Captain’s Corner: Brian Caudill

The Tampa Bay Times

Inshore fishing has been excellent over the last few days in north Pinellas county. Fish are beginning to take on their spring and summer patterns. Trout have started to occupy the rocky troughs and swash channels of the beaches from Tarpon Springs to Clearwater. Bait is very plentiful, however, chumming will always improve your odds on the flats. Once the sun gets up after sunrise, the bait gets a little shy. So dusk has been the most productive. Once the baitwell is full, finding trout has been fairly easy by throwing handfuls of sardines over the dark areas of grass or rocks along the beaches. Once you locate the trout, there are usually good numbers to be caught. If the bite slows, I move 20 to 30 yards down and try again. There have been a few snook, spanish mackerel and some ladyfish mixed in with the trout as well. Redfish had been good up to the full moon, but the schools started to fall apart a bit after the full moon phase. There are still plenty to catch, working mostly the high tides with cut bait and live pinfish along the oyster bars and mangrove shorelines. Large mullet schools have still held a fair number of redfish especially on the falling tide.  This is typically the time that the snook bite is more consistent. They are still in transition, moving from the back country out to the beaches. However, their numbers look good and I expect to have a great season for snook.