With springtime around the corner, Anna Maria Island anglers are feeling anticipation for a season of backcountry fishing.
Meanwhile, the snook are creeping out of their wintertime haunts to feast on live shiners.
Large quantities of linesiders, especially in the slot size for keepers, have yet to make a showing, but there are some available to target.
After a string of warm days, snook are biting during morning tides, although targeting them after a cold front is requiring some patience — at least until a little later in the day when the schools are more eager to take a bait. Other schools are a little apprehensive — until later in the day.
Targeting spotted seatrout is beginning to heat up as more fish are staying on the grass flats as the springtime bait schools arrive. You can target these fish a variety of ways with live bait and artificials.
Live shiners or shrimp cast into sandy potholes is a great way to start. If you’re using artificials, soft plastics on a jighead or topwater plug can be effective.
And, while you’re targeting the trout, there are opportunities to hook into other species as well, depending on your bait. Ladyfish, jack crevalle and Spanish mackerel are present on some of the deeper grass flats, so casting live shiners could be productive.
And if you’re casting jigs or live shrimp, or a combination of the two, there’s potential to hook into pompano.
Redfish also are a targetable species in the spring, when they are frequenting the mangrove shorelines in search of a meal.
Casting live shiners in these areas triggers the reds to bite. You can find reds around rocks and docks, when casting a live shrimp as bait can be the key to success. And don’t forget there are sheepies and black drum lingering in these areas and they just love a live shrimp offering.
On my Just Reel charters, I am carrying live shiners and live shrimp to be prepared for any situation.
Targeting trout with live shiners results in a consistent bite and casting baits into sandy potholes or deeper grass flats is resulting in many hookups. Mixed in with the trout bite are ladyfish, jacks and macks.
Targeting snook with live shiners can produce good action and, as a bonus, I’m seeing a few reds mixed in.
Switching over to shrimp is working well on structure in the Gulf of Mexico. Sheepshead, mangrove snapper and juvenile grouper are making up the bite.
I’m also seeing cobia take interest in the shrimp.
Lastly, some flounder are available while fishing the artificial reefs in the Gulf.
Capt. David White of Anna Maria Charters is backwater fishing now that the water temps are rising. Using live shiners as bait is leading White and his clients to a variety of backcountry species, including snook, redfish and trout.
For the snook, White is working the shallow water along sandy shorelines, where anglers are sight-casting, which can be enjoyable. There’s not much better for a day of fishing than watching a linesider eat your bait.
In some instances, redfish are being caught in similar fashion.
As for spotted seatrout, deeper grass flats with sandy potholes are working best. In these areas, White is hooking his clients up with Spanish mackerel.
And White is carrying shrimp along for bait, which is working to catch sheepshead.
Jim Malfese at the Rod & Reel Pier says things are starting to liven up at the pier. Sheepshead are making a strong showing, with some anglers catching their limit of eight sheepies in a morning.
Black drum and redfish are being caught while targeting sheepshead, and both the reds and black drums are being caught in the slot.
Anglers using live shiners are hooking into small-size snook, as well as Spanish mackerel. The macks also are being caught on small spec rigs or silver spoons.
Capt. Johnny Mattay, also of Anna Maria Charters, is finding good action for his anglers by working the shorelines for snook. Clients also are sight-casting with live shiners as bait. And the good news is they’re finding redfish mixed with the snook bite.
Mattay says spotted seatrout are being caught along the deeper grass flats, where casting live shiners in the right sandy pothole is resulting in great rallies on the popular flats fish.
Switching over to shrimp as bait is adding to the variety of species, which is providing sheepshead and pompano with some regularity.
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