Macks ‘on fire,’ crabbers look for cold weather
Lynda Hicks of Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant said crab season for them is off to a slow start. “The crabs we’re getting are of good quality, just not a whole lot to be had.”
Hicks reports eight local crabbers are pulling traps and delivering their catch to Moore’s this year, “but we’re still having a hard time keeping up with demand.” Moore’s isn’t yet marketing or shipping retail stone crab orders. “We only have enough to serve in the restaurant,” she said.
“Our crabbers tell us they are few and far between,” Hicks said. What we need, she said, is “some bad weather to stir the crabs up so they go looking for food. I know it’s not good for tourism, but for good stone crab catching, the worse the weather the better.”
“Crawl crabs, crawl,” she pleaded.
Bob Kilb from the Rod & Reel Pier said there’s not been a lot going on at the northernmost Island fishing pier. He said the fishers there are catching “quite a few black drum, an occasional redfish and an occasional mackerel, and not a whole lot of those, and a few mangrove snapper.” Other than that, he said, “there’s just trash fish.”
At Island Discount Tackle in Holmes Beach, Danny Stasny said the “Spanish mackerel bite has been on fire. If you just want to bend a rod, as an overall game fish they’re great, and good eating, too. The trout bite’s been good on the flats, although that turns off Nov. 1.” Trout season is closed in November and December. “We’ve been catching big ones in the morning when the sun’s coming up using top-water lures.
“We’re still waiting for the water temp to drop so the kingfish come on. They were around a little bit last week, but with another cold front, they’ll be back. You can still find them by trolling around structures on the beach.”
Stasny said there’s been a “decent cobia bite near shore structures, starting at the 3-mile reef. Lots of times they swim right up to the boat. So just whip a pinfish in his face, and chances are he’ll bite. They’re curious and stupid. And good eating.
“I’ve heard the grouper bite is on fire, too, but all under-size red grouper from 5 to 20 miles out. The depth-finder lights up, but when they drop a line, the fish are all small.”
Capt. Rick Gross of Fishy Business said he’s still catching some redfish, “one last week was 28 inches, but the bite is scattered,” he said. We saw some small snook and “all the mack action you could shake a stick at out front.” Gross added there are lots of sharks around everywhere, with plenty of black tips in the bay waters.
At the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Piers South Pier Bait Shop in north Palmetto, the report was limited, with only macks and grouper for keepers on Friday.
Jesus Rosario from the Anna Maria City Pier said fishers there are seeing “big mackerels and lots of them, bonita are starting to show up along with a few cobia, and some tarpon were hooked before sun-up.” And, he said, a “couple of sheepshead turned up” on the hooks for the first sign of winter coming.
Capt. Larry McGuire of Show Me the Fish Charters reports the fall fishing frenzy is full blown offshore and nearshore on Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key. On our party’s, we’re catching limit catches of American red snapper on the weekends, as well as red and gag grouper, a few scamp, monster mangrove snapper, amberjack, cobia, kingfish and big sharks. The best action is in about 140 feet of water, using pinfish and sardines. Closer in, there are all the Spanish mackerel you want to catch, plus a variety of sharks, some kingfish and a school of cobia can show up anywhere.
Send fishing reports to fish@islander.org.