The past week has been a tough nut to crack. The late season tropical system that became "Ida" really threw a wrench in the works with its far ranging effects for days on end. Action in the gulf was really heating up but the strong northeast winds early in the week kept most of us fishing close to the beaches in the lee and then the wind went hard to the west and northwest putting the gulf off limits altogether.

Before the blows we had been doing reasonably well along the beaches with kings, Spanish, bonito, shark, grouper, snapper, and exceptional flounder catches. When the winds forced me to ply the bays for several days the action was kind of lackluster after the cold front but persistence paid off with some scattered redfish, snook, flounder, and grouper.

On Saturday I had a pair of anglers, Rick Fuchs from Cincinnati, Oh. and Karom Gurgis from Ontario, Canada. We got a break in the wind and hit the beaches again with interesting results. With a well full of white bait and pinfish we plied a number of hard bottom areas off Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island. The water was still fairly muddied up from the rough surf but we caught quite a few fish but not many reached the cooler. The big numbers catch was red and gag grouper but none were keeper sized. In addition there were Spanish mackerel, bonito, shark, snapper, key west grunt, and gray trout. We had really anticipated another big flounder catch but came up with a goose egg in that pursuit.

What is on the horizon is anyone's guess. I feel as if the kingfish run is over but there may be some stragglers still taken well offshore where the water is still fairly clear and warmer. The best thing that could happen for inshore action at this point is for a good hard cold front to roll in and establish a solid winter pattern with reds, trout (out of season), snook, and especially sheepshead. White bait has still been easy to get but that could change any day and shrimp may be the way to go real soon. White bait is not an issue when targeting sheepshead, pompano, and black drum which are all crustacean critters.