by Capt. Rachel Cato
So many options this month, it’ll be hard to decide what to fish for. If you’re a die-hard flats angler you will have all the snook, reds, and trout you want to target. If your more interested in harder and bigger fighters, tarpon and big mackerel will be in the passes and deeper water. I generally load my boat with the tarpon rods and inshore rods to be prepared for anything. Live bait will be fairly loaded on the flats, deeper water by the piers as well as on the beach. Spanish mackerel are an excellent fish to cook fresh for table fare and perfect for smoking. I fillet the fish then trim on both sides of the blood line to remove the “fishyness” and bones. I’ll carefully skin the fillet before this step if you’re going to prefer skinless filets. There are several locations to chum up some awesome action, such as Bean Point at Anna Maria, off Rattlesnake Key out of Terra Ceia Bay and the fishing piers as well as the main bridge at the Skyway. Larger mackerel have a greater chance to bite off the leaders even while using a long shank hook. Using a 2-3 in piece of 40# wire attached by a haywire twist to the long shank hook and then tie on the leader to the wire. This gives a couple more inches for the teeth to bite on without biting off the hook. Inshore fishing as I mentioned is quite fun this month, and I’ve often fished a few hours without seeing any other boats. Possibly because most anglers are on the hunt for tarpon or just spaced out in more areas.
Spotted Seatrout have been a little slower to show up this year. Possibly red tide that we had has killed most of the slot fish. Common areas are at the points of current on grass flats, sand holes and drop off’s in the 4 to 6 foot depth. Not sure where to fish? Look for current, grass beds mixed in the sand, possibly birds diving on bait. Start your drift up current/upwind and throw out live bait and cut bait. After a few minutes you may see some blowups on your “chum”. If so drop your anchor and fish! If nothing is happening then keep moving and drifting until you catch fish or run out of bait!