Key Largo

I have found the place to to be fishing right now! I talked with Ron at Yellow Bait House on Key Largo and he tells me that even though the winds have been up, the water is is warm and the fishing is good. Offshore, the sailfish and yellowtail snapper bite is a little slow, but the wahoo, kingfish, mutton snapper, and grouper fishing is very good. Trolling ballyhoo, small mackeral, and googleye produces the best results. Inshore his customers are catching redfish, and small snook in good numbers on shrimp and pinfish. The trout fishing has been very good. Ron holds fishing seminars on Thursdays at 7pm. This weeks topic is redfish. For more information contact Ron at;
Yellow Bait House
305-451-0921
101741 Overseas Hwy.
Key Largo, FL 33037

Pensacola

I talked with William at Outcast Bait & Tackle in Pensacola today. He was telling me that the fishing is slow right now, but is about to pick up. He says that it will start to improve over the next couple of weeks, then it will really take off! Right now, the sheepshead are biting OK and the flounder are starting to move back in. The redfish are outside the pass, and the trout are in the deeper holes up in the bayous. For more information call;
Outcast Bait& Tackle
850-457-1450
3520 Barrancas Av.
Pensacola, FL 32507

Cape Coral

It was kind of a bad weekend for fishing in Florida. ( You wont here me say that to often!) The strongest cold front of this winter blew through and has slowed things down considerably. There is some action taking place though. I talked with B&B Tackle, near Cape Coral, this morning and they say that the sheepshead are still biting along the bridge. Everything else has been pretty slow he says. From my experience, this is usually the case. When the weather turns nasty and cold in the winter you can always catch sheepshead. Bridges or docks with barnacle encrusted pylons in4+ft. of water, with a good tidal flow, will usually produce these tasty striped fighters. A medium action rod with a sensitive tip is needed to feel there delicate bite. I like to use a #6 long shank hook tied to 2ft. of 20lb. leader to keep them from chewing through my line or cutting me off on the pylons. They eat mostly barnacles so I will bring a garden hoe or flat head shovel with me and scrape some barnacles into a bucket. I then load my hook up with them and scrape more barnacles off into the water to start a feeding frenzy. Then you just drop your line straight down along the pylon. When you feel a light tap on your line, set the hook. Sheepshead are great bait thieves so you will loose more then you catch. Pieces of fresh shrimp are also a good bait, but all of the serious sheepshead fishermen I know use blood worms. Few bait shops carry blood worms but they may be able to tell you where to dig some from around mangrove roots. For more information contact our friends at;
B&B Tackle
239-283-8302
4530 Pine Island Rd. NW
Matlacha, FL 33993

Sunsine Skyway Pier N.

Angelo at the Sunshine Skyway North Pier tells me that before the recent bad weather people were catching speckle trout, spanish mackeral, and grouper. Some of the grouper are keepers but most have to be thrown back. One of his regulars, Scooter, who uses a wheelchair to get around caught a 27" grouper and a 23.5" grouper this morning. For more information contact Angelo at;
Skyway State Fishing Pier North
727-865-0668
10501 Sunshine Skyway Brg.
St. Petersburg, FL 33711

Sarasota

I talked with Tommy from the New Pass Grill & Bait Shop this morning and he says the cold front and rain of the last few days has kept most of his customers in port. Before the bad weather hit he was getting reports of redfish, pompano, flounder,and sheephead being caught in Sarasota Bay with sheepshead being the most consistent catch. Offshore, his customers were catching grouper, mackerel, snapper and kingfish. 'You gotta work for it!" he tells me. The unusually warm water has kept the grouper 30-35 miles out, but it has kept the king mackerel around. With this recent cold front, the water temperatures are sure to drop which will push the kings farther south. For more information contact Tommy at;
New Pass Grill & Bait Shop
941-388-3050
1505 Ken Thompson Pkwy.
Sarasota, FL 34236

Sebastian Inlet

Steve from Inlet Bait & Tackle reports that, before the bad weather of the last couple of days, fishing at Sebastian Inlet was pretty good. Flounder, whiting and pompano were the main catches in and around the inlet. For more information contact Steve at;
Inlet Bait and Tackle
321-768-6621
9722 S. Highway A1a
Melbourne Beach, FL 32951

Atlantic Coast

I received two reports today from the Atlantic coast. From Fernandina Beach, reports are coming in of nice catches of red drum and trout. The pompano fishing is a little slow right now. At New Smyrna Beach, whiting, blues and reds are being caught by surf fishermen. The pompano fishing is also slow in this area. For more information, contact our friends at;
Loveday Bait & Tackle
386-428-2841
197 N. Causeway
New Smyrna Beach, Fl. 32169

Big Pier 60

Bob from Big Pier 60, on Clearwater Beach is reporting that his customers are catching whiting, speckle trout, sheepshead, and some silver trout.
For more information contact Bob at;
Big Pier 60
Clearwater Beach
727-462-6466

Dunedin Causway

I talked with Jimmy from Dunedin Fishing Center this morning and he reports that there are some great catches from the Dunedin Causeway lately, but it seems to be a little hit or miss. His customers are catching speckled trout, silver trout, redfish, and whiting. There was also a 31' snook caught from the south side of the causeway this morning. "This is a little early for the snook to be there." he says. " The unusually warm water seems to have the fish confused."
Jimmy is the manager of the;
Dunedin Fishing Center
2436 Bayshore Blvd., Dunedin
727-738-5628

CLEARWATER PASS IS ON FIRE!

I have bean getting reports that the ICW between Clearwater Pass and Tarpon Springs is full of bait. Scaled sardines and white bait are said to be every where! As we all know, where you find the bait you find the game fish. I have bean told that the grass flats between the Anclote River and the Dunedin Causeway are producing catches of up to 100 trout a day. These aren't just your average trout though. With water temperatures in the lower 70's this year instead of the lower 60's, the big yellow mouth trout, the 20+ inch breeders that normally show up in March, are showing up in large numbers. I am also being told that the southern inside edge of Clearwater Pass is producing great catches of these large trout, big red fish, pompano, and whiting. I don't know about you, I'm going fishing!
Tony

My easiest catch.

I have lived near the Clearwater end of the Cortney Campbel Causway that crosses the north end of Tampa Bay for most of the last 20+ years, so I have fished on or near it hundreds of times over the years. You can catch many different species of fish in this area,red fish on the oyster bars that extend south from where the old power plant use to stand, snook in and around Double Branch Creek, spanish mackeral, silver trout, whiting and tarpon in the open waters around the causeway. But one of my favorite fish to target has always ben the big yellow mouth trout that show up in large numbers every spring. On the south side of the causeway, about half way between the big bridge and the swimming area there are two sets of steps that lead between the rocks to the water. If you park near the eastern most steps and wade straight out until you are in waste deep water you can catch these large trout one after the other in late March and early April. About 16 years ago I was wading out to fish this spot with a friend one morning when we noticed a fish splash its tail on the glass calm water about 15 yards in front of us. As we got a little closer we saw another splash in the same spot and then another and another. Curiosity got the better of me so I waded over to see what was going on. What I found was an 18in. trout laying on its side on top of the water. I scooped it up with my net expecting to find it injured and dying. What I found was this poor trout had tried to eat a puffer fish for breakfast but had bitten off more then he could chew! Literally! When the trout tried to eat the puffer the puffer did what he does best and puffed up. The horn on top of his head stuck through the top of the trouts mouth, and its tail had lodged sideways in the other side of the its jaw. The poor trout could not swallow the puffer, could not spit it out, and could not pass water through its mouth and gills to breath! If I had not come by it surely would have suffocated. Well, this just wasn't this trouts day. The dummy went straight on to my stringer and after I had caught a half dozen of his buddies, between 19 and 26 inches they all went home with me for a nice dinner.
Tony