Kingfish still hot locally

Posted Apr 1, 2012 by TBO.com

Updated Apr 2, 2012 at 12:57 AM

By BILL MILLER

Kingfish action along our coast continues to be red hot.

The Egmont ship channel produced big kings in the 40-pound class for Eric Bachnik and Larry Mastry, along with big Spanish mackerel and little tunny, a k a bonita.

Sharks moved into the area following the bait and mackerel. Catching big sharks has been easy this week for captain Billy Miller. After Miller and his party have caught their limit of kings, a fresh mackerel or bonita with a few slices in it is drifted behind the boat on heavy tackle.

It isn’t long before a shark finds the bait and the battle is on. Blacktip and spinner sharks in the 6-foot range are common, with a few bulls and lemons in the mix.

The Dunedin Reef was a hot spot for captain Rodney Ristau and friends. Anchoring near the reef and chumming with live bait produced 47 kingfish and numerous Spanish mackerel on a half-day trip.

Billy Caldwell reported that kings were also biting off Boca Grande. The Power Pole Reef and Helen’s Reef were hot spots for Caldwell. Live bait did the best, but a few were caught trolling big spoons.

Steve Bonell had a good week catching tarpon. Using live and artificial baits, Bonell and his charters were jumping two to three tarpon each morning in the Clearwater area.

Terra Ceia Bay and Sarasota Bay are good spots for trout and redfish.

The early morning topwater bite for trout has been good over the deep grass areas. As the tide rises later in the day, try the island edges for redfish on gold spoons.

To book a charter with captain Bill or his son captain Billy, call (813) 363-9927.

Kings abundant in Bay area reefs

Posted Mar 31, 2012 by TBO.com

Updated Apr 2, 2012 at 01:00 AM

By BILLY NOBLES

Everything is on fire.

Remember, grouper (with the exception of gags) are open Sunday, so redfish, scamp and the like are fair game — and there are plenty of them. The snapper bite remains stellar, but this is one of the best kingfish seasons I can remember. It seems all the reefs are holding kings.

The farther out you go, there are tuna in the 100-pound-plus range. Jessie James of James Gang Charters is killing them way out.

Tommy LaRonge reports limits of flounder coming into John’s Pass. Earlier this week I took some friends out on the new Yellowfin; what a trip. We caught kings, sharks and snapper, and we finished the day by strapping a 13-year-old boy to a 130 International and dropping down a 4-foot barracuda when all of a sudden the 250-pound test went extremely tight and started pulling the 9,500-pound Yellowfin toward the wreck.

We fired up the motors to back away. With one other young man and three grown men pulling, the 400-pound goliath grouper finally came to the top.

Let me tell you, for two kids that were used to catching perch, well, they are ruined now.

Inshore, the trout bite remains excellent, with trout being on just about every grass flat. The main inshore hero is schools of redfish in the Bay, from Cockroach Bay to Fort DeSoto. It seems they are everywhere.

The bait remains thick at the Sunshine Skyway fishing piers, but be respectful of the people fishing the pier as you approach, not to run over their lines or crowd them.

Catch Billy Nobles and Mike Anderson on the “Reel Animals Fishing Show” on Saturdays from 6:30-7 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.reelanimalsfishinghow.com.

Kings remain main coastal target

Posted Mar 30, 2012 by TBO.com

Updated Apr 2, 2012 at 01:03 AM

By FRANK SARGEANT

California angler Ish Monroe won the Bassmaster Elite tournament and $100,000 at Okeechobee last weekend with a four-day catch of 20 fish weighing 108.5 pounds. Monroe had plenty of 6-pounders on the opening and closing days, most caught by flipping heavy cover with a Missile Baits D-Bomb.

Captain Mike Shellen said prime areas include the Point of the Reef to Observation Shoal, as well as Pelican Bay. He also said bluegill fishing is coming on strong in the grassy shallows all around the lake. Find out more at OkeechobeeBassFishing.com.

At Rodman, captain Sean Rush is still catching 25 to 60 big bass daily on wild shiners.

“The water is back to near normal levels, but the fish are still biting strong,” Rush said. “You have plenty of company, but there are plenty of bass.”

Kings continue to be the prime target on the coast this week, with plenty of fish north and south of the Bay area. Any piece of hard bottom or wreck from 100 yards off the beach to 10 miles out that holds bait will have plenty of kings.

Those without good numbers can find fish by slow-trolling live baits in the ship channels outside the Skyway, or by anchoring on “the pan” inside Egmont Key and chumming with cut threads.

The front that blew through did not significantly lower water temperatures, and snook and trout continue to eat on the grass flats. Topwaters around the mangrove edges are a good bet on high water, while jerkbaits in the potholes will do the job on low at Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor. There will be some reds tailing on low water along the South Shore area of Tampa Bay.

Tribune correspondent Frank Sargeant can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Spring bite in full swing

Posted Mar 26, 2012 by TBO.com

Updated Mar 26, 2012 at 12:10 AM

By MIKE ANDERSON

Even though we are still in March the fishing is out of control. Big kingfish have taken center stage and you better enjoy it while it lasts. Unseasonably hot weather could push the kings through pretty quickly, but for now they are chewing the bottoms right out of our boats. Slow trolling big-scaled sardines or threadfin herring seems to be working best. Some guys are having luck anchored up and chumming them in, but for us the best bite has been trolling. Work the areas of hard bottom for best results and don’t get in to big of a hurry. Slow trolling means not much over 3 to 5 knots.

Inshore, the snook bite has picked up very nicely along the south shore of Tampa Bay and up around Wheedon Island. We are getting some great reports of nice fish in the 30 inch-plus range being caught with some regularity in these areas. We didn’t catch any quite that big this week but we did manage to catch a good number of smaller males.

Redfish and Trout remain thick all over the bay area as well. Fort DeSoto, Wheedon Island, 4th street, Joe’s Island and down in Sarasota bay are all producing really good Redfish and Trout numbers. We caught very nice slot redfish and big trout to 24 inches this week.

It’s shaping up to be a great spring

Posted Mar 16, 2012 by TBO.com

Updated Mar 16, 2012 at 11:56 PM

BY MIKE ANDERSON

Typically, The Tampa Tribune Outdoors Expo kicks off the fishing season, and this year is no different. On the inshore scene, there are herds of redfish all over the bay, from just under the 17-inch slot minimum to well over the 27-inch maximum. The key is to look for the mullet — not the little mullet, but the big meat chicken mullet. In these schools of mullet you also will find some of the largest trout on the planet.

Offshore, the kings are here. This week showed the best kingfish bite I have seen. We were hauling them in, with our large fish at 48 pounds, three in the 40-pound range and more than a dozen in the 25- to 30-pound range in just 21/2 hours. It seemed like the key was large bait, whether it was cigar minnows, threadfin herring or horse-eye sardines.

The next day, captain Mark Thomas boated and released — get this — a 70-pounder in the same area. It was longer than his 6-foot client was tall.

The ledges are holding good numbers of mangrove snapper, hogfish and other reef species that are great table fare. And remember that on April 1, grouper season starts for all grouper except gags. With bait schools and fish everywhere, this promises to be one of the best springs on record.

Catch Billy Nobles and Mike Anderson on the “Reel Animals Fishing Show” on Saturdays from 6:30-7 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.

Monster fish are showing up everywhere

Posted Mar 15, 2012 by TBO.com

Updated Mar 17, 2012 at 12:00 AM

BY FRANK SARGEANT

Captain Mike Shellen guided angler Braden Benson to a couple of Okeechobee monster largemouths over 8 pounds on a recent trip. Shellen said the best lures for the giants have been flippin’ rigs in heavy cover — the Ugly Otter, Paca Craw, Sweet Beaver and an assortment of flippin’ tubes do the job. Spinnerbaits and topwaters are catching fish on the grass edges and over submerged vegetation, Shellen said. He advises looking for the clearest water you can find and staying away from water made murky by the wind: http://www.okeechobeebassfishing.com.

On the coast, captain Ray Markham has been finding plenty of whopper trout, up to 25 inches, fishing topwaters shallow, as well as lots of fat keepers in deeper grass. He suggests using 51/2-inch CAL jerkbaits, Paul Brown Lures and topwaters from Rapala and MirrOlure. Markham and other skippers report lots of reds on the flats around Fort DeSoto, Tarpon Key and the usual spring haunts. Markham said he’s also been catching plenty of nice snook. For more, he can be reached at (941) 228-3474.

Captain Brian Hasson of St. Petersurg found kingfish, as did a number of other captains, on Monday off the beaches. Fish to 38 pounds came over the rails. This migration looks ready to break wide open right on schedule, around St. Patrick’s Day. Slow-trolling live baits is the key for the big “smoker” kings, while school-sized fish to 12 pounds are easier on a Drone spoon trolled behind a downrigger or No. 2 planer.

Tribune correspondent Frank Sargeant can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).