Capt. James Vadas
The beautiful turquoise colored water on the gulf side of Anna Maria has started to cool. The water was about 83° the last time I checked and it’s been loaded with sharks, Spanish mackerel and Bonita. The east wind has kept our fishing mostly away from middle of Tampa Bay, in favor of the calmer water on the west side of Anna Maria Island. The best spot to fish has been about a mile off the beach, right around the middle of the island between Bean Point and Coquina Beach. Once you spot the birds dive bombing the bait fish, you have found the spot. Start chumming the water with some of your baitfish to get the attention of the feeding fish. Then cast out your flat lines with those extra-long hooks. Once you start loading the cooler up enough for dinner, take one of those mackerel and cut it up for shark bait. Place a chunk of mackerel on #9 hook attached to a 6’ steel leader and cast it as far as you can behind the boat. Use a big rod like a Penn Spin Fisher 8500. Loosen the drag all the way so when the shark picks up the bait he can swim with it in his mouth with no resistance from the fishing reel at all. An old timer taught me how to catch sharks years ago. You have to be patient. He said not to pull on it too early before the shark has had enough time to bite the hook into his jaws. Sharks don’t have any suction motion. They eat by swimming forward using the water push the food into their mouth. If you pull on it too early they spit it out.
Sharks aren’t the only ones that like mackerel as cut bait. Tarpon like it too! At first we thought it was a shark until he jumped for the first time. That’s right we hooked a 6’ 150-pound Tarpon on that very shark rig. It took two guys 30 minutes of fighting to wear him out. We had him next to the boat for some photos. He thrashed and got away from me for a moment, but he was still exhausted after the fight. I quickly turned the boat around to resume reviving him. We released him after he had enough energy to swim away safely, without being eaten by the all the sharks.
The other really fantastic charter I had recently was with my friend JP and his grandson. We had a great trip fighting some tough blacktips and even a large hammerhead shark. They also caught and kept a bunch of Spanish mackerel for the grill. The fishing was great, but during the trip we talked openly about our faith in Jesus. I pray that our boat is always a safe place for grandparents, parents, young adults, kids and especially sinners to openly discuss God’s creation. Thank you again JP, I look forward to fishing with you and your awesome grandson again.