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Gone
fishing Capt. Larry Blue |
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04/13/2008 |
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Fishing Archives |
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What
a great start for spring, king mackerel have invaded the
beaches. We |
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have
enjoyed a wonderful season so far with the king mackerel and
from the looks |
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of
things there should be more action on the way. Many of the
reports from just |
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south of
Tampa Bay indicate there are several big schools headed here.
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Spanish
mackerel are located all along the coast and can be found best
in |
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the
early morning. Mackerel usually feed heavily from first light
until around 10: AM. |
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After
that they settle down until just after 2: PM and feed again
until dark. The |
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afternoon bite isn’t quite as good as the morning, but still
worth the effort. |
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A common
occurrence at this time of year are the sharks that follow both
the |
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King and the
Spanish mackerel. Black tipped, bull, lemon and hammerhead
sharks |
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are some of the
more common. But we can find tiger, dusky and many other species
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of shark around
the area off our coast. |
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Recently
after catching a few Spanish mackerel the charter party on my
boat |
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asked if
we could give the sharks a try. I baited a couple mackerel on
some large |
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hooks
and anchored the boat about a mile from shore in an area known
for sharks. |
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Using
some of the other mackerel for chum to attract them close to the
baited hooks, |
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it
wasn’t long before one of the mackerel got a hit. |
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One of
our guests grabbed the rod and set the hook on what turned out
to be |
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a seven
and half foot long hammerhead. Our guest put up a valiant effort
to bring the |
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shark to
boatside, but the shark had other ideas. It was a good thing
that there were |
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three
other anglers on board, because they all had to take turns
working on this |
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shark.
One by one, they held on to the rod for dear life, and struggled
to gain line on |
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the
reel. And one by one they all failed to complete the task.
Eventually they tired of |
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the
battle. I’m not sure who gave in first, shark or man. But,
finally after one hour and |
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forty
minutes the 250 pound shark succumbed to fifty pound test line
and well made |
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rod, not
to mention the four tired anglers. For pictures and the names of
the anglers |
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tune
into the web site;
www.CaptainLarryBlueCharters.com
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From now
until the end of summer great shark action can be found. The
most |
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important factor is fresh bait for consistent catches. No matter
what you’ve seen on |
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TV
movies, shark like fresh fish and not smelly old bait. |
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Cobia
are starting to show up on some of the markers and many of the
reefs |
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offshore. A live pinfish or other common baitfish is preferred;
however they are |
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known to
take a variety of lures. Cobia can be caught while trolling for
other species. |
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If you
wish to target them with trolled lure try using a tube lure or
some of the |
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swimming
plug lures. Sight casting for them is often done on the grass
flats. |
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Grouper
seem to be just about everywhere of late. We have caught them in
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the
shallow water while trolling for mackerel and found them on the
deep water |
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offshore
ledges. Hopefully this trend will continue and should until the
water gets |
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warm and
they head out to seek the shelter of the cooler depths later
this summer. |
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Good luck and good fishing, Capt.
Larry |
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Copyright 2008
Logo/editorial, Capt. Larry Blue |
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Capt. Larry Blue is a full
time charter boat operator and guide, launching from Gators
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on the Pass, in Treasure
Island . He is a member of; The Maritime Consortium, The |
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Florida League of Anglers
and The Florida Outdoors Writers Assn. For charter
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information call
727-397-3773 or cell; 727-871-1058 or |
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www.CaptainLarryBlueCharters.com
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