Gone Fishing 06-20-08

June 20, 2008

Home		Gone fishing Capt. Larry Blue
		06/20/2008
Fishing Archives		A pleasant surprise this week was the return of a large school of Spanish
		mackerel . Mixed in with the mackerel were a school of little tunny, Bonita. The
		tunny and mackerel were making a frothy mess of a school of very small baitfish.
		They had the bait pushed to the surface of the gulf and were taking swipes through
		them filling their bellies. The random havoc of feeding fish made it easy for us to
		catch them with spoons that mimicked the small fish they were feeding so heavily on.
		An even bigger surprise was the catch of king mackerel that found our lures
		meant for the Spanish and tunny. King mackerel are usually well north at this time of
		the season as the water temperatures are a bit warmer than they like. Whatever the
		reason for their misdirection, we were happy to place them in the iced cooler along
		with their smaller cousins, Spanish mackerel. Both make good table fare, but for our
		purpose the smaller ones were to be used as bait for a bigger, much bigger quarry.
		Spanish mackerel are a favorite food for many shark species, such as; black
		tipped, bull and lemon sharks. There is a fairly large school of sharks on some of the
		offshore reefs and the mackerel as bait would almost assure a fish fight was about to
		take place. After filling the cooler with enough mackerel for dinner and bait, we were
		off to see if the sharks were hungry.
		The sharks we have been catching have been running from 4 to about 7 feet
		in length and occasionally some even bigger. They have been so abundant that
		almost as soon as the chum block is placed in the water the sharks seem to appear
		on the surface just behind the boat transom. The first to show are the smaller brown
		and lemon sharks, they cruise the surface closing in smelling the chopped fish in the
		chum box. It doesn’t take long to get the first shark on the hook and as time goes on
		the larger ones move in to take their place.
		One day last week as a client was reeling in a 6 foot black tipped shark a
		couple of larger bull sharks tried to make a meal out of our catch. A 10 and 12 foot
		bull took swipes at the black tipped shark but missed fortunately. You can imagine
		what kind of battle that might have made had the bull sharks found their mark. Are
		you ready to go give it a try?
		Red grouper have filled into the some of the lime rock bottom offshore. Lime
		rock bottom some of the locals call; “cheese bottom”. The holey, craggy bottom
		resembles Swiss cheese, and is so called. The red grouper drop into the holes at
		night for shelter and can be found roaming the bottom in search of a meal during the
		day. Finding this bottom takes a good bottom machine and knowledge of where to
		start looking. Black grouper can be found mingling with the reds but most of the
		larger ones will be found on bigger structure than the reds.
		Inshore fishing for snook is going strong. They are along the beaches in the
		early morning but should move closer to the passes as the day progresses. Tossing
		whitebait or scaled sardines into dark patches of sand should bring a strike. The dark
		patch usually means a slight drop-off and the snook will hang in one waiting for a
		baitfish to pass overhead. Beach fishing for snook helps one to appreciate the sheer
		power and energy a snook can expend on light tackle. There isn’t a better way to
		fish for the consummate of Florida fishing.

		Good luck and good fishing, Capt. Larry
		Copyright 2008 Logo/editorial, Capt. Larry Blue


		Capt. Larry Blue is a full time charter boat operator and guide, launching from Gators
		on the Pass, in Treasure Island . He is a member of; The Maritime Consortium, The
		Florida League of Anglers and The Florida Outdoors Writers Assn. For charter
		information call 727-397-3773 or cell; 727-871-1058 or
		www.CaptainLarryBlueCharters.com