We remain hopeful there may still be some late season nearshore kingfishing to be done.  In years past we’ve caught kings just off the beach until Christmas and in a few cases even beyond.  Each passing front however tends to muddy the water, plummet water temperature and scatter the bait causing the kings to push offshore.  Stringing a few decent weather days together between fronts will allow conditions to settle and draw the fish back in.  Land based anglers have been a bit less affected by the windy conditions of this past week.  Thursday, on a recon (or sightseeing) mission I observed plenty of bait on both north and south Skyway Fishing Piers.  As water temperature cools and much of the bait abandons the flats, anglers there were able to jiggle up whitebait, greenbacks and pinfish at will.  Pier Operators reported increasing sheepshead activity, some mackerel and an occasional grouper being hauled over the rails.  Looking ahead, during these winter months, shrimp will become our go to bait.  They’re almost always readily available and better yet – everything eats them.  You don’t go hook and line hog fishing without them or fiddler crabs and fiddlers aren’t always easy to get.  Sheepshead, another mainstay of our wintertime fishing are cold water tolerant, don’t mind it blowing or a little muddy.  They too won’t resist a piece of fresh shrimp and you’ll not catch any on whitebait.  Pinfish will still be available during the winter months but you may find at times a grouper might prefer a dead bait over a live one when it’s cold.  Keep in mind, gag grouper season closes the end of this month.

CapMel Staff
Latest posts by CapMel Staff (see all)

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR