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Summer Fishing Requires Patience

Photo by FRED EVERSON

Roger Mills caught this keeper-sized trout with a gold spoon on the grass flats off Pinellas Point.

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By FRED EVERSON

Tribune Correspondent

Published: July 15, 2008

It has been typical summer fare for South Shore anglers the past few weeks.

The afternoon outgoing tides have been better than the morning rise, but not much. Thunderstorms have threatened almost daily.

There seems to be plenty of small baits on the flats, and the middle of Tampa Bay is covered with threadfins.

The big sardines that guides and live bait anglers prefer have been harder and harder to come by, and that will not get better anytime soon. It will probably be late September before we see sardines on the flats that are big enough to fish with.

For me that means breaking out my half-inch mesh net. You need a fast-sinking net to trap threadfins in deep water, and it should be the largest diameter you can handle - 8 feet would be the minimum.

Most guides throw 12-foot nets during the summer months because they require more bait than a couple of anglers out for a day.

I throw a 10-footer because I'm not trying to keep the threadfins alive. I put the majority on ice for use as cut bait as soon as I get them in the boat, but keep a dozen or two in the live well.

When rigging the baits on hooks, I find that threadfins don't survive as well if you hook them in the nostril as you would pilchards. They seem to fare better when gut hooked.

I like 2/0 chemically sharpened circle hooks for the larger herrings, but still only get a couple of casts out of them.

Keli Emery said that the fishing was slow for her last two trips.

Even the trout bit has slowed down.

I have tried them early in the morning on a rising tide with little luck, so I tried them again on the afternoon outgoing tide. It was better.

Roger Mills caught a keeper, and we both caught a few shorts on Mirrolures, but it was a lackluster bite. I also lost a lure to a voracious bluefish.

The Spanish mackerel finally moved into the Bay.

Capt. Danny Guarino called me one morning to report huge schools feeding on the surface just on the west side of the ship channel off Bahia Beach.

That's good news because the macks have been staying deep so far this year.

I like to throw a fly at Spanish mackerel when they are frenzied. A small green-and-white glass minnow imitation really gets their attention.

Fred Everson is a Ruskin fishing guide. All South Shore fishermen and guides may submit information and photographs to be included in this column by calling (813) 830-8890 or sending an e-mail to ihuntsnook@aol.com.

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