Outdoors

Captain's Corner

By Ed Walker, Times Correspondent
Published March 9, 2008

Spring action is trying to break loose, but winter does not want to release its grip. Before the past two cold fronts, inshore fishing was spectacular, with vast schools of scaled sardines, Spanish mackerel and snook.

Bait: Scaled sardines poured into the bays and estuaries from the gulf when the weather was its warmest. Flats fishermen were loading their wells at the Sunshine Skyway and Gandy bridges and chumming for bait on many of the traditional grass-bottom spots. The cold air and heavy seas will likely send the minnows back offshore for a while.

Mackerel: Big macks were tearing up bays, nearshore gulf and passes. The water probably will not get too cold for them, but they prefer clean water, which will be scarce for a few days.

Snook: Fishing has been good, but it will experience a setback as the water temperature plummets, sending snook back into the rivers and residential canals and dulling their appetites.

Ed Walker charters out of Tarpon Springs and can be reached at info@lighttacklecharters.com or 727 944-3474.

[Last modified March 8, 2008, 18:12:40]