Don’t let the wind ruin your weekend

Posted Apr 20, 2012 by The Tampa Tribune

Updated Apr 22, 2012 at 11:18 PM

By MIKE ANDERSON

This week’s windy conditions had us really working for fish. When the wind blows, we normally try to hide from it. This week I took a page from my friend captain C.A. Richardson’s book and fished the windy edges and sides of the islands and flats.

The wind will push the plankton and bait that feed on the plankton up onto these shorelines, and that will be where you will find your gamefish. This worked very well for us down around Fort De Soto this week. We caught nice redfish, snook, speckled trout and big flounder this way all week. Live pilchards were the baits of choice, fished free-lined or under a cork. We also had really good luck with the Spanish mackerel and ladyfish, which seem to be everywhere right now. Moving water was key for the mackerel bite, along with long-shank hooks. Some of the biggest Spanish mackerel I have seen are here this spring.

If kingfish are your thing, work the beaches slow-trolling a medium blue runner for best results. Cigar minnows, pichards or threadfin herring will work, as well, and they are much easier to come by this time of year. Work the areas near the passes for best results. The 80-foot hole just inside of Egmont Key can also produce some really big kings. Many of our Bay area kingfish tourneys are won fishing inside of Egmont Key.

Catch Billy Nobles and Mike Anderson on the “Reel Animals Fishing Show” on Saturdays at 6:30 a.m. and Sundays at 11 a.m. on WFLA, Ch. 8, and from 6-9 a.m. on 970 AM, and on Sundays from 7-9 a.m. on 620 AM. To book a charter, call 1-866-GAMEFISH or visit http://www.reelanimalsfishingshow.com.