl. Eventually, one of these structures will produce some nice fish.

Red snapper rebound: At just about every spot that grouper were found, there was an abundance of American red snapper. The season is closed until April, but stocks look better than I have witnessed in years. A careful release of these prized eating fish is a must. Often, snapper in depths of 70-plus feet need to be vented. This simple procedure allows the gas to escape from their body cavity so they can go back to the bottom and recuperate. A small incision directly behind the pectoral fin seems to work best for us. A hollow needle is used by many conscious anglers while practicing this lifesaving procedure.

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

[Last modified January 27, 2008, 21:04:33]