Fish Tales
Target grouper on those calm days
By TYSON WALLERSTEIN
| Article published on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009 |
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| Tiffany Steinke, 6, of Redington Shores caught this black drum recently with a live shrimp from a residential dock. After a quick photo, Tiffany returned the fish to its habitat. |
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The weather was post-card perfect for a couple of days last week and many anglers made the trip offshore for some of the fantastic grouper action that we’ve been having this winter.
I received plenty of reports of angler’s catching limits of gag grouper in relatively shallow water. Most people have been hitting the 50- to 60-foot depths but we’ve been catching quality sized fish as shallow as 30 feet. The key is to find those small breaks (three feet or less will hold gags). Use frozen sardines to start but have plenty of live pinfish, as the bigger fish favor the live stuff.
The new moon is upon us and with the possibility for stronger winds we should expect to see some pretty low tide on our inshore waters. Seasoned redfish anglers look forward for these tides for the opportunity to potentially sight-cast to tailing reds. The reds will be staged off of known productive flats, rooting up the bottom for crabs and shrimp. Best areas recently have been Fort De Soto and the flats surrounding the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. This isn’t so much as a numbers game rather a stalking game, so use stealth when targeting these spooky fish.
It looks like we will be dealing with a bit of wind for the next few days. Now is a good time for the inshore angler to start leaning on those docks a little. Fresh shrimp either live or frozen can tempt just about any species of fish that might be hanging around the dock. Look for those docks that have some depth (at least 4 or 5 feet deep off the end at low tide); winter low tides can drop the water significantly and the fish look for those deeper docks for a more stable water temperature.
Until next week … 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 editorial@TBNweekly.com or mail it to Tampa Bay Newspapers, 9911 Seminole Blvd., Seminole, FL 33772.
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Article published on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009
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