Sharks plentiful, waters ripe with gamefish
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By Nick Walter
Islander Reporter
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Todd Miller and his son Blake caught this north Sarasota Bay snook while fishing with Capt. Warren Girle.
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Brendan Horton, right, 15, from Memphis, Tenn., caught a 5-foot barracuda July 26 while fishing with Capt. Josh Peurifoy off Anna Maria Island. Islander Photo: Courtesy Lauren White |
As is typical in the summer, anglers should concentrate on early and late periods of the day because of scorching summer water temperatures.
There are a number of species in waters closer to Anna Maria Island than normal that anglers can target from the beaches, including amberjack and kingfish past 60 feet, some big cobia and keeper gag grouper just a ways off the beaches.
The bays are thick with sharks, so anglers can plan to camp out in open waters of Tampa Bay with butterflied ladyfish or Spanish mackerel hanging off the boat, and waiting for the inevitable crashing shark bite.
Capt. Zach Zacharias of the DEE JAY II out of Parrot Cove Marina said success out on the water has been a matter of getting out as early as possible, or as late as possible, and taking advantage of some screaming tides coming off the backside of the July moon. He said getting bait has been a challenge and quite often takes up most of his daybreak, just when fishing is at its best.
“Time to go with the flow and opt to use fake offerings when the conditions are optimum,” he said. “Trout and reds have both been willing takers of small top-water baits worked very early in the morning with Spanish mackerel, bluefish, ladyfish and jack crevalle crashing the party as well.”
A couple of trips had Zacharias’ anglers out on the nearshore reefs off Anna Maria and Longboat Key tussling with some overgrown Spanish mackerel, some leftover “schoolie” kings and sharks. “Word has it that there are some decent pompano catches being made in the surf,” Zacharias said. “Being it is almost August and the water is as hot as it gets, it is unbelievable that those species are still so abundant in our area.”
He said cooling rainfall has really been hit and miss in the coastal region, but August is usually the wettest month of the year, and so a little moderation of the water temperatures should really get things popping into late summer.
Finally, he said the offshore boats are doing well with grouper, mangrove snapper, triggerfish, and some late-season kingfish and cobia.
Capt. Mark Howard of SumoTime Fishing Charters reported the heat of summer has been a major factor in the fishing this past week. He said the speckled trout have been hitting in the 3-8 foot depths, and chumming with live bait has brought success.
“Try a popping cork with the bait about 2-4 feet below the cork, and make the cork gurgle by giving the pole a sharp jerk. The noise the popping cork makes combined with the flash of the shiner will draw strikes from the speckled trout. Vary the popping action of the cork from a little pop to a hard tug. You can also put on a Berkley Gulp in place of live bait and use this technique when drifting the flats.”
He said the sharks are thick in the bay with blacktips and bonnethead sharks cruising the speckled trout haunts. Howard suggests keeping a pole rigged with an 80-pound wire leader to have some exciting action.
Capt. Warren Girle said offshore he had two keeper grouper and limits of mangrove snapper, which have begun to move to within 7 miles of the beaches. He said he’s been putting a chum block out to work the fish off the bottom and free-lining baits. He said porgies are mixed in, but warned that if anglers aren’t quick to reel in their catch, barracudas could come and chomp the fish. He said there are tons of sharks as well.
Also, inshore, Girle had redfish to 31 inches, including two big groups that showed up north Sarasota Bay, one of 100 fish and another 200. He said there were some keepers mixed in, but most fish were oversized. Trout are still in 3-5 feet of water and some are mixed in the bait balls with bluefish and ladyfish.
Capt. Ryan Rolland of Outriggers Sportfishing Charters said amberjack have moved in close. “If anglers like pulling in big fish,” he said, “use a live bait on any of the artificial wrecks starting in 65 feet of water and on out. It’s been pretty good because everybody was fishing for red snapper, so grouper spots were sitting.”
Rolland said he has been catching legal grouper in as shallow as 40 feet of water depth, while fishing live baits on light tackle such as 30-40 pound test because waters have been so clear. He said he’s working some nearshore ledges for some nice gag grouper, barracuda and mangrove snapper.
Annamae Lahay from Corky’s Live Bait & Tackle received reports that the waters of Palma Sola and Sarasota bays have been good for the fishermen who are after redfish and spotted sea trout, which are in the grass flats. She said fishers are having the best luck using live select-size shrimp.
Also inshore, anglers have been catching black drum, ladyfish, some bluefish, Spanish mackerel, flounder and mangrove snapper. She said the regular-size live shrimp and/or frozen shrimp have been working well for these types of fish.
Lahay added there are some reports that tarpon are still quite plentiful around the north tip of the Island and under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
Send fishing news and photos to fish@islander.org.
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