Fishing before, during or after a front
With winds topping out around 30 mph and colder temperatures at night, the age-old questions pop into mind. When is the best time to fish? Is fishing better before, during or after a cold front?
This past week provided some answers for the angler’s dilemma. While talking to my fellow captains and other local fishers, the consistent answer was to fish before the front. Earlier in the week, fishers were catching good numbers of fish on both the grass flats and on the artificial reefs.
On the flats, surprising numbers of snook were showing, which provided great catch-and-release action for anglers using live shiners. The same applied for reds and trout.
On the artificial reefs and in the bays, we saw an early spring bite of Spanish mackerel. Also in the same areas, the sheepshead were chewing every bait you dropped down to them.
All in all, before the front, fishing was some of the best we’ve had all year.
When the cold front arrived, bringing 30-mph winds from the northeast and temperatures in the low 50s, the bite seemed to go weird. A number of captains, including myself, noticed the fish were apprehensive to take a bait. On more than one occasion, I’d be sitting in the boat with my clients watching trout come right up to our baits and boil on them, but not eat them. It was like they were instinctively ambushing a bait, but wouldn’t commit.
The same thing happened for Capt. Rick Gross while mackerel fishing. He said the macks would knock a bait clear out of the water, hitting it but not eating it.
To fish directly after the front also can make things tough. From my experience, it takes a few nice, warm, calm days to get things back in order. Directly after a front, the waters, especially in the bay, can be murky as a result of being stirred up by the high winds. Give things time to settle down. Once the water clears up and warms up, the fish should get in a normal pattern again. Then you’ll see an improvement in the fishing.
So, fishing before the front seems to be the ideal situation. Ultimately any time is a good time to fish — you just have to accept the fact that some days the catch is better than others. And remember, fishing isn’t an exact science. You might have times when fishing during a front is just as good as before the front. I guess it’s one of the reasons fishing is so intriguing. You never know what can happen — it’s all up to the fish, after all.
Capt. Rick Gross of Fishy Business charters is targeting catch-and-release snook, redfish and spotted seatrout in southern Tampa Bay. Gross likes to use live shiners on a 1/0 live bait hook tied to 20-pound fluorocarbon leader to target fish in shallow water. Anchoring on a shallow flat and chumming with live bait, Gross is bringing catch-and-release snook up to 32 inches to the boat. As for redfish, Gross is catching keepers with an occasional over-the-slot fish in the mix. “The trout we’re catching are mixed in with the reds,” says Gross. “Most have been in the 20-inch range, too,” he adds.
Moving north toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Gross is catching Spanish mackerel. Using live shiners and an Aberdeen gold hook, Gross is hooking up macks in the 24-inch range.
Sheepshead are being caught by Gross at artificial reefs in Tampa Bay. Gross is using live shrimp to tempt the bite. Most fish being caught are in the 2- to 3-pound range, although Gross found one that weighed close to 10 pounds.
Capt. Warren Girle is fishing the grass flats of Sarasota Bay targeting bull redfish. On the extreme low tide, Girle and his clients are wading the shallow grass flats, stalking redfish that are schooled up in sandy potholes. “Wading in shallow water is highly effective,” says Girle. “You can get right up close and personal with these reds before they know you’re there.”
Using 3-inch root beer-color Berkley Gulp shrimp, Girle’s clients are catching reds up to 31 inches.
Another method Girle is using to catch these reds is fishing fresh-cut ladyfish on the bottom. “Once these fish get picky or spooked, you have to experiment with different techniques,” says Girle. “We caught a 30-inch spotted seatrout on a piece of ladyfish,” adds Girle. “At first we thought it was a snook by the way it peeled off the line, but once we saw it, we realized it was a trophy-size trout.”
Moving out to water depths of 3 to 5 feet, Girle is catching spotted seatrout in numbers, although most are in the 12- to 15-inch range. Along with the trout are Spanish mackerel and ladyfish. Using live shrimp on a popping cork or just a free-lined shrimp, Girle’s clients are catching decent numbers of keepers.
Finally, moving offshore, Girle is working nearshore structure, resulting in a variety of species. Using live shrimp, Girle is catching sheepshead and Key West grunts. Then he’s switching to live shiners to catch flounder and mackerel.
Capt. Logan Bystrom is fishing southern Tampa Bay, targeting spotted seatrout. Bystrom anchors on the edges of grass flats where there’s good tidal flow to stalk these yellow-mouthed predators. Chumming with live shiners, he gets the trout in a feeding mood for his clients, who then cast out a live bait. When the trout are feeding, it doesn’t take long to get a bite. Bystrom’s clients are catching trout in the 18-inch range with a, occasional fish coming in around 24 inches.
Sheepshead also are in Bystrom’s sights. He likes a good moving tide to target sheepies. Fishing docks and artificial structure in Tampa Bay, Bystrom’s clients are bringing good numbers of sheepshead to the boat, with live shrimp the bait of choice.
Bob Kilb at the Rod & Reel Pier says sheepshead are still dominating the bite. Pier fishers using fiddler or oyster crabs are succeeding. Most fish are in the 1- to 2-pound range, although bigger fish also are being caught.
Black drum are making a good showing at the pier, too. Most are being caught on large or handpicked shrimp, but don’t be surprised to catch one when targeting sheepies with small crabs. Black drum will eat a crab just as fast as they will a shrimp. Drum in the 18- to 24-inch range were the norm.
For the best of the best this past week, Kilb is seeing good numbers of pompano early in the morning. “I caught 14 one morning,” says Kilb. “But you have to remember, pompano can be in one place one day and gone the next.”
Kilb likes to use a small white jig to get these golden nuggets to bite.
Jonny Keyes at Island Discount Tackle says he’s hearing reports of good fishing on both the grass flats of Anna Maria Sound as well as at the north-end piers. He says anglers are reporting “the usual suspects for this time of year. Trout, redfish, sheepshead and flounder.”
Flats fishers targeting spotted seatrout are getting good results using either a DOA shrimp or a suspending twitch bait such as MirrOlure 17MR Mirrodine. Both of these baits are fished in the middle to lower water column. Most of the trout are resting toward the bottom waiting to ambush a prey from below. Whether using live bait or artificials, try to keep the bait in the strike zone.
Redfish are being caught around Anna Maria Sound, although they are in water 2-3 feet deep— shallower than the trout. To target these shallow-water reds, live bait, such as shiners and shrimp, is your best bet. If you’re using artificials, try to cast way ahead of the fish so the splash your lure makes on landing in the water doesn’t spook them.
Capt. Mark Howard of SumoTime fishing charters says fishing out of Anna Maria Island this past week has been challenging due to the cold front. It shut the shiner fishing down and made live shrimp the bait of choice. Thursday’s warmup brought back the shiners and many species chewing.
Spotted seatrout, redfish, flounder and mackerel were feeding heavily on Howard’s morning shiners. For the seatrout, Howard set up in 2 to 6 feet of water. He also reports flounder have been active and good in size. He says to use a split shot and work the bait slowly thru the sandy potholes and wait for the thump and the slow pull on the line to hook them.
Howard predicts Spanish mackerel are making their way into Tampa Bay and will increase in numbers as the weather warms.
Redfish have been all over the Anna Maria waters. On cold days, Howard likes to fish with shrimp and a split shot under the docks. “On the warmer days, look for the redfish to be in very shallow water, schooling and eating shiners and small pinfish,” Howard says.
Looking forward, Howard anticipates the spring bite to improve. “Look for the cobia and kingfish run in the next month and the snook fishing to turn on.”
Send fishing reports to fish@islander.org.