Now that winter has settled in, finding success while fishing around Anna Maria Island requires patience and perseverance.
While fishing the inshore waters, you might find it hard to locate fish and a lengthy process to get them to bite.
Finding water temperatures above 60 degrees is a good place to start. Residential canals and docks are great areas in which to concentrate your effort. These waters stay slightly warmer than the open bays. They are generally deeper and the concrete seawalls that line the canals help keep them warm from the sun. The warming might not be extreme but you’ll find that a couple of degrees can make a difference.
Casting live shrimp will attract sheepshead, black drum and redfish to the hook and, if you’re lucky, you’ll encounter mangrove snapper, spotted seatrout and a motivated snook.
Once you’ve located the fish, patience and perseverance come into play. Since the waters are chilly, the fish are not looking to exert a lot of energy. The bite may be subtle and you may experience longer periods between bites. The key is to keep presenting bait until the fish meander over and decide to feed.
Stealth is another factor. Since the fish are cold, they’re likely to become spooked. When casting your bait, try to use the least amount of weight possible to minimize the splash as the bait enters the water. In fact, if you can get away with no weight, it would play to your advantage.
If patience isn’t your thing, try fishing on calmer days when you can comfortably get around in the Gulf of Mexico. The deeper waters around the artificial reefs and wrecks are producing good action on sheepshead, snapper and grunts. In deeper water, these fish are more comfortable due to the steady water temperature and the structure where they hide. Live shrimp on the bottom rig of your choice should attract these fish to bite.
And, if fishing in the cold is not your thing, don’t be discouraged — spring fishing is around the corner.
The warm comfortable days of sunny Florida will be back soon enough and the excellent inshore fishing we enjoy will return with the sun.
On my Just Reel charters, I’m going for the action around the local reefs and wrecks in Tampa Bay and in the Gulf of Mexico. Sheepshead, mangrove snapper and Key West grunts are plentiful in these areas. The key to this bite is having light breezes and calm seas.
On windier days, I’m confined to the inshore waters and fishing the canals and docks is providing action — but it depends on the day. Redfish, spotted seatrout, sheepshead and black drum are being found in the sheltered canals.
Capt. Warren Girle is targeting a variety of species while working charters in Sarasota Bay. When fishing in canals around docks, Girle is putting anglers on redfish, black drum and sheepshead. To catch the fish, Girle has the clients cast a live shrimp on a weighted rig under the docks and around the edges of seawalls.
Moving out of the canals and into open water is producing action in the peak warmth of the day on free-lined shrimp or fresh-cut pieces of shrimp. Spotted seatrout and pompano are taking the bait and Jack crevalle also are in the mix.
Lastly, fishing structure in the Gulf with live shrimp on a bottom rig is yielding sheepshead, mangrove snapper and Key West grunts for Girle.
Capt. David White is concentrating his efforts on catching pompano along the Gulf beaches and throughout the flats of Sarasota Bay. Casting jigs tipped with fresh-cut shrimp is yielding the best action although, in some instances, live shrimp on the hook is working. Targeting sheepshead is producing action when over reefs and wrecks in Tampa Bay and the Gulf. Mixed in are mangrove snapper and Key West grunts.
Jim Malfese at the Rod & Reel Pier says fishing is a little slow, but he anticipates the arrival of the sheepshead to occur in the next few weeks. As of now, persistent pier fishers are catching sheepshead, although not in large quantities.
Live shrimp is working as bait to hook up a tasty convict-striped fish.
Casting shrimp out from the pier in the shallows is producing a bite on whiting. Using a split shot 12 inches above the hook with a live shrimp — or even half a shrimp —is working well to entice the whiting to bite, reports Malfese.
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