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The redfish slammed us Friday morning. Around 8:00am Friday, I slid into the Sands Point lagoon at New Pass and picked one of the new docks to start at. The dock was about halfway in and by pure luck, it was the only hot spot in the lagoon all morning. The average size was about 25” with a few over the slot and only one under. It was fish after fish until about 10:30am. It was also the start of an outgoing tide when we started fishing.

We caught a few bluefish, black drum, and sheepshead in the mix using the large live shrimp that seem to be the only size the bait shops have at this time. I have never seen so many large shrimp being caught on the bay. I used a 3/0 hook with 40lb mono leader and one large split-shot. Cast as close to the pylon as you can letting it sink to the bottom with plenty of slack in your line. When you think it is on the bottom, take out most of the slack so that you can see if a fish moves your line. Then sometimes you will need to move it slowly across the bottom. Regardless of how they chew, the one thing you can never do is let them get back to the pylons ounce you have them hooked.

We finished off the day with bluefish in New Pass. The blues were thick on the south side at the end of the old docks, going out. I used the same rig as for the redfish but broke the shrimp into smaller pieces. We drifted with the out going tide and let the large split-shot take the bait to the bottom. Small jigs work as well but all must get to the bottom. The bluefish were running two to three pounds. They are the right size and just in time to pickle for New Years. The recipe for pickled bluefish is on my website.

The big cobia and pompano run didn’t last long. This past week produced very few fish, inshore and offshore. The big boats had to run thirty miles or more to find fish. I was out Friday for a six hour trip on the bay and we did not land the first fish, and Saturday’s trip was postponed until February. The bay water was crystal clear and it was a good time to view the artificial reefs on the bay. As we drifted across Harts reef you could see every brick, shell, and reef-ball on the bottom. The only fish I saw was a few small schools of sheepshead that we lost a few baits too. No grunts, pinfish, or any other little reef fish was around. There are plenty of small crabs and shrimp on the bay and this will bring in the fish when the water condition improves.

Offshore, along the beaches and further out, the water was very dirty and fishless.

The fishing had been very good a couple of weeks ago and we thought we where out of the woods. It was cobia and pompano that where the heavy hitters that week. Then the cold fronts came and also the Redtide reappeared. The good fishing stopped as fast as it had started.

The fish are in and the Redtide is out! The cobia are thick along the beach and the artificial “I” reefs. Cobias up to thirty pounds have been caught and fifteen to twenty pounds is average size. Live shrimp is doing the job but cobia will eat everything it sees, including top water plugs or diving jigs.

On the bay, the pompano are starting to show in Big Pass and on the flats. It has not been a hard run but some nice size fish. Jigs tipped with pieces of shrimp or whole sand fleas are working. Small snook have been plentiful for the anglers chumming with whitebait. Sheepshead is also on the chew for shrimp or crabs. They can be caught both inshore and offshore and found on any structure.

Offshore around the Cudahole and any of the (M) reefs have all turned on. Everything seemed to come back in a day. Nice snapper and grouper are on the bottom with plenty of Spanish and LTs on top with just a hint of KingfishJ.

Spanish mackerel have started to run along the beaches and on the bay! The inshore (I) reefs have been holding most of the mackerel in 18 to 30 feet of water. Live pilchards, live shrimp, and small Diamond jigs are working well. If you are using jigs, work them as fast as you can. The bite is sporadic at best and you need to get on the fish quick when they surface.

On the bay and on most of the flats it has been mostly jack and ladyfish, some mackerel, bluefish, and snapper but they are moving fast and you need to move around. We have been finding some redfish, sheepshead and snook around the docks, but the snook have been better for the night fishermen. Snook are nocturnal by nature.

Offshore, it has been a long run of 30 to 70 miles to find good fishing and not much in-between.

The fishing is not hot but it is coming back! Crabs and most crustaceans have done well during the Redtide. This could be contributed to being immune to the tide and the demise of many of the trash-fish (Oysterfish) that fed upon them. This could result in a good run on cobia, pompano, permit, and sheepshead this Fall.

The bay fishing is improving! Most of our species we normally catch have been caught this past week. During the past week we caught snook, redfish, sea trout, pompano, flounder, mangrove snapper, grouper, ladyfish, sheepshead, and jacks. It sounds good but except for the ladyfish and small snapper. They were hard to find and most were very small. Michael Holman of Winter Park FL did catch a nice three pound pompano at the Ringling grass flats. It was his first pompano.

The Ringling grass flats are holding plenty of bait fish and more small crabs than I have ever seen. Sometimes the silver dollar size crabs would latch onto our shrimp as soon as it started to sink. On my last trip, we had been fishing the Ringling flats and had started home. I had just got the boat up on plane when all the water around us for about a quarter of a mile exploded with jumping, feeding fish, and diving birds. We were just off of Harts reef in ten feet of water. It seemed to be all large ladyfish but I also thought I might have seen some mackerel jump. We stopped to threw some diamond jigs and had a blast for about twenty minutes and left them biting.

Redfish and snook have been mostly active south of the bay, Siesta Key Bridge to Roberts Bay. Fishing the backwaters and docks has produced a few nice fish.

Offshore fishing has been very hard! One of the charter boats I talked to had run 47 miles to find good fishing. Some of the “M” reefs have been holding permit but you need to take along small live crabs for bait.

The nice thing about saltwater fishing is that we don’t need to wait for the fish to grow up after a fish kill like this. On the bay the bait has survived, so now larger fish will move in to take advantage of the thriving baitfish, crabs, and shrimp.

The Redtide has been killing sea life long before man walked on the earth. It is world wide and very little is known about it. Its stimulus could be due to a combination of things like climate and pollution, both natural and man made. It was here before us, so we can't blame the white-man for this one :). Russia has found that if you dust the Redtide with clay, it will stick to the clay and sink to the bottom of the sea. Not much for all the research that has been put into this over the years. I am sure we will hear a lot more theories without foundations in the future. Stopping the dumping of sewage is good regardless!

We have had at least three weeks of Redtide and most all of the fish are gone. Mote marine is saying that the Redtide is starting to move north and out of the Sarasota area. If this comes to be, it should take about three weeks to see or notice the fish moving back and about three months for the bay to get back to normal.

The Redtide is a natural phenomenon that dates back to prehistoric time. You could look at it as nature’s way of leveling the playing field. The Redtide will kill fish in a relativity small area as it moves along. Sea life from the surrounding areas will move in then and repopulate. This may help to keep over population of some species in check and improve the genetic mixing of others.

Who knows? What I do know is that it is not a good time to go fishing unless you just want a boat ride and maybe wet a line.

The skinny water boats have been able to find some snook and redfish both north and south of Sarasota bay. You will need to work your way back to better water. I did find large schools of small baitfish on the north end of the bay. The birds and small ladyfish were working them hard. The ladyfish were too small to catch but it was a good sign.

The artificial “M” reefs offshore have held some permit and snapper, but some boats are running twenty five miles to find good fishing or should I say, better fishing.

Mangrove snapper and barracuda have been hot this past week on the “M” reefs. We were able to limit out on the snapper using live shrimp on the bottom. The cuda are taking live fish on a free-line or by skipping fresh caught mackerel on the top. Chris Bengele from Indiana caught a nice barracuda on light tackle while fishing for snapper. Mark Zisser from Missouri with friend limited out and released plenty of snapper plus some nice mackerel.

On Wednesday, we found plenty of Spanish mackerel and bluefish on and around the (I) reefs just offshore. D.O.A. shrimp and live shrimp worked very well. We would find schools of nice fish and then schools of very small fish. We saw sharks feeding in the schools of fish and bait early in the morning, but we didn’t hook any. Now is a good time to get that First-light bite at 6:30 in the morning.

Bay fishing has been slow but workable. Redfish, Snook, Mackerel, and Seatrout are all being caught, but you need to move around and find Redtide free water.

We had some fair action along the beach with Spanish mackerel through the weekend. The action was not fast but it was steady throughout the day. We probably could have picked up the pace by using live pilchards or artificial baits but we were hoping to pickup a cobia or a nice reef fish on the large live shrimp. In with the macks, we had very small bluefish and an occasional school of little tunny running through the baitfish making a lot of noise.

On the bay, we found some keeper trout along Country Club Shores but more shorts than keepers. The action had been better north of Longbar earlier in the week. Some nice redfish had also been caught over the long weekend.

I am sure the Redtide is affecting the fishing to some extent, but no big fish kills that I know of yet. Maybe all this rain will wash it away. We never know what the Redtide will do! May was a slow month for fishing, as Mays go. The month of May can be a very good month for all kinds of fishing. We did have some good days for king mackerel during the first half of May. Let’s hope June will kick-in and make up for May!

King mackerel are still hot on the artificial “M” reefs. King, Spanish, and barracuda have been plentiful using live bait. We have also been able to find plenty of sardines around New Pass and on the reefs. In the same area, a few nice grouper and snapper have been caught on the bottom with live shrimp and pilchards.

The bay has also been producing although the runs have been cold and hot throughout the day. Large trout, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and some pompano are being caught on the grass flats but you need to move around. The DOA shrimp and large live shrimp have both worked well. You can find small snapper, black seabass and small grouper around most of the under water structures. Snook and redfish will be getting thick around the docks and boats. You can net plenty of whitebait at first-light just south of the New Pass sailboats, halfway between the sailboats and Bird Key Park.

Tarpon have started to chew and are being jumped but it could be better. Live crabs are good bait and can be found at most of the bait shops.

The magic numbers are here! As the Gulf’s temperature rises to over seventy degrees, the fishing is starting to percolate. King mackerel are starting to be caught in thirty to seventy feet of water by trolling or live bait. They are not in thick schools yet, but are being caught frequently. Large schools of blacktip sharks seemed to be everywhere on Thursday. Spanish mackerel have been hot along the beaches and the artificial (I) reefs in twenty to thirty feet of water. The Spanish mackerel have also been spotty on the bay. Large schools of baitfish started moving into the bay and the action started to pick up on Friday.

Also on Friday, some boats found large grouper and snapper chewing very good in eighty feet of water. They also stopped at the “M” reefs on the way out for some kings. Take plenty of live pinfish and shrimp and don’t forget the Sabiki rigs.

Cobias are also in the mix along the beaches but they are just starting. Sheepshead, grouper, snapper, flounder and sharks are some of the others hanging out around the (I) reefs in 20 to 30 feet of water.

We had plenty of light tackle action on the bay. Most of the action has been ladyfish but some anglers have been able to limit out on 18” plus trout. Pompano, mackerel, redfish, snook, snapper, sheepshead, bluefish and even a few keeper size grouper have been part of the mix.

It all sounds good but it is no free lunch, you still need to work at it to get the keeper fish. DOA shrimp and live shrimp have been working will for me.

Although the fishing has been limited due to the red-tide and poor weather conditions, I still found the sheepshead plentiful and averaging 3 to 6 pounds on the (I) reefs just off of Lido beach. You can find them on any good bottom, artificial or natural in 20 to 30 feet of water. We had fast action on live shrimp fishing the bottom.

It is important to anchor directly over the structure. Drop your lines straight down to the bottom and then pick them up just a bit to avoid snags. I use a ¼ to a ½ ounce of lead, a very sharp and stout 3/0 hook and forty pound mono leader. The hook I prefer for light-tackle bottom fishing on the reefs is the Eagle Claw L253, 3/0. I can only find this size, L253 at Bass Pro. The hook is sharp enough to penetrate the jaw of a sheepshead and is strong enough to hold a big cobia. The other thing is that they only cost about a dime each, so you can afford to lose a few on the bottom. One of the problems is that once you penetrate the jaw of a sheepshead, it is hard to back the hook out. You can eliminate this by squeezing the barb closed and fish barb-less or cut the hook off and retie a new hook.

Some nice keeper size gag grouper are also being caught in with the sheepshead on the live shrimp. You also will find flounder, triggerfish and grunts in the same place as the sheepshead. The cliché about sheepshead is “You need to hook them just before they bite”, good luck.

I would say that sheepshead is better tasting than redfish or trout but not close to grouper or flounder.

The Red Tide has backed off some in the last few days and the fishing has picked up. The artificial “I” reefs off Lido beach in 25 to 30 feet of water are packed with large sheepshead and small schools of bluefish. You may also hook an occasional keeper size gag grouper, snapper or flounder. Large live shrimp fished on the bottom has been working well.

Longer offshore trips have been finding plenty of snapper and a mixed bag of reef fish in 50’ plus depths on natural and artificial bottom. Live shrimp is still the bait to have if you want a lot of action. I would still take some pinfish along.

We found the action on the bay very good in some spots and null in others. Fishing the grass flats at Country Club Shores and using the DOA ¼ ounce shrimp, we had trout on every cast for most of the trip. We used both the float and the free line method. Most all of the trout were under size but an occasional a keeper was caught along with some bluefish and flounder. Some nice trout and redfish were also taken north of Longbar and the Buttonwood Harbor area.

We have not had a major fish kill on the bay due to the red tide this year, but I do feel it is causing the fish to move around to avoid the bad spots. You may need to do the same to find the fish this weekend.

It looks like this coming week will be a blowout! A few days ago, I was able to get on to some keeper gags just three miles off of Lido Key. I had not been out for a few days and the captains that had, told me that the gags had gotten hard to find.

We left the dock a little late that day but we passed the other boats by the bell buoy still catching bait for a long run offshore. We had plenty of large live shrimp on board and I had planned to fish closer in with light tackle. I went to a small two foot high ledge in about thirty feet of water that I call the grunt hole. The ledge runs about 200 feet parallel with the beach and then dog legs towards the beach at the north end. Close to the dog leg is my favorite spot.

I was glad I had my old X-16 paper recorder on board. My color sonar was in for repairs. Lowrance stopped making the X-16 paper recorder, so I baby it. My first pass over the ledge was one digit off of my GPS and the bottom was clear. I came back over on zero and saw the beautiful sharp inverted “V’s”. By their size, they tell me that we have a few large fish on the bottom with plenty of small dashes all around for the smaller grunts, etc.

I threw a marker buoy on the spot and started with a drift. The drift was slow and the water calm. I put two ¼ ounce split-shots on, just above the 3/0 hook. This was enough to take the twelve pound test lines with the live shrimp down to the bottom. You also need to lock the drags down when fishing grouper. We did not catch a keeper gag on the drift but found the fish hitting only close to the marker. I anchored the boat and fished that small spot. We soon had our first keeper gag. We spent the morning catching plenty of husky short grouper, numerous reef fish and one more keeper gag. We also lost some good ones. I checked via VHF with the boats fishing the “M” reefs further offshore and found that no keeper grouper had been caught that morning. I did see one six pound flounder come from that area. It wasn’t a great day anywhere that morning, but my group of four went home with enough grouper for one big fish fry that night.

The bay grass flats have been producing plenty of sea trout but most are small. Black seabass are one of the perks while fishing the artificial reefs in the bay. Black seabass are at the top of my menu for frying. We are also finding sheepshead, snapper, and gag grouper in the same areas. Live shrimp or DOA works for all.

This is the time for the gag grouper to be in close and they are! The wind and cold has given us some problems with finding them along the beaches and on the “I” reefs because of the silty cold water. We are finding some on the bay at places like Harts reef but it has been very good from about the 35’ depths and further out to 50’. Snapper are also coming in with the grouper along with a large variety of reef fish. Boats going out with plenty of live shrimp and pinfish have loaded up. Large schools of pinfish have been hanging around the 35’ to 40’ depth. Gold hook bait rigs will catch all the pinfish you need if you find them.

Take plenty of large live shrimp with you and fish the bottom. You may need to move to save bait if the triggerfish and grunts get too thick. They can go through a 100 shrimp in no time at all. Of course, that is if you don’t want them. Any small white grunts you catch, keep for grouper bait. The grouper have been eating shrimp and live fish equally but the shrimp will kick up the action. This will get all the fish feeding and the mangrove snapper love shrimp.

You need to use your chart recorder “fish finder”. They have been moving around and no one but close friends and family is going to give you their grouper numbers or wave you over to fish. If this is knew to you, look for rough bottom, mark it, and fish it. Grouper often blend into the bottom on most recorders and just look like rough bottom. Unless you know what the bottom should normally look like, you’ll just need to try it. Also lock your drag down. You can’t let grouper run at all or they will cut you off on any structure. Use 20-50 pound test line. At this time, the grouper are averaging 6-12 pounds. The average fight is only a minute or so, but they will hit you with sucker punch you won’t believe. I have see experienced captains have the rod snatched out of their hands, rods broken over the side of the boat, people falling down or hitting themselves in the head with the rod and reel handles breaking off. Once you have him coming up, it is all over, unless something bigger grabs him. Everybody likes to eat grouper.

Large schools of pompano have been encountered on the grass flats but are not sticking around too long.