Captain’s Corner: Rob Gorta

The Tampa Bay Times

April is one of the best time of the year for fishing in the bay area. Redfish have been hanging around oyster bars on the extreme high tides in the afternoon.  A small pinfish under a small float is my bait of choice.  You can pitch right next to the mangroves and monitor where the bait is at all times.  Trout continue to provide action in shallow grass flats.  I have been targeting mullet schools using large scaled sardines.  Use a cork to prevent the sardine from burying itself in the grass, and this will also slow down the bait and make it an easy target.  Cobia have been roaming the flats on top of monster stingrays and spotted eagle rays looking for easy meals.  When you see a huge ray, toss a pinfish around it, cobia can come out of nowhere and strike.  Blacktip sharks have been roaming the sandbars outside of the gulf passes.  Anchor on the edge of the channel and hang a chum block over the side.  Use a large free lined pinfish rigged with heavy wire to prevent fish from biting through the leader.  Snook are feeding heavily on outgoing tides.  Fill the well full of Scaled sardines and throw live chum to get them in a feeding frenzy. Tarpon can be targeted off any of the bay area bridges.  The Gandy, Howard Franklin and the Skyway would be my top three choices to start.  Thread fin hearing is my favorite bait to use, the bigger the better. While waiting for a tarpon to strike, I will kill time and drop smaller baits for Spanish mackerel.   

Captain Rob Gorta

727-647-7606

www.captainrobgorta.com