Fish Tales
Play the tides to improve your game
By CAPT. TYSON WALLERSTEIN
Article published on Thursday, May 15, 2008  |
There is no question that the single most important aspect to inshore saltwater fishing is the tide. An angler can have a well full of the choicest bait, be sitting in the right spot and be presenting the bait in a way that is sure to fool even the most educated of fishes. But if the tide isn’t moving or not moving enough they’re not going to bite, it’s that simple.
Like most valuable lessons I’ve learned in my life, it’s always the hard way. Hours upon hours of working likely spots where the water looked right, birds were working, mullet were jumping and yet no fish. Knowing full well that the tide had gone slack, but refusing to believe that even though my offering looks so tantalizing that I would eat it in a pinch, these fish aren’t going to bite.
Moral to the story is that its bait fish season and those same fish that you were catching a month or so ago on shrimp or cut-bait have changed gears, become much more active and have turned on all their predatory instincts. Those weaker tides of winter are behind us now and the fish know that. They know better than to go hunt food on slack water. History tells them if they wait until the tide is moving better they’ll increase their calories spent to gained margin. It might sound a bit ridiculous but it’s a little hard to relate when you can go and open up the refrigerator and grab yourself a piece of cheese whenever you feel like it.
Like I said, its baitfish season and my new philosophy is that the one with the most bait wins. I’ve seen it too many times not to believe it; you’ll toss out a couple of free offerings and the fish respond by blasting them off the surface. You now toss your offering in the same location and bam! Instant hook-up. This scenario goes on until you either catch all the fish or run out of bait; somehow it always seems to be the latter.
So, beef up your live well pumps, or if you want to really look crazy, try incorporating pure oxygen into the water. It’s expensive but what a difference. As for catching bait, namely pilchards, try bridge shadow lines at night or chumming the 3- to 4-foot grass flats around the passes with a mixture of Jack Mackerel and cornmeal.
As far as fishing goes for this upcoming weekend, the tides look fantastic and if the winds lay down a little it should be lights-out! Beach snook, shallow water reds, tarpon off the beach as well as the passes on the big out-goer. You may even be lucky enough to see some cobia when you’re scouting the beach for poons. Fishing is as good as it gets right now.
Tyson Wallerstein can be reached at capt.tyson@hotmail.com. If you have a fish picture you would like to see published in the newspaper, send it with your name and where it was caught, to: “Fish Tales,” Tampa Bay Newspapers, 9911 Seminole Blvd., Seminole, FL 33772, or e-mail it to editorial@TBNweekly.com.
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Article published on Thursday, May 15, 2008
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