Capt. James Vadas
We have been catching snook and sheepshead in the beautiful gin clear water surrounding Anna Maria Island at the same time! It’s no joke, so it must be spring time. The irony is that snook are usually active when the water is warm and we only catch sheepshead in winter time. So, you could say they overlap now. I like to be prepared to catch both of these fish in one day. To do that you need live shiners and live shrimp. When I am fishing deeper water, we use a 1/4-ounce jig head. Put a half shrimp over that hook to catch sheepshead around the artificial reefs, bridges, and inlets. But I also have caught redfish and black drum with this setup, especially around the docks. When fishing the shallow water for snook, I’m using live shiners on #2 circle hook tied to 3 feet of 20lb fluorcarbon leader, casting close to the mangroves, also, the edges of the grassy and sandy spots in the shallow flats during an outgoing tide. The spring tides are drastic here. So, heed this warning from a captain who was an “April Fool for Snook” and ended up getting his boat stuck on a sand bar leaving his favorite snook hole. What can I say it’s “hard to leave biting fish” but if we stay in this spot any longer we won’t have enough water to float. We were lucky that Captain Ryan from Inshore Adventures was fishing nearby. I called him for a ride back to the dock. (He did after dropping off his guests.) So, while my crew waited I humbly shared some of the other bloopers that I’ve done over the years as a Captain. This wasn’t the first time I got the boat stuck. The tide always comes back in, what matters is how you act when you are stuck! God bless and tight lines.
Living Water Charters
Anna Maria Island Florida
Captain James 941-812-1245
