Captain's corner

By RICK FRAZIER

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 3, 2000

If you can take the heat and thunderstorms don't run you off, then get out about 3 this afternoon and work the 2.4 monster-high tide for redfish around the mangrove islands.

Reds have been waiting since last summer for these once-a-year high tides. As soon as the water gets deep enough, they will be close to the bushes, looking for crabs, shrimp, baitfish and anything else appetizing.

If you plan to throw fakes, then choose a bait that targets all phases of the water column and covers plenty of water. All kinds of artificials will work: a crankbait, jig and, of course, a gold spoon. Another great artificial is a spinner bait, the same spinner the freshwater guys use for bass. Work it as you would the gold spoon. After casting and just before the bait hits the water, start the retrieve and skip the bait on the surface back to you the first few feet, then let the real speed keep it just below the surface.

Single willow or Carolina blades are favorites, with gold or yellow skirts to dress them up. Three-eights-ounce is all you need. One of the best features about spinners is they are almost weedless.

It's hard to go wrong with a lively pinfish or grunt dangling under a float. Whitebait will work, too, but they will not hold up in the warmer water up on the flats. Pinfish and grunts live and thrive in that warm water. The whitebait live on the edges of the flats, where the water is cooled by the constant flow from the gulf.

-- Captain Rick Frazier runs Lucky Dawg Charters in St. Petersburg, (727)448-3817 or e-mail captrick@luckydawg.com

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