Anglers hope warming trend snaps fish into action
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By Nick Walter
Islander Reporter
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Dr. Gary Beasley from Freeport, Ill., with his 6-pound redfish caught on a fishing trip with Capt. Mark Howard.
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Some trees are starting to bud, and the sweet smell of orange blossoms means only one thing to anglers: A fish feed.
The last couple months of harsh weather has led to some of the toughest fishing anglers have had to deal with in recent years. A massive snook kill has left that target sparse statewide. Schools of healthy redfish are in the bays, but are slow to bite. Trout are skinny. Even sheepshead are slow to congregate around docks and rocks.
Anglers are hoping the warmer weather of the last couple days is here to stay, and that an increase in water temperatures will summon shiners. That would signal a start for the king and Spanish mackerel migration into the area, as long as the weather warm steadily.
But fishers are not crossing their fingers as much as their lines in the abnormally windy weather.
Capt. Mark Howard of Sumotime Fishing Charters said that in spite of the cold, the fishing around Anna Maria has been good. He said the redfish bite has been exceptionally strong this year and that the redfish are continuing to feed around the deep-water docks of the Intracostal Waterway. He said live, select shrimp is his bait of choice.
In 4-8 feet of depth over grass flats, Howard has noticed speckled trout congregating. He said sheepshead are moving into the bay, but shiners have not yet shown up on the flats.
Capt. Warren Girle said he’s been catching redfish over the 18-27-inch slot, flounder and sheepshead, by casting shrimp under docks in protected canals. Girle said that last week he spent some time on the flats and caught a few trout, which he’s noticed have gotten fatter the past week. “They were the best trout I’ve seen in probably six weeks,” he said. Girle thinks that may be because he has been seeing more glass minnows around.
“I’m not sure whether it was fish that had just been out in deeper water, or whether it was fish coming in from the Gulf,” Girle said. “A lot of people don’t realize it, but we’ve had good trout on the nearshore reefs within a couple hundred yards of the beaches. But those waters have been so filthy the trout might have got sick of that filthy water and could have come in, out of the Gulf.”
Girle is looking forward to predicted 70-degree temperatures this week. “Boy am I looking forward to it,” Girle said. “If we get a couple days of over-70 degree weather, it should be on fire out there.”
Girle said he’s looking forward to schools of redfish that he saw cruising from south Sarasota Bay to Anna Maria Sound. “The wind had been so bad last week that I haven’t gone to take a look at them,” he said.
Girle said that in the winter, anglers may have to hit six docks before finding a winner. “Certain docks just have the characteristics of a winner, where there are a lot of holes, or docks with a lot of barnacles close to deeper water,” he said.
Capt. Mike Greig said he fished in 45 feet of water over live bottom on Monday, but the bite was slow. He did manage some grouper, flounder, mangrove snapper and a decent sheepshead bite. For grouper, he used cut bait. He said the sheepshead and snapper were hitting pieces of shrimp. He also heard that the inshore sheepshead bite was hot.
Capt. Ray Markham of Backwater Promotions said water temperatures were 57 degrees on the flats last week, and the bite was slow.
He said he was finding some redfish in Terra Ceia Bay, but that’s about it. “This time of the year, we should be catching around 40-50 fish on a half day, but we’re lucky to catch 10-15 fish,” he said.
Markham said a warming trend should help the trout and redfish bite, as well as the sheepshead bite on the flats. Also, Markham suggests fishing the rock piles around the Sunshine Skyway Bridge for sheepshead. “That’s probably the best place to go,” he said.
Capt. Mark Johnston of Legend Fishing Charters out of Annie’s Bait & Tackle said he has been targeting sheepshead in Longboat Key, Paradise Bay and Buttonwood Harbor. He recommends fishing with shrimp on a 1/0 circle hook and a split shot for a mix of black drum, redfish and sheepshead. Capt. Sam Kimball, also of Legend Fishing Charters, has had a tough time getting offshore, but has managed Key West grunts, mangrove snapper and grouper on a couple nearshore trips.
Capt. Zach Zacharias of the DEE JAY II out of Parrot Cove Marina reported that the hard coldfront last week made things challenging. He said a reasonably nice day produced a banner catch of spotted sea trout ranging from 12-22 inches. He said three anglers boated at least 50 trout, all taken with a variety of artificial offerings, but the top producer was the Tsunami Lure with the Trout Mauler.
“The hard front mid-week kept me in port for a couple of days, but Thursday gave up a decent catch of sheepshead,” he said. “On Friday the wind lied down a little and the temperature hit a balmy 60 degrees. The bite was still slow, but produced a good catch of sheepshead to 3 pounds, redfish to 21 inches, trout to 20 inches and a smattering of flounder. Live shrimp and artificials accounted for most of the action on either side of a high tide at about 2 p.m.”
Zacharias thinks the last arctic blast dropped the water temperatures, so the action could remain the same for the next couple of weeks.
Capt. T.J. Stewart of Cast Away Charters said he’s been catching small redfish far up the Manatee River. In the bay, he’s catching sheepshead around docks. “You hit like three in a row and find a dock that has some fish, and then you’ve got to move,” Stewart said. “You see the fish, but they won’t bite. It’s been pretty brutal. The only way to make a day of it is to keep moving.”
Stewart said the redfish he’s been catching have been where the bottom is so dark that an angler cannot see the fish, but the muddy bottom makes the water a few degrees warmer.
Capt. Larry McGuire of Show Me the Fish Charters out of the Cortez Fishing Center said the best action has been with amberjack and snapper. He said when they can fish offshore, they’re catching all the amberjacks and banded rudderfish an angler can handle, plus some mangrove snapper, porgies, triggerfish, big sheepshead, sharks and lots of catch-and-release gag and red grouper. McGuire said they’re fishing in areas where there are usually not many grouper.
McGuire said the best action is still out past 100 feet offshore with large live baits working the best. He said there’s a lot of large sheepshead over artificial reefs, offshore of Anna Maria Island.
“These bad boys should be out there for another two weeks, spawning, and that makes them very hungry,” McGuire said. “This winter has been a tough one with only one or two days calm enough to head offshore. Be ready for that window of opportunity and be rewarded with a great catch. Offshore fish are still biting even in this cold winter. Now is the time to head out deep and the is action guaranteed to heat you up.”
Dave Sork from the Anna Maria City Pier said he hasn’t seen a fish come up all week. The only fish he’s seen are ballyhoo under the lights near the pier pilings.
Kyle Dodrill from the Sunshine Skyway south fishing pier said the only fish he’s seen anglers catch are trout in the shallows and sheepshead around rock piles and bridge pilings. He added that greenbacks are barely starting to show back up.
Send fishing news and photos to fish@islander.org
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