I spoke with Larry at Mastrey's Bait & Tackle Inc. in St Petersburg this morning. He was telling me that there is still plenty of bait around, so fishing is steady with a nice balance of fish being caught. Before this last cold front blew through anglers fishing the ship channel just inside Tampa Bay, and in 30'-40' of water in the gulf, were still catching king mackerel. Slow trolling live bait or king spoons around structure, drop offs, or anything that holds bait may still produce a few kingfish. Grouper action is also good in the ship channel and near shore wrecks and reefs in 30' of water and up. Anchor just off of the structure you are fishing and drop your bait to the bottom. Start with frozen sardines to draw in smaller reef fish and they will draw in the grouper. Once the grouper start to bite, switching to live pinfish, pigfish, or grunts will produce larger grouper. Snook, spotted sea trout, and redfish are still biting well. Snook season is closed in Gulf waters until March, and spotted trout season is closed until January 1, so these are catch and release only. Snook are moving into rivers and residential canals and can be caught on live bait or artificials. Trout can be found on deeper grass flats and will eat jigs, slug baits, Gulp or DOA shrimp and live shrimp fished under a popping cork, Cajun Thunder or Deadly Combo float. Silver trout are a good alternative to spotted trout. Look for them just off of the beach and inside the bay and intercoastal waterway in 6'-12' of water. When you find a school of silver trout, catching 50+ fish in an hour is not uncommon. Shrimp works well, but I like to use Loves Lures in the pink color. This tandem jig combo is irresistible to silver trout! Sheepshead are starting to show well around bridges an rock piles. Fiddler crabs, shrimp. green mussels and barnacles are all good baits. Use the smallest, long shank hook you can get away with, and 30lb fluorocarbon leader to increase your hook ups. Keep your bait near the bottom and when you feel a light tap, set the hook. For more information contact;
Mastry's Bait & Tackle Inc.
727-896-8889
1700 4th St SouthSt. Petersburg, FL 33701
