Captain’s Corner: Brent Gaskill

The Tampa Bay Times

Capt. Brent Gaskill
 
 
 

        People are often surprised by my answer when they ask what my favorite kind of fishing is.  They expect to hear snook or redfish, maybe even kingfish or grouper. When I answer trout fishing, their next question is usually why?  I go on to explain that trout fishing is what I grew up doing as a kid. It’s relaxing and not a stressful experience.  I don’t need live bait because artificial lures actually work better.  Trout are relatively easy to find and catch on any given day. My favorite method for catching trout is drifting across expanses of grass flats making long casts ahead of the drift with the wind.  I concentrate my casts to the edges of scattered sand holes as trout will lie in the grass and ambush baits in the clearing.  Lead head jigs with various tail colors are my typical go-to choice for lures but I’ll never pass an opportunity to use top water plugs. When I was a kid, spotted sea trout seemed more plentiful.  Then water quality declined in the 80’s and so did the trout along with the grass beds.  Water quality has since improved greatly over the years and trout have thrived only to be set back by deadly red tides.  For this reason I pinch the barbs down on all of my artificial lures to expedite quick releases without touching the fish in an effort to maintain healthy fish stocks for the next generation of kids to enjoy as I did.