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By DOUG HEMMER
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 22, 2001
Afternoon rain has cooled the water on the flats. Lower temperature means better fishing. Expect the redfish and snook to start hitting live baits and artificial lures with more gusto. Recent trips produced slams of snook, red and trout. Most snook were caught just before sun-up using tail-hooked shrimp in the lights. The reds are hitting small pinfish under a cork. The reds are still spooked if they become aware of you. The best way to approach them is to drift in. The lack of noise will keep the reds in the same area.
Trout are going deep after the sun comes up. Look for them on the grass piles that are in 4 to 6 feet of water. The water will be cooler and less clear than the shallows. Work the edges of the grass with a red or root beer colored jig. Trout like to lay on the bottom with one side of their body against the grass and the other facing the sand. This way they can see bait fish while hiding from predators.
The most productive areas usually have cormorants working the surface. Cormorants want to eat pinfish and so do the trout.
Tarpon are still on the beach. Free lined scaled sardines have drawn the most strikes when cast in front of a slow moving school. Other anglers working the beach are doing real well using the sit and wait technique.
-- Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 347-1389.