“Let’s Go Fishing & Catch Something Different”
The big mackerel have moved into the bay and it sure makes for an exciting fun-fishing trip–especially for the kids. Find a school of threadfins or glass minnows, start chumming and hold on. I like to use a pair of scissors and cut the greenbacks into about three pieces letting them drift with the current, followed up with a half dozen live ones tossed out. Use long shank 2/0 hooks and fifty-pound leader. For some added action, try a popping cork. If the current is too strong to keep your bait in the strike zone, add a #3 split shot.
Sheepshead are showing up almost everywhere. Try fishing for these great fighters around markers, bridge fenders, docks, seawalls, rock piles, oyster bars or practically any type of structure. There are plenty of rock piles and artificial reefs throughout the Tampa Bay area. Check out a Hot Spots Map or other bay fishing map showing reefs and wrecks. I like a split shot and 1/0 hook with a piece of fresh shrimp. You don’t need to purchase the large ones. Regular and medium size, broken in half, do just fine.
While you are looking for that favorite sheepshead spot, guess what else you are going to find. Yep, you figured it out. It was the first time you dropped a shrimp down and pulled up a snapper. They all hang out in the same areas and are great table fare. Grey snapper also like small sardines/greenbacks hooked on a slip sinker rig. Here is the catch to snapper fishing a slip rig. You must keep a tight line, because you are only getting one bite. After that, your bait is gone.
Flounder is very popular and delicious to eat. They put up an awesome fight and are great fun to catch. Fishing can be tricky, but who doesn’t love a challenge. I recommend using a jighead, because your bait has to stay on the bottom. Pick a weight that lets you get down and keep it down. I recommend a slow twitch and drag along the bottom rather than bouncing, because it tends to trigger more strikes. A flounder’s strike is normally soft and unless your line is taught you can miss it. Flounder are ambush feeders lying in wait where tides and currents bring the food. They use structure to hide. Check out passes, inlets and channels. Areas with a good current around sandy shoals are likely spots to hold flounder. Anywhere current sweeps bait through is a good place to look for flounder.