Fish Tales
Full moon action
By TYSON WALLERSTEIN
| Article published on Thursday, June 4, 2009 |
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Summertime fishing is defined by species such as snapper, tarpon and snook.
All of these fish seem to thrive in our increasingly warming coastal waters.
Full moon phases spur on these fishes urge to reproduce.
With Sunday’s full moon approaching anglers will need to make adjustments in order to put the odds in their favor for what is sure to be an incredible weekend for fishing.
Tarpon anglers know that a full moon will have the bulk of the migrating tarpon congregated into a couple of known passes i.e. Boca Grande and Egmont.
Here the tarpon will feed on crabs that are flushed from the bays on the fast running outgoing tide.
At that same time they also will form into huge groups that will head offshore to spawn when the time is right.
Some will stay and some will go, there isn’t much known about the spawning habits of these fish.
The good news in all of this is that we’re just getting started in our tarpon run, and for the next month look for numbers of fish to increase along the beaches as well as in the passes.
Many anglers know that full moon snapper fishing is one of the real jewels of our region.
Offshore anglers book their overnight trips aboard the Florida Fisherman at Hubbard’s marina months in advance, and small boat anglers can make the short runs necessary to reach one of the many artificial reefs that lie just off our coast.
This moon is extra special considering the opening of American red snapper on June 1. The limit for red snapper is two per person per day, with a 16 minimum.
Land based anglers know by now the best spot in town to catch a snapper dinner are the Skyway fishing piers.
Here offshore sized Mangrove snapper can be caught on a regular basis.
Snook have been staging in or near the passes for some time now.
This full moon will definitely trigger a spawn.
These fish, if caught, need to be handled with care and quickly released, so as not to disrupt the spawning process.
Plenty of snook can be found roaming the beaches. Most of these fish are smaller males with a few females mixed in.
At times the action can be red-hot as the aggressive males will often compete for food. Cast small shallow diving crank baits or live pilchards.
Until next time, get bent!
Capt. Wallerstein can be reached at capt.tyson@hotmail.com. To get a fish photo in the paper, send the photo along with your name, when and where it was caught to Fish Tales, Tampa Bay Newspapers, 9911 Seminole Blvd., Seminole, FL 33772, or send an e-mail to editorial@tbnweekly.com.
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Article published on Thursday, June 4, 2009
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