A slow start from shore

The Report

For the shore angler, we have had a shaky start to the season. Changing weather conditions is really the culprit. We have had to deal with a lot of wind, murky water, and hot and cold weather. So the word for March is inconsistent, to say the least. Straggler fishing. Move around and cover water.

That all said, it is only April 1st and still plenty of time to have a good spring. The thing that has seemed to pass is the great Ice-out opportunity that is usually good for a giant Brown or two. We just haven’t seen that yet and maybe that chance has passed.

The bait in the river is GIANT. Gizzard shad in the two pound range. That’s really doesn’t help us much unless there is some smaller stuff mixed in.

The coming warm up is what we needed. Watch for the surface to warm and the wind to pile it into specific areas of the harbor. This will start to attract bait, and then trout. Until the waters warm and the bait congregates, we will be straggler fishing. One here one there, no pattern. As uncomfortable as it may be, there are times when you will have to force yourself to fish in a wind-blown corner. The old adage "the fishing is the best when the winds from the west", doesn't work in spring. West winds blow out any warm water we may have. A little easterly component doesn't hurt right now keeping warmed surface water near shore.

Stick with the go-to stuff right now. What is that, you ask?

I’ve often thought about that as I lug my 35 pound back pack around wondering if I really need all this stuff. “ What would I take if I could only fill one small pocket tackle box?” Here’s what I would have.

2/5th Cleo, Silver and Green
2/5th Cle, Gold and Orange
½ oz. KO Wobbler, Silver and Green
¾ oz Kastmaster, Silver and blue or green
#2 Mepps Syclops Silver or gold
4.25 “ Thunderstick (AJ) Gold Prism (#183)
Daves Deep KaBoom or a Deep Thunderstick Jr., Gold Prism
Deep X-Rap (XRD-10) Sliver with a black back.
A Shad Rap, Berkley Frenzy Diver, Berkley Flicker Shad, or a Storms Rattlin’ Flat wart (no longer made but the holy grail of shore casting crankbaits)
¼ ounce bullet heads with a bag of 4” Gulp! Minnows (pearl or watermelon pearl)
And last but not least some of my white marabou minnow jigs.

I could cover quite a bit with that arsenal.

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags........

Marc

The Skyway- A Pier Fisherman's Dream

Last week I mentioned that I wanted to talk about the Sunshine Skyway Piers near St. Petersburg, Florida. For those of you not familiar, let me give you the back story about the piers.

The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was completed in 1954 spanning Tampa Bay and linking St. Petersburg with Palmetto. They list it about 6 miles long. In 1980, a freighter collided with one of the pier supports sending a ¼ mile section into the bay killing 35 people.
The old bridge was demolished in 1993 but the left two sections, one on the north end and one on the south end, for fishing. This is now known as Skyway Fishing Pier State Park. A new and I may say, quite spectacular bridge was built and finished in 1987 and runs right next to where the remains of the old one stand.

So, what’s left for fishermen is the longest fishing pier in the world. I don’t know the exact lengths, but I was on the south pier and it was about 2 to 2.5 miles long. There is a full service bait shop about 1.5 miles out. The one on the north end is about 1.5 miles long. You pay your fee and drive out and fish anywhere you’d like. Your pass is good for 24 hours and is good on either pier.

The beauty of the pier is that nearly anything that lives in the Gulf can be caught from this bridge depending on the season. The day I fished there I saw no action at all and there were only a few other fisherman out there because the fishing had been poor. I was told that it was common to have 700 to 1000 guys on the pier 24 hours per day once the fishing picked up.
Grouper, Snapper, Snook, Tarpon, Flounder, King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel, Specks, you name it, it can be caught here. And SHARKS!!

Yes, they specifically fish for big sharks here at night in the summer. Their website and pictures on the bait shop wall show some impressive toothy critters. Their reels, the size of 3 pound coffee cans. Rods like pool cues. Eight pound Bonito rest frozen in the bait shop coolers waiting to be baited for sharks. I know we fish some big Suckers up here for musky, but looking at an 8 pound fish ready to be used whole for bait was a shocker. I could only think to myself, “were not in Wisconsin anymore, Toto”.

The bait shop operator (from Muskego, Yes, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an ex-cheesehead down there) told me a story from last year. For a two week period, fishermen were getting stringers stolen, fish clipped off during fights, and tackle stripped from the rails. After reporting the occurrences, the Florida Fish and Wildlife started to patrol the area. One day they actually saw it and shot the photo from a plane. They approximated it to be a 17 foot Bull Shark!!! There isn’t much you can do but wait for it to get bored and take up residence somewhere else, which it finally did.

He also told me about a great King Mackerel he hooked last year. It was a 35-40 pounder, best of the season, and he fought it for an hour till he finally got it next to the pier. The other anglers readied a pier net and just as they lowered it to the water to snatch up his prize Kingfish, a shark helped himself to everything but the head. Disappointing, but man what a story!
For a pier junkie like myself, this was heaven on earth. It has all the species and excitement of an off-shore trip without the cost and the sea-sickness. As I mentioned, I didn’t catch a thing out there that morning. It just wasn’t the time to fish the piers yet and the only action was shallow. But I saw Rays, Dolphins, dozens of birds who were very interested in my bucket of live shrimp, and a great sunrise.

What a great pier and I can’t wait to fish it again someday under better conditions. Florida is refreshing for a shore/pier guy like myself. They actually make fishing areas and encourage people to fish from bridges, piers, beaches. The shore spots are endless. It’s very unlike here where it seems like we have to fight to keep access for fishing along many of our shore locations.

The Report

The wind, rain, and run-off really messed things up temporarily. Some good news is that the tribs opened up and the fish in the harbor seemed to have spread out a little. A little of anything could work right now. Spoons, cranks, jigs. It’s that time when a big fish could be around! When this clears a little, we should be back in action!

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags……

A little Florida to break up Winter

Well, I’m back from my long-awaited trip to Florida. It was less than spectacular on the fishing front, but there was enough going on at least to keep things interesting.

I was in the Bradenton area (south of Tampa) and fished Anna Maria Island city pier, the causeway through Palma Sola Bay, the Green Bridge in Palmetto, the Skyway Pier, and several locations in Siesta Key. Overall the water temps averaged about 8 degrees colder than they should be at this time of the year due to the horrible winter they have had. Even months after the devastating series of cold fronts they had around the second week of January, dead fish could be seen decomposing in the shallows. I saw some Snook in the 30” range, white and rotting on the bottom. Reports I heard while down there are guessing at possibly 1/2 million Snook perished due to the cold water conditions. They have a temporary closure on several species till they can assess the damage. Snook is closed till fall and I would guess that it may be extended even further.

There was a noticeable lack of baitfish which is having a huge effect on the fishing. Some of this bait population also perished, and the rest just isn’t near shore to draw in the larger fish. It was actually very warm the first four days of our trip reaching 81 at one point. Even a short warm-up like this was bringing the skinny water back to life. I did see some small schools of mullet and a rare sighting of a school of Ballyhoo in the shallows off the Green Bridge in Palmetto.

My effort on the big piers (where I am more familiar) was dead. A call back home to fishing buddy Mike Schwister put him on the internet for me for a quick fishing report check from 1300 miles away. Mike said, get off the piers and head south and find some skinny water and grass. Bingo, right on. I found action down in Siesta Key the next couple days and saved the trip.

Let’s be honest here, the fishing was slow. But moving south put me on at least some action. Ladyfish saved the week for me. They aren’t huge but like everything else in the salt, they fight a lot harder than most things in fresh water. Ladyfish will scream a little line off the reel but they really put on an aerial show for you, jumping 6-8 times during the fight.
Outside of that the usual Pinfish and Blowfish kept you sharp and some bonus Flounder to feed the locals fishing along side of you.

Jigs and Gulp! shrimp or Gulp! minnows were the hot item. With the bite so slow I was reluctant to experiment too much although I threw some gold spoons and Mirrodines here and there but no action. I did try some live shrimp but all I seemed to do is feed the Pins. I should have just boiled up the shrimp.

Ironically, I paid $3.99 per pound for ground beef at the local Publix. I also bought a pound of raw shrimp with the shells on to use as bait or just to sweeten up a jig. The shrimp was $2.99 per pound!!! We laughed that we should have just eaten shrimp all week!

For anyone heading down there, the Anna Maria City pier is a great place for a Grouper sandwich and just about anything they serve from what we had. The restaurant is about 700 feet out in the bay on a pier. If you are still, you can feel that it moves with the waves! If you can’t feel it, look at the wine glasses hanging above the bar. They swing ever so slowly.

One thing I really want to do again is fish the Skyway. I’ll close this up for today, but my next blog I want to talk about the Skyway. What a treasure that pier is. For a pier rat like me, the Skyway is heaven on earth.

The Harbor

Back home here, the action has been slow for shore anglers. A few fish are being caught under the Hoan and ice is out at most places. Watch for the ice to go out in the McKinley basin. This is always a good bet if you can time it right. My late father’s one time world record Brown (8# test) was taken on the weekend that the ice went out on the McKinley area. We had three fish over 20 pounds in two mornings culminating with his C&R world record. There are a lot of big fish under the ice and when it goes out there is a great opportunity till they disperse. Suspending minnow baits like big Husky Jerks or X-Raps are great for the big ones. Work them slow.

Till next time, tight lines, smooth drags, and take someone fishing!