Captain's corner

By RICK FRAZIER

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 7, 2000

Not only are fish attracted to structures such as docks, piers and bridges, they're also drawn to edges. I define an edge as where two types of terrain come together. Sometimes an edge can be as subtle as a depression in the bottom or as obvious as a drop-off. Finding these types of areas is not difficult. The easiest and most productive time to do that is during the lowest tides. I look for anything that comes together. One of my favorite kinds of places is patchy grass with sand bottom. Fish such as snook and trout will lie in the grass on the edge of a sandy pothole and wait for an unsuspecting target's silhouette to show on the sandy bottom.

Another favorite place is sandbars, especially those next to deep water. I usually work bars that wind will allow me to drift along. Once I get a bite, I drop the anchor and fan cast the area with my most confident baits. Reds, trout, snook, cobia and pompano are sandbar dwellers.

If you can find oyster beds popping out of a grass flat ... well, it doesn't get much better. Some beds are dormant, but others are loaded with activity -- bird activity, that is. If you see birds such as white ibis, yellow crowned night herons and little blue or Louisiana herons, chances are the bed is holding food not only for the birds but for what we're after as well.

-- Rick Frazier runs Lucky Dawg Charters in St. Petersburg. Call (727) 448-3817.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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