Sitting by the dock on the bay produces winter catch
Well, you may not be sitting on the dock, but I’ll bet you’ll be fishing it. And probably a lot of them.
Dock fishing, especially in the winter, can be a great way to make a tough morning’s fishing productive.
When the temperature is 50 degrees and the wind is blowing 10-20 out of the north, I find myself gravitating to docks with enough shelter to at least block the wind to find fish. This scenario can be found throughout the Intracoastal Waterway, as well as most of the adjoining waters.
The challenge is finding docks that hold fish. And, typically, once you find ones that do, they’ll most likely hold fish consistently, year after year, during the same time period. So keep track of the good ones.
When I’m fishing docks, I like to have a variety of bait on hand. Live shrimp on a 1/2-ounce knocker rig usually produces the most action. I also like artificials, such as Berkley Gulp shrimp or DOA shrimp. With a little practice you can really zing these baits under the boards from your boat. Ninety-nine percent of the time, that’s where the fish are going to be. If you cast short or too far to one side or the other, chances are pretty good you’re not going to get a bite.
Finally, dock fishing can provide a variety of species, including redfish, black drum and sheepshead. Don’t be surprised to hook into mangrove snapper, flounder and snook. Notice that every one of these fish are worthy of being filleted, but the snook are catch and release until the March season opening. Still, there are pretty good odds that something is coming home for dinner.
Jim Malfese at the Rod & Reel Pier is seeing die-hard cold-weather fishers producing catches on live shrimp. By using weighted rigs to keep the bait on the bottom, pier fishers are reeling up the usual winter trio, sheepshead, black drum and flounder. All are being caught in the morning hours. While catching keepers may be challenging, persistence will pay off as larger fish are attainable.
Bottom fishing with chunk baits, such as mullet or squid, is resulting in bonnethead sharks and stingrays. If you can’t get a bite on anything else, these fish will bend a rod. To target them, pier fishers are casting weighted rigs away from the pier.
Capt. Warren Girle is fishing nearshore structure for mangrove snapper with good results. Live shiners are the bait of choice, although shrimp are producing a bite, too. Girle also is catching the occasional kingfish, as well as juvenile grouper, grunts and flounder.
Moving inshore, Girle is drifting and jigging in hopes of coming across some pompano. Pompano weighing 3-4 pounds are being caught on small jigs tipped with fresh-cut pieces of shrimp. Mixed in with the pomps are bluefish, ladyfish, jack crevalle, spotted seatrout and blue runners. This variety of species provides great light-tackle sport fishing, as well as a few pompano to fillet and take home for dinner.
Capt. Aaron Lowman is fishing southern Tampa Bay with good results on mangrove snapper. By targeting small rock piles, wrecks and reef balls, Lowman is finding action for his clients. Among the mangrove snapper are flounder, Key West grunts and catch-and-release gag grouper. All species are being caught on either live shiners or shrimp combined with a knocker rig to anchor the bait on the bottom.
Moving inshore, Lowman is finding spotted seatrout on deeper grass flats with large sandy potholes. By jigging with soft plastics or live baiting with shiners, Lowman is attracting a bite from many schooley trout. Mixed in with the trout are ladyfish and jack crevalle.
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