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Captain's corner

By ED WALKER

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 13, 2000

This week's warming trend has greatly improved fishing inshore and offshore as water temperatures have risen from the high 50s to the 60s.

We headed offshore Sunday grouper fishing. After a quick and fruitless stop in 20 feet of water, we ran out to 65 feet, where we had great action. We landed 150 pounds of gags and a few amberjack on two stops.

Although we had live pinfish, cigar minnows and blue runners, we caught nearly all our fish on frozen sardines. Just one grouper was caught on a live pinfish. Patiently soaking a stinky dead bait was key. The bites were subtle, with no hard strike, just a slight bump and dead weight. Once hooked they fought hard, and several broke us off after a tug of war. The average size was 10 pounds, and we caught only one undersized fish. I also had a flats trip and caught many 2- to 5-pound trout. Jack Packard and I fished soft-plastic jerkbaits in several areas with ultra-light tackle. We caught at least 30 fish over 3 pounds with several in the 5- to 6-pound range. They are out of season in Florida's South Region, so all were released.

The trout were in very shallow water, and with hazy overcast conditions they stayed in the shallows all day. Normally they move deeper in the afternoon as sunlight exposes them and makes them uncomfortable. We used 6-pound line with 12-pound fluorocarbon leader. The lures were rigged weedless on a worm hook with no weight.

- Ed Walker charters out of Palm Harbor. Call (727) 944-3474 or e-mail TarponEd@aol.com.

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