Home Captain Mel Berman The Great, Doug Hemmer

The Great, Doug Hemmer

January 30, 2020

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I went through my old files and I made a file for Doug’s reports. I took over his spot writing for the Tampa Bay Times when he died. We were friends. Not super close friends but we were friends. At the top, a Frank Sargeant article. Then, every Captain’s Corner I could find that Doug wrote. Here is the link to the article I published at the time he died: http://www.capmel.com/another-passing-captain-doug-hemmer/

Doug was one of those guys I learned from.

Neil T

Doug with “Doc” and the “Canoeman”

Bay Area Captain Eager To Share Knowledge

By FRANK SARGEANT fsargean@tampabay.rr.com

Published: Mar 7, 2003

Doug Hemmer can’t help himself. He’s a walking seminar, a professor of fishing ready to turn the center console of his boat into a podium as long as he has willing students. Last week, the class was on sea trout, the art and science of finding and catching big ones. Karl Wickstrom, founder of Florida Sportsman magazine, was the student on the west shore of Tampa Bay. “I call it `dragging a jig,’ ” Hemmer said as he whipped out a long cast. “While the water is still cool, the big trout are down near bottom, and they want a lure that’s right in their face, so I don’t jig it much at all.” Hemmer put his rod out to the side, then began to wind slowly and steadily. Like he said, no rod action – at least not until the rod doubled over as another 20-inch trout latched on to his jig. “That’s about all there is to it,” Hemmer said. “I only claim to know how to do a couple of things, but I can cook, and I can catch trout, and this is one of the best ways I know.” Hemmer made his living for most of his life as a chef at well-known restaurants around St. Petersburg. But he finally retired to his true love – fishing – and became a guide in 1995. Things were tough for a while, as they are for most guides trying to build a clientele. But these days, Hemmer appears weekly on WTVT, Channel 13’s “Fish N Chip,” an angling report on the 6 p.m. news. “Basically, I just do on TV what I do in the boat to teach my clients,” Hemmer said. “I like to fish, and I like to teach people to fish, so it’s pretty natural for me.” Hemmer fishes relatively light, 3/ 32-ounce lead heads, tipped with 4-inch shrimp-colored Love Lure Slugger tails. He said the big fish seem to prefer the longer tails more than the standard 3-inch grub tails fished by most anglers. The right lure and the right action are only part of the equation, however. “You’ve got to put it where they live, and at this time of year they live on the edges of the flats,” he said. Hemmer seeks out the outer rim of flats, where water drops from a foot deep to 3 or 4 feet, and then within that zone looks for clear water and scattered patches of bright green grass. “If you can’t see the bottom, there are probably no trout there,” Hemmer said. “They really avoid murky water.” And he fishes from one direction, only. “The fish are usually on the upwind side of a flat,” he said. “I don’t know why, but if there’s a strong wind, they’re usually on the upwind side.” His pattern is to drift the first 100 yards of an edge, then motor around and hit it again if it produces. If it doesn’t, he moves to another and tries again. He uses 20-pound-test fluorocarbon leader on 15-pound-test microfiber line, with 7-foot spinning gear to give him plenty of distance. Hemmer caught most of the bigger trout on last week’s outing, but Wickstrom put a few nice ones aboard, too. Wickstrom then aced the instructor by tying on a topwater, pitching it to the edge of a bar, and teasing a 5-pound lunker into inhaling it. “OK, I’m always willing to learn something new,” Hemmer said with a grin as he unhooked the fish and slipped it back over the side. “But you’d probably have caught that fish by dragging the jig in that spot, too.”

ishing

Tackle and tactics

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published January 2, 2004

Q. What is the advantage with braided line? A. Braided line has a smaller diameter while maintaining a greater pound strength. For instance, a braided line with a strength of 20 pounds has the same diameter as 6-pound monofilament. This increases casting distance and adds line capacity to the spool. Because of added strength, you can handle larger fish on braided line of the same diameter.

Also, braided lines don’t stretch. This gives you a better hookset and increases the sensitivity of the line. In most cases you will feel a strike if the line is tight.

Q. When targeting trout in winter, do you prefer live bait or artificials?

A. When water temperatures are in the low 70s or cooler, I use only artificial lures. Trout are constantly moving in search of warmer water, and you can cover more area quickly with lures.

When the water is between 65 and 75 degrees use a topwater plug early in the mornings and evenings. The rest of the day should be spent with a float and jig combo – popping the cork attracts trout that don’t see the jig. When the sun is shining, most trout won’t strike a lure near the surface. If the water temperature falls below 65, use only the jig and drag it across the bottom as slowly as possible.

Q. What is the best way to hook a live shrimp?

A. That depends. In most cases I hook a shrimp through the tail, which allows me to cast more accurately. The shrimp is less likely to tumble when it’s cast head first, and you can skip it under docks and mangrove branches. When you twitch the rod tip, the shrimp naturally moves backward like its trying to escape.

The other way to hook a shrimp is under the horn. This works when free-lining or suspending one beneath a cork. But don’t hit the dark spot on the shrimps head – that’s the brain, and hooking it kills the shrimp. http://www.capmel.com/another-passing-captain-doug-hemmer/

Q. How can I tell what color jig to use?

A. That depends on location and water clarity. Some areas hold different kinds of bait for game fish to eat. In the mangroves there are large populations of mud minnows, crabs and baby shad, and the colors I prefer there are gold, bright green, white and root beer. The flats north of the Dunedin bridge have large areas of grass in 4-5 feet, and there my productive colors are orange, pink and white. The grass flats from Johns Pass to the Sunshine Skyway have tons of shrimp, and the best colors are strawberry and motor oil.

You must consider water clarity. Go with the light colors in clear water, and if the water is dirty use the darkest jigs in your tackle box.

Q. I’ve read about people catching grouper inside Tampa Bay. Can you tell me where?

A. I can’t give you the exact spots, but I will tell you that most anglers find their spots by trolling. Dragging large jigs or plugs over the edge of the shipping channel and around the many rock piles that dot the bay is the best way to locate grouper.

If you have a downrigger, troll a large pink or green jig on a feathered head. Make sure the hook is large enough to handle a grouper. Troll along slowly using 50- to 80-pound grouper tackle, and sometime try a No. 3 planer with 30 feet of 80-pound line tied to a large gold and black crankbait. The last way is to troll a deep crankbait on 80-pound braided line – the package tells you how deep it dives, and with braided line they dive 10 to 15 feet deeper.

Some tips for better luck with bait

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published July 8, 2005

The Red Tide outbreak ruined most fishing opportunities this week. So here are some tips for future trips.

Trying to keep bait alive during the heat of summer can be a chore. Most of the baits hang in deeper water because it’s cooler. The problems occur when you net them in deep water and move into shallow grass flats to fish. The water temperature on the flats can be 10 degrees warmer or more.

There are two things you can do to keep bait alive. One is to put less bait in the live well. Bring just enough to fish with. If you plan on live chumming the spot you’re going to fish, throw all your chumming baits around the area as soon as you get there. Otherwise, fill a cooler with gallon jugs of frozen water. Place a jug in the well and swirl the water with your hand. This will lower the water temperature enough to keep the baits frisky. Plan on replacing the jug with a fresh one every hour. If you’re not going to fish in shallow water and you’re going to stuff the well with bait, dump 40 to 50-gallon buckets of water into the well just after netting. This will put extra oxygen in the well during the time when the baits are stressed.

Finding bait can become a full time job. From April to November, there are schools of whitebait, threadfin herring, scaled sardines, pumpkin seeds (Atlantic Bumpers), pinfish and grunts. Whitebait can be found around tripod towers, channel markers, bridges, piers and grass flats.

To find them on the flats, look for pelicans or cormorants working the edge of the grass. Drift or idle slowly across the grass until you see bright flashes. Stop and chum the bait to the boat using a mixture of jack mackerel and corn meal. Don’t throw the net until the bait start swirling in the chum. Threadfins, sardines and pumpkin seeds will be near structure, along the shipping channel, under the Skyway bridge and along the beach.

The easiest way to net them is at night. They won’t see the net and swim clear during its descent. When netting in daylight, cast up-current of the school and let the net sink all the way to the bottom. Pinfish can be found in the sandy potholes that line the edge of the flats. Throw chum over the sand until you see pinfish feeding on it before you throw the net.

One of the most important techniques to use when flats fishing is the long cast. The farther you get the bait or lure from the boat the better. An 8-foot rod rigged with a full spool of line will give you added distance. With a spinning reel don’t hold the line tight to the rod. Leave your finger straight and let the line rest on the tip of your finger.

Now you can cast as hard as you can, because the line will fly off your finger as soon as you move it. Don’t cast level with the water. Use a high arc and let the wind help your rig through the air.

Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published June 6, 2005

Some of the best summer fishing is done in the middle of the night. Bridges that lead to the gulf and lighted docks hold good numbers of trout, redfish, grouper and snook. Target these areas during a strong moving tide. The best tides to fish the bridges: outgoing that follow the new and full moon. Around the docks, look for lights that have a grass flat nearby. The location of the flat to the dock dictates which tide to fish. Tides that flow over the flats before reaching the dock are the most productive. These tides flush shrimp and crabs through the dock light. The fish that hang in that area know which tide will send dinner their way.

Bridge fishing outfits need to be on the heavy side. Rig rods with 50-pound line, 80-pound leaders and 3-6 0/0 hook. Use just enough weight to get your bait – pinfish, grunts and ladyfish – next to the pilings. Hooking your bait through the nose will keep it from spinning in the current.

When rigging for the docks keep the tackle in the 15- to 30-pound range. You may lose a few big fish, but the lighter tackle will produce more hookups. Cast a tail-hooked shrimp up current and let it drift naturally through the light or cast a weighed grunt next to the light and wait for the big one. Fishing in the lights will outproduce most trips during the hot daylight hours of the summer.

–Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published July 24, 2005

Red Tide is weakening in the lower parts of Tampa Bay. Look for small areas that don’t have tinted water, dead fish or the smell of Red Tide and try to catch your bait as close to that area as possible. White bait under a cork is what most of the fish are feeding on. Be prepared to work for your fish. Every time the tide changes, areas that were producing become dead zones.

The redfish and trout are falling into the potholes during the outgoing tide. Fish the edges, not the middle. Keep a frisky bait on at all times. Most of the strikes have come from the liveliest baits.

Some of the passes are producing decent catch-and-release snook. See dead fish or smell the Red Tide and you’ll want to move. The best action today will be during the afternoon outgoing tide. Cast your bait up current and let it drift naturally along the shoreline.

Doug Hemmer

Find new spots in bay to escape the Red Tide

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published August 19, 2005

Red Tide has affected all but a few spots in the bay area. The east side of Tampa Bay from Port Manatee to the most northern parts of the bay and back down the west side of the bay to the The Pier in St. Petersburg have the least-affected water.

Those unfamiliar with these parts of the bay need to do some research before fishing. My first tool is using the Web to scout possible spots. Type “satellite imagery” into a search engine and scout satellite photos of the bay area. Some of these sites let you zoom in close enough to see sand bars and pot holes that line mangrove shorelines.

The best part of the photos is they show you deeper cuts that lead you through the bar. Study the water color of the pot holes – they are usually deeper than surrounding flats. Look for paths through the flats that have the same water color. To get a good understanding of the water color in certain depths, zoom into areas you are familiar with. The colors will be the same at the same depths in the areas you’re scouting.

Scouting areas online doesn’t always equal fish in the boat. Most times it’s better to go looking for fish. Drifting or using a trolling motor allows you to cover large areas. Using a good pair of polarized glasses lets you see any spooked fish. When you find a spot that has fish spooking in front of the boat, you can return and fish that area later.

Target mangrove shorelines, pot holes and oyster bars. If there are other boats in the area, try to keep at least 100 yards from the area they are fishing to prevent spooking the fish they are trying for. It also allows you to find fish they may have spooked.

Artificial lures work best when scouting areas. You can work them from a moving boat better than with a live bait. Never anchor – always drift or use a trolling motor to cover as much water as possible.

At first light, use a surface plug that has rattles or propellers to create noise. If you get surface strikes in that area, it may be a good spot to try later. About an hour after sunrise, switch to a jig or gold spoon. Target the edges of the pot holes, oyster bars and the drop-offs of the flats. If you don’t get any strikes during a drift, find a new area to drift.

Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published August 25, 2005

There are areas that are holding good numbers of snook, redfish and trout. The problem is trying to find their ever changing location. Constant tidal movements keep pushing small pockets of red tide through areas that have clean water. This will keep the schools of game fish constantly in search of clean water. The fastest way to find out if a certain area is holding fish is to use a crank bait. A crank bait will allow you to cover large areas faster than any other bait or lure.

The best crank bait to use is one that dives four to six feet deep. When reeled slowly it should bounce off the bottom in three to four feet of water. When worked with a fast retrieve it should occasionally bounce at six feet. This is the prime depth most snook and redfish are found. The hottest colors are gold with a black back, silver with a black back and white belly with a green back. Sometimes a lure with added action will draw the most strikes. To increase the action try using a broken back lure. This is a crank bait that has a joint in the middle of the body. This joint will increase the wiggle of a crank bait.

Residential canals can hold good numbers of game fish. Try trolling the canals when the water is six to eight feet deep in front of the docks. Work the canals during a good tidal flow and troll as close to the docks as possible. This technique can be so productive you may never want to cast a plug again.

Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published September 7, 2005

Hurricane Katrina has dealt inshore fishing another blow. Katrina’s strong westerly winds pushed large concentrations of Red Tide off the beach and back into the shallow waters east of the beach. The residential canals inside John’s Pass were littered with thousands of dead mullet. The east beach area of Fort DeSoto had over 200 dead redfish wash up on the beach. There were over 50 redfish and a few turtles lining the mangroves of Tarpon Key. Reports from the Sarasota area were even worse. Most of the areas affected had thousands of birds feeding on the dying bait. The strong smell and cough associated with Red Tide has diminished, but the damage has been done.

The future effects in these areas are hard to predict. When the Red Tide bloom entered these areas, most of the ladyfish and trout were wiped out. The snook took a hard hit, but still could be found schooled up in some areas. The redfish would leave during the outbreak and return when the bloom wasn’t strong. The high death toll during the last outbreak hopefully won’t hurt future stocks. The good news is most of the snook and redfish will move to the unaffected north part of Tampa Bay in October.

Some of the best areas to target that are not affected presently are most of the east side of Tampa Bay from Rattlesnake Key north to the upper parts of the bay and back down the west side to the Pier in St. Petersburg. There are still good reports of snook, redfish and trout north of the Dunedin Causeway.

Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER

published September 30, 2002 When using live baits, it’s important to hook the bait in a way that maximizes performance. Whether it’s free-lined, suspended under a cork or worked under a tight structure, placing the hook in the right part of the bait gives it a more natural presentation. Large baits such as threadfins or scaled sardines can be hooked through the mouth and out the bridge of the nose. This will keep the hook from working into the side of the bait. Anglers who run the hook under the nose know it will sometimes work into the gill plate. When a fish strikes, the hook will dig deeper into the bait and not the fish. White baits are too small to go through the mouth. Go under the nose and use a small piece of jig placed on the shaft of the hook to keep it in place. If using a cork, place the hook through the pit of the pectoral fin. This makes the bait swim upside down in circles, giving it a wounded and erratic presentation that makes fish strike. Keep the line tight between the rod tip and the cork so it won’t sink to the bait. If this happens, the bait will make a mess of your rig, causing the line to break when putting pressure on the fish. Shrimp hooked through the tail will cast farther and are easier to skip under docks. They also look like they’re trying to escape when you move the rod tip up. Below a cork, hook the shrimp under the horn, avoiding the dark spot

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

published July 8, 2003

Topwater plugs are one of the best artificial lures to use during the summer. Snook, reds, trout mackerel and bluefish love to attack them. The best action is during the early morning, sunset and overcast days. A plug with a rattle or propeller make noises that help fish find it even when they can’t see it.

Target the dropoff of a flat along mangrove shorelines, over potholes and at the edges of bait schools. Lower the rod and wiggle its tip during a steady retrieve.

Propeller plugs must be popped hard enough so the blades spray water. Then twitch the lure while reeling up the slack in the line. When the line gets tight to the lure, repeat the process.

Grass floating on the surface can mess up a surface plug. Most fish won’t strike a lure with grass. Get around this by using two rods. Remove the hooks from the plug on one.

Work the hookless plug until you get a strike. Then pick up the hooked plug and cast it where the fish struck. Wiggle the lure until the water explodes and the plug disappears. If the plug fails to return to the surface, set the hook and reel in your fish.

– Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published September 11, 2005

There are two dependable targets in the lower Tampa Bay area. Sheepshead and mangrove snapper seem to be the least affected by Red Tide. Sheepshead can be found along the docks and sea walls inside area passes. Mangrove snapper are in the same area, as well as the edge of the dropoff into the Skyway shipping channel.

To locate a good sheepshead area, drift by the docks and sea walls until you see them hanging close to the wall or off the side of the dock pilings. Dice fresh shrimp into small pieces and sprinkle in the area where sheepshead are feeding. Free-line a small piece of shrimp up-currant and let it drift into the area. When the line gets tight, set the hook. If you miss, reel it in and check the bait. Rebait if needed and cast in the same area.

Mangrove snapper will hit the same presentation, but along the shipping channel you’ll need to change tactics. Dice a big handful of shrimp and put it into a small paper bag. Look on your depth recorder while motoring down the dropoff of the channel and mark a spot where there is a good show of rocky breaks. Anchor upcurrent and deploy the shrimp bag using a rod with a heavy weight inside the bag. Give the bag a few minutes to get soft before jerking on the weight and breaking the bag. This will send the snapper into a feeding frenzy just below the boat. Use cut shrimp or small white bait on a 20-pound outfit.

Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published September 21, 2005

The Fish and Wildlife Research Institute reports Red Tide along the coast of southwest Florida has moved southward and now extends from Pinellas County to Collier County. Water samples collected this week from northern Pinellas County contained no Karenia brevis, the zooplankton that causes Red Tide. However, water samples collected offshore of Clearwater contained up to medium concentrations of Karenia brevis. The highest concentrations were found in lower to mid Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay. To keep informed on areas affected by Red Tide, go to www.myfwc.com and click on current Ride Tide status.

Bait can be found along the new Skyway. They are hanging in the deeper parts of the bridge. You will need to chum the school with fast sinking chum. Mix beach sand and corn meal with some jack mackerel to get your chum to sink quickly to the bottom. Stay far enough upcurrent from the spot where you marked the bait so your net has time to reach the bottom. If you anchor too close to the bait, your net will drift over the bait school. The south pier is also holding good sized bait. Look for a spot where the birds are hanging and nobody is fishing. Do not anchor and throw a net where fishing lines from the pier are present.

Schools of redfish are running the edge of the sand bar on the east side of the bay. The best action is when the school is moving slow. Try to keep the school in your area by throwing out large quantities of live chum. On most days the school will be moving quickly and blow right past the boat without hitting a bait.

Check out the passes for big snook and more

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published September 23, 2005

The middle of September through October is the best time to fish at night in areas just inside the passes that lead to the gulf.

Most of the snook, redfish and trout that hang along the beach during the summer move to the residential canals and bridges inside a pass. They head toward their winter hangouts and feed heavily during the trip.

Look for dark shadows lining the edge of the dock lights and work the pilings and fenders of the bridges closest to a pass. These areas should hold fish until the first few cold fronts drop water temperatures.

The docks are the easiest to target, because you can see fish in the light. If you don’t see dark shadows in the light, move to the next light. Keep checking the lit docks until you find one that holds fish.

There are a few good ways to fish each light depending on how much time you want to spend. The fastest is to use big baits rigged to heavy spinning tackle. I like to drift up to the light and drop the anchor if I see fish, then skip-cast a live scaled sardine with a heavy spinning rod, 50-pound braided line and a 40-pound leader.

Hook the sardine through the nose and cast it under the dock. You need only leave the bait there three to five seconds before reeling in to make the the next cast. If you leave the bait longer, the sardine will swim around a piling and snag. Give each spot 10 to 15 casts before heading to the next stop.

When you get a strike, start reeling and pulling until the fish is clear of the dock. I have caught my biggest snook using this method.

When I’m just looking for some action, I’ll use 15-pound gear and a tail-hooked shrimp to catch trout, redfish or smaller snook. Cast the shrimp up-current and let it drift through the light. I give each stop 10 casts before moving to the next light.

For those who like to catch big snook and don’t mine spending the time, heavy tackle and grunts are the ticket. Find a light that has snook in the shadows. Use at least 50-pound line, 80-pound leader and a 5/0 hook. Run the hook inside the grunt’s mouth and out the top.

Cast the grunt as close to the dock as possible. Use enough weight to keep the grunt where you cast it. Don’t put the rod in a holder – most big snook get into the pilings before you can clear the rod from the holder.

Wait until you feel the rod tip start to bend, then with the drag set tight, start reeling until the snook clears the dock. This method works if you have the patience to give each stop a minimum of 45 minutes.

The heavy tackle and grunt is what you’ll want around the bridges, and you want to fish the right tide. For the next few days, fish the strongest moving tides. After the 25th, fish the incoming tide.

– Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published September 28, 2005

It’s probably too soon to predict what the near shore kingfish run will be like. If the red tide continues to hug the coast and the water temperature drops into the lower 70s, most of the migrating kings will stop heading south after reaching the first areas infected with red tide. This will mean no kingfish near shore south of that area. This may sound bad, but a few years back the same thing happened and king fishing was outstanding. A bloom of red tide stopped short of the Clearwater hard bottom. Kingfish and bait schools on their southern migration stopped at the Clearwater line. School continued to move into the area and soon the area was infested with bait and kingfish. Most days it was hard to get out a bait and get the rod into the holder before getting a strike. Some days we would limit out at sunrise and be trout fishing on the flats before 8 a.m. This continued until the water temperature dropped and the kings moved far offshore to avoid the red tide as they headed south. Conditions are right for this scenario to repeat.

Flats fishing north of the Dunedin Causeway and the upper parts of Tampa Bay remains outstanding. The baits of choice have been pinfish, sardines and whitebait. Look for the best action during a strong tidal movement. Fishing will improve as more fish move into these areas during the next few months.

–Doug Hemmer

Ambush fish on their way to winter hideouts

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published September 30, 2005

October is when most of the snook, redfish and trout start to push into their winter hangouts.

The trout move onto the flats north of the Dunedin Causeway. Look for schools of 1 to 3-pound trout working deeper flats. The most productive areas are west of the Intracoastal Waterway. Target grass piles in 4 to 6 feet.

Try drifting the flats while casting a dark green jig in front of the boat. Let the jig sink to bottom before retrieving, and reel slow enough to keep the jig close to the bottom. Areas where you see cormorants and dolphins are usually the most productive. When you find a drift that produces good trout action, drift that area again until the action slows.

The larger trout will be closer to the shoreline. A slug-style jerkbait rigged weedless works great in the shallow water. Try to be as quiet as possible when fishing shallow, as most of these trout spook if they hear boat noises.

Snook and redfish will hang close to the mouth of rivers and creeks. Scaled sardines are the hot bait in these areas. If you can’t find fish, try to find schools of mullet. Most of the mullet schools will have redfish and large trout mixed with the mullet.

Gold spoons or a corked whitebait are work well around the mullet schools. Fan-cast the spoon through the mullet and let the corked rig sit in the middle of the school.

Guide Billy Nobles has been doing great on the east side of Tampa bay. He has been catching snook and redfish along the lead points of the mangroves. Good days have produced more than 50 reds. The best baits were pinfish and whitebait.

In the upper part of the bay, guide Rodney Martin is hammering large snook. Goods days have produced snook up to 40 inches. When the tide starts to slack, he’ll target redfish or small tarpon.

While fishing the downtown area, Martin puts out a chumline to lure tarpon as heavy as 30 pounds to the boat. Martin said the action will get even better into late October. The trick to a successful trip is to have a good supply of large whitebait and scaled sardines. When he can only catch small whitebait, he can’t produce the large fish.

The north Skyway pier reports good catches of grouper, sheepshead and mangrove snapper. The sheepshead and snapper are falling for fresh-cut shrimp or small live shrimp. The grouper want a live jumbo shrimp. The large schools of Spanish mackerel have not made it to the pier. Most of the mackerel schools are hanging in the middle part of the bay.

Redington Long Pier has some of the best action, with reports of redfish and pompano during the day and nice snook at night. The reds are feeding on shrimp, and the pompano will hit only a yellow and white feathered pompano jig. The snook are hitting live grunts or big plugs worked along the shadow line.

Report from the gulf-side pier at Fort De Soto have not been good. There were four anglers on the pier, and nobody was catching a thing.

–Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published October 12, 2005

Monday was a scouting trip for future charters. We started at the Skyway netting bait in 26 feet of water. Most of the baits were three-inch threadfins with a few white baits mixed in. Then we headed to the east side of Tampa bay, just north of the Skyway. There were plenty of small trout from the first bridge south of the main Skyway span and north to Bishop’s harbor. That area held good numbers of snook during the tide movement.

When the tide started to slow, we headed north to artificial reefs west of port manatee. In that area we found large schools of mackerel working the small bait spawn that was concentrated just west of the port. Small white shad-tailed jigs rigged to a short piece of wire produced mackerel up to 41 pounds. The trick was to position the boat upwind of the feeding birds and cast the jigs at the surface strikes that were closest to the boat. Then we moved closer to shore and ran the edge of the sand bars north looking for schools of redfish. Finding redfish along the bar during a 20 mph wind was difficult. Heading farther north, we looked for snook on the east side of the bay just south of the Gandy Bridge. We found good concentrations of snook, but the tide had slowed and they would not feed on our live chum or strike a baited rig. Make sure you check the tide charts before your next trip if you want to key in on the best action.

Doug Hemmer

Slow movements of fish can offer plenty of shots

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published October 21, 2005

Fishing inside Tampa bay has improved. Most of the redfish and snook migrating to the north part of the bay are making a slow run to their winter holes.

During years past he migration would move in large schools and hopscotch through well-known fishing holes as the fish work their way up the bay. This year has been a little different. The slow migration has spread out the schools to all parts of the bay.

Snook and reds can be found in the passes that lead to the gulf, the residential canals inside the passes, along the banks of the Sunshine Skyway and along the east and west side of Tampa Bay up to the most northern part of the bay.

The worst part about having fish spread out across the bay is they can be hard to find, but there are a few locations where the fish have made a stand. The bridges at the passes, residential canals and the mangrove canals that line both sides of the bay seem to have a regular supply of fish. Most of the areas between hold schools for a few days before they move on.

When targeting the pass bridges, use heavy tackle and large baits. Work the fenders and pilings with grunts, pinfish and ladyfish. It’s best to have all three baits, because you never know what they feel like eating. Use at least 50-pound line and an 80-pound leader rigged with enough weight to keep the bait next to the piling. Target the strongest outgoing tide until Tuesday, and after that fish the strong incoming.

The residential canals offer great day and night opportunities. Night-fishing along the docks inside a pass has been red hot. Good numbers of snook can be seen hanging in the shadows of the lights. Grunts, pinfish, whitebait and shrimp will work, but the best bait I have used is a scaled sardine.

Try rigging a scaled sardine to 50-pound braided line and a 50-pound monofilament leader. Cast it under docks that have snook showing in the lights. Give each cast less than 5 seconds under the dock before reeling in for another cast. If you leave it any longer, the bait will swim around the piling and snag the rig.

During the day, many of the docks lining the east and west side of Tampa bay are full of fish. Not all the docks hold fish, but you can find ones that do if you use artificial baits. They allow you to drift by each dock and skip a lure beneath, where the fish hide during the day.

Artificial shrimp and jigs that have weight inside the middle of the jig are the best for skipping. If you don’t use lures, fill a livewell with whitebait. Throw a handful of live bait under a dock, and if fish start popping the surface, cast your baits where the fish have struck.

Large schools of threadfins can be found around the Sunshine Skyway. Fill the livewell and target the mangrove canals on each side of the bay. Work the back areas during the high tide. When the tide starts flowing out, fish the passes between the mangrove islands. During the end of the outgoing tide, work the area between the mouth of the estuary and the sandbar that runs a few hundred yards outside the pass.

Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published October 25, 2005

Weekend fishing was slow and difficult. Slow tides made the fish feed unevenly. We chummed areas that held good numbers of snook and had only the occasional topwater strike.

The snook were visible where the grass meets the edge of the sand holes. They would swim along the edge of the grass and stop where the sandy holes were a foot deeper than the surrounding area. When handfuls of live whitebait were tossed near the snook, they would scatter rather that feed. For the occasional big female, we would cast a bait over and in front of the snook in hopes of not spooking her.

Pool-clear water was a problem. You could see the bottom in areas where I hadn’t in more than 20 years. Every cast would spook the snook. We were able to fool only a 25- and 34-inch snook into feeding. If you find a spot holding good numbers of fish that won’t feed, try downsizing your tackle. Eight- to 10-pound test rigged with a 20-pound leader with a short piece of 40-pound test next to the hook will draw more strikes.

Bait for the trip was easy to find. Look for large schools of medium to large threadfins west of the south Skyway pier. Most of the schools were near the beginning of the pier, not the end. A quarter-inch mesh will keep you from hanging baits in your net.

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published November 3, 2005

The small size of bait schooling along the flats makes this a great time to pull out the spoons. Gold or silver spoons a quarter-inch to half-inch in size are perfect lures to imitate the flash of a smaller bait fish.

The trick to using a spoon is the speed of the retrieve. Reel too slow and the spoon will hang in the grass, too quick and the spoon will spin too fast. The fast retrieve will make the spoon flash unnaturally. The best presentation is to reel just fast enough to keep it above the grass.

Look for areas with movement on the surface, birds working the area or schools of mullet. Cast as far as possible and close the bail by hand just before the spoon hits the water. Keep the rod tip high and start your retrieve as soon as the spoon sinks under the surface. Drift and fan cast the area until you reach the end of the drift.

Sometimes there is a need to use a modified spoon. In areas of heavy surface grass, use a spoon with a weedless stem. If the water is extremely clear, the flash of the spoon will be unnaturally bright. I combat this by spraying one side of the spoon with black paint or lightly dusting each side. This should be done at home before leaving for a fishing trip. To help cut down on line twist, place a barrel swivel on a slip ring and attach it to the front of the spoon. After a few hours of casting, cut off the spoon and drag 50 yards of line behind the boat. This will take all the twist out of your line.

Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published January 10, 2006

Trout will continue to be the dominant inshore species for the next few months. The trick to locating the schools is to follow the weather patterns and water temperature. Cold fronts will bring high winds and cooler water temperatures. This will cause the schools to move to deeper dropoffs that line the edge of the flats. Just prior to a front is the best time to target trout. They will feed heavily when they feel the barometer pressure drop as a cool front approaches.

Most of the schools will hang over grass flats with sandy holes lining the area. The bigger trout like the swash islands that have a rock and sand bottom. After a front, they will move to the closest area that has deeper water. Studying a navigation chart will help you find the closest dropoff to the area you have been fishing.

When trout are still near the swash islands or hanging in the flats 2 foot deep or less use a jig that’s light enough to work close to the bottom. If you work the jig too far off the bottom, the trout won’t strike.

After the front passes and the water temperature drops five or more degrees, use a heavier jig or a hard body sinking lure to work the deeper cuts closest to the areas where you found the trout before the front. They will stay in the deeper spots until the water temperature starts to rise. This should be a continuing pattern until the end of March.

–Doug Hemmer

Cold winds may have ended the hot action

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published November 25, 2005

Before this week’s cold front, the fishing in the upper parts of Tampa Bay was outstanding.

Bait was easy to find around the deeper parts of the Sunshine Skyway. The trick was to mark what pilings were showing bait on the depth recorder, then chumming those pilings until the larger baits showed up in the chum slick.

On most trips it took less then 30 minutes to chum the baits away from the pilings and close enough to the boat to net them. A few cast of a 10-foot net with 1/4-inch mesh would fill the wells with more than 500 baits.

We then would travel north of the Pier in St. Petersburg to flats with heavy growth of mangroves along the shoreline. The most productive areas had schools of mullet lining the shore. Anchoring 75 yards off the shoreline, we would chum the area with live bait until fish started striking the chum. Then you would cast your bait to the surface strikes and hook snook, redfish and large jacks. The action was steady as long as the tide was moving.

The front lowered the temperature on the flats and might have brought this kind of action to a close. If the water temperatures drop more than 5 degrees, look for snook and reds to move to the closest deep water. These spots include residential canals, deep potholes and canals that lead to ports built for large commercial vessels.

When fishing the deeper spots, you can still use live chum to get the bite going, but you need to put a small spilt shot near your bait so it can reach the deeper parts of the hole. Most of the time you will know if fish are there by the surface strikes on your live chum.

Depending on the severity of the cold fronts, look for the snook and redfish action to decrease. Turn your attention to mangrove snapper, sheepshead and speckled trout. The mangrove snapper and sheepshead can be found around most docks that face Tampa Bay.

Because of the summer’s strong Red Tide, trout will not be as easy to find as in years past. Most of the trout we have found were north of Weedon Island.

Those looking for kingfish along the beach may have a slow day. Reports have been mostly about Spanish mackerel and bluefish feeding on schools of bait spawn. Your best bet on catching a king along the beach is to first catch a Spanish mackerel, then slow-troll it through areas where birds are diving to the surface.

Fish are there if you know where to look

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published December 30, 2005

Knowing the areas that hold fish when water temperatures are below 60 is the most important thing for a successful winter trip. The next thing to know is how to present a bait that will draw a strike.

Trout, sheepshead, mangrove snapper and redfish are the most reliable winter targets.

Trout school over the grass flats north of the Dunedin Causeway and north of the Gandy Bridge. Larger schools of fish in the 12- to 20-inch class can be found around grass piles growing in 4 to 6 feet. Look for areas that have cormorants, pelicans or dolphins feeding.

Larger trout will hang out in sand holes in less than 2 feet of water. Work these areas with a dark green or motor-oil colored jig dragged slowly across the bottom. When you locate a spot that has good numbers of trout, you can switch to a corked or free-lined shrimp.

The best thing to do when you find concentrations of trout is to practice with seldom-used lures. Jerk baits, shallow-running plugs and crank baits are great when used correctly. Spend some of your time working these lures slow, then slow with a slight jerk, then with a steady retrieve to see what type of action entices the trout. Jigs will get more strikes than most of these lures, but the seldom-seen lure will catch the bigger fish.

Sheepshead will move toward the beach to spawn. At this time, most can be found in the residential canals and around bridges that lead from St. Petersburg and the artificial reefs inside Tampa Bay. You can spend time finding fiddler crabs, green mussels, oysters, clams or tube worms for bait, but it’s much easier and just as productive to buy shrimp.

Dice the head and tail sections of the shrimp for chum and use the center cuts for bait. Throw the chum around the area you are fishing to get the sheepshead feeding. Place the center cut on a small hook and free-line it. When your line moves, reel down tight and set the hook. In areas where the tide is moving, use just enough splitshot weight to keep your bait close to the fish.

You likely will find and catch mangrove snapper while fishing for sheepshead.

Most of the redfish can be found under docks close to rivers, creeks and deep backwater bays. Use a small splitshot and cast the shrimp under a dock, then give the spot 15 minutes to produce. If you don’t get a strike, move to the next dock. The best docks are usually the longest and have large boats.

By DOUG HEMMER

published November 22, 2001 The water temperature is 71 degrees from Anna Maria to Tarpon Springs. This spreads the kingfish into smaller pods. The best place to find them is over artificial reefs. Start at the reefs closest to shore and work your way out. If you can’t find bait, don’t worry. The best baits are swimming over the reef. Use a No.8 gold-hooked bait catching rig and a small egg weight to jig up the Spanish sardines and cigar minnows on the surface or in dark clouds on the bottom recorder. Place a bait on a small stinger rig and free-line while you jig up bait. The kings feed best at sunrise, sunset, during the major or minor solunar periods and at night. When the well is full, start trolling around the reef. Most fish are away from the reef buoy. Traffic can get thick around reefs. Look for the kings to move when the area gets congested. Birds sometimes pinpoint where the kings have moved. Troll at all depths. When the tide is strong, anchor up and chum. Most of the kings caught during the past week were 8 to 12 pounds. These are the best size to eat and can be landed before they become a barracuda snack. — Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 347-1389.

By DOUG HEMMER© St. Petersburg Times, published July 14, 2000 The warm waters of summer push grouper farther off shore in search of cooler water and schools of bait. Large pods of grouper can be found on the cheese bottom and beneath the bait schools in 80 to 100 feet of water west of John’s Pass. Drift the cheese bottom until you catch a grouper, mark the spot with a jug and anchor slightly upcurrent. Fish with squid to chum the bottom for at least 20 minutes before switching to live bait. It takes that long for the squid scent to travel over the bottom and tickle the nose of a 20-pound lunker. Pinfish is the No. 1 bait for grouper because they are easy to catch and stay alive longer, and grouper love them. Grouper will follow bait schools that spend the summer in the deeper waters of the gulf. Look for bait on the surface; then use your recorder to mark the pods that are hanging closer to the bottom. Make sure you keep one eye on the recorder while fishing. If the bait school swims away, the grouper will follow. Tarpon are scattered from the gulf to the river mouths of upper Tampa Bay. Fish any area you see a fish roll. You will not see a lot of tarpon on the surface, but if one is rolling, you can bet more are underneath. Shad and ladyfish soaked on the bottom have been producing the most strikes. Warm water and an influx of baby threadfin have made flat fishing difficult. Try fishing for trout over grass that is in 5-7 feet of water. Redfish have been striking a small white bait stuck on a small hook beneath a small bobber. The North Skyway Pier reports good catches of mackerel and grouper. The Redington pier is the hot spot for tarpon. It also reports catches of flounder, cobia and silver trout. When fishing in the summer, schedule trips during the fastest tidal movement. Moving water helps flush out warm, stagnant water during slack tides. A sudden drop in water temperature usually will spark a feeding frenzy. Placing a gallon jug of frozen water in your live well will help keep bait alive and frisky. Have patience when fishing in hot weather. Give the fish plenty of time to check out your bait before trying another spot. If you still can’t get the fish to eat, try a lighter test.

By DOUG HEMMER© St. Petersburg Times,

published October 30, 2001 The Tampa Bay shipping channel is loaded with threadfins and scaled sardines. Most of the big pods are north of the Gandy bridge, but that will change as the water gets cooler. The schools are moving out and heading south for the winter. Grouper and kingfish like to follow the bait as it moves through the shipping channel. The grouper like to hide on the upper edges of the channel. In most parts of the bay, that will mean targeting the 26-32 foot range that falls on the drop-off into the channel. Trolling big gold plugs on a No. 3 planner or large green jigs with a feather on a down rigger has been producing gags in the 6-10 pound range. Troll the planner at 1,200-1,500 rpms and the jigs at 900 or slower. The kings will be closer to the Sunshine Skyway. Most times the number of fish will be small, but the sizes are large. Slow trolling is productive when the tides are slack. If your tides are strong, drop anchor and break out the chum. Water temperature north of Clearwater isaround 72 degrees. The main run is hanging in this area. The next cool front should push the schools south. — Doug Hemmer charters out of St Pete.

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published December 28, 2004

Sheepshead are invading the docks and bridges closest to a pass. They hang in these areas before moving into the gulf to spawn. The trick is finding which spots are holding good numbers. Tides are a major factor when trying to spot sheepshead. Target high tides around the bridges, docks and sea walls. High water allows them to feed on the upper parts of the pilings and gives them access to the sea walls. Low tides make it easier to see them over rock piles and broken structure.

Green mussels, oysters, clams, tube worms and fiddler crabs are some of best baits to use but not the easiest to obtain. Shrimp work great, they make good chum and it takes only a few minutes out of your trip to buy some.

Around bridges, docks and rock piles, anchor upcurrent of the area you want to fish. Dice the heads and tail sections into small pieces. Save the middle of the shrimp to use as bait. Toss in the diced pieces to get the sheepshead feeding. Free-line a half-inch chunk of shrimp and let it drift through the chummed area. Watch for your line to start moving on its own before setting the hook. When the tides around a bridge are strong, use just enough weight to keep your bait close to the pilings. A 1/0 hook, 20-pound line and a 30-pound leader should be strong enough to keep most of the sheepshead from getting cut off on the barnacles and light enough to feel the bite. At the sea walls, free-line close to where you see the sheepshead.

–Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published January 4, 2005

Water temperatures in the 50s mixed with extremely low tides leave few inshore options. Snook will become lethargic feeders. And redfish find few areas with enough water to reach mangrove or their feeding grounds around oyster beds.

The most dependable species are trout and sheepshead. Trout move to the 4- to 6-foot grass flats. Lower Tampa Bay has only a few grass flats at that depth. For the past week, we have gone to the grass beds north of the Dunedin Causeway. Most flats west of the Intracoastal Waterway are 4 feet or deeper.

Working green slug style jigs close to the bottom produced 65 trout between 15 and 22 inches. The best areas to drift had cormorants or dolphins working the flats. The trick for trout is keeping the line tight between the rod tip and jig. Even the slightest bit of slack will prevent you from feeling a strike.

Sheepshead from John’s Pass to the south side of the Sunshine Skyway bridge remain strong. Most bridge pilings and docks close to a pass have plenty.

When tides are running in the minus zone, look for green mussels on bridge pilings. Scrape a few gallons into a bucket and shuck some for bait. Using a small plank of a 2 by 4, smash the remaining mussels into chum. Throw a handful around the pilings to create a feeding frenzy.

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published December 8, 2004

Strong north winds over the past week created lower tides than expected. Areas that should have been covered with water were more shallow than tide charts predicted. This made us change from a redfish trip to targeting grouper inside Tampa Bay. This turned out to be a good thing. We worked the edges of the shipping channel and the shallow areas of hard bottom that can be found on navigational charts. Every area we fished produced gags in the 20- to 28-inch range.

Our first stop was the edge of the channel that runs along the west side of the northern approach to the Skyway bridge. There are spots you can find on your recorder that show a rocky hard bottom lining the edge of the channel. We anchored outside the channel and free-lined large pinfish into the channel. The pinfish would drift past the rocks and the grouper could not turn them down. We then moved to the edge of the shipping channel and trolled large crank baits on No.3 planners. This produced a few grouper before moving to a piece of hard bottom that lies in 12 feet of water. This is when the action got hot. Slow trolling large feather-head jigs produced the first gag in less than five minutes.

We moved back over the same spot where the first grouper hit and changed over to a free-lined pinfish. Every drift produced line-screaming hits on 50-pound tackle. The grouper ranged from 23-28 inches. The best action was on the larger pinfish that were hooked in front of the dorsal fin.

By DOUG HEMMER

published January 6, 2002 When the water temperature drops below 60, trout concentrate over grass flats 4-6 feet deep. The most productive spots have a shallow flat within a few hundred yards. Deep grass holds trout of 1-3 pounds but edges of shallows can have a few more than 5. There may be a few big ones in deep spots but they’re harder to catch. Smaller trout outnumber big ones 100-1 and strike without thinking. Use a quarter- to half-ounce jig over deeper areas and a weedless jerk bait on the edges of shallow grass. Look for cormorants working the surface. That spot will hold a few baits that can be hard to find during winter. Pompano and sheepshead are around bridges, docks and rockpiles. Scrape a few barnacles off the pilings to create a chum line. Shrimp, clams, oysters and barnacles work great on sheepshead. Fish during the last hour of the tide, through the slack and into the next tide. Work a small, yellow-tipped with shrimp for pompano. Grouper fishing in Tampa Bay is very productive. Troll rockpiles in 10-20 feet and the ship channel will help you locate the fish. Use a No. 3 planner, pulling a large plug for the channel and big-lipped deep-diving plugs for shallower water. Most productive is when the tide is slow or slack. — Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg.

Target flats when warm

By DOUG HEMMER

published January 18, 2002 The best action on the grass flats has been during the late afternoon. The sun heats the water as it travels over the flat. Most of the fish have been on the downwind or down-current side. After a cool front, grass piles in 4 to 5 feet of water become the most productive. As water temperatures rise, fish move closer to the edge of the flat. In the afternoon, most fish move onto the flat to feed for a short period. Trout are running in the 1- to 5-pound range. Small jigs and jerk baits worked close to the bottom will draw strikes on most days. Snook are hard to find and even harder to catch. They like to sun themselves in the shallows of residential canals, but this is when you don’t want to target them. The best time is when the tide is low and the sunning areas are too shallow to hold fish. Work the deepdrop-offs next to docks. You can’t see the fish, but if you use a 3-inch, 1-ounce strip-tailed shad in black and clear or green with red stripes and drag it slowly across the bottom, you’ll not only find some snook, but you’ll catch some. Inshore grouper action is red hot. Rock piles in lower Tampa Bay are holding good numbers of legal-size grouper. Trolling a large plug that has a big diving lip will work best in 15 to 20 feet of water. Tie the plug to a stout rod that has at least 50-pound test. Troll the area at 1200 to 1500 rpms during the slacking of the tide. Most rock bottoms can be found using a navigation chart. Look for spots on the chart that read HRD. These are areas of hard bottom that the grouper like to hang over. A No. 3 planner is needed when working in the 30-foot range that is near the shipping channel. Cross the edge of the channel while staying in 26 to 34 feet of water. The grouper offshore are hanging in 80 to 110 feet. Dead baits rule when the water’s cold. — Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER

published February 25, 2002 Sheepshead are stacked inside the residential canals closest to the beach, passes leading to the gulf and areas of rock bottom just off the beach. Most of the fish will be breeders between 3 and 10 pounds. Fresh clams, oysters, crabs and shrimp rigged to 20-pound test, 30-pound leader and a No.1 hook will work in most spots. Cut your bait into small pieces and toss a few handfuls around the pilings. When the tide is moving, use enough weight to hold it in place. As the tide slacks, start free-lining. Remove all weights and cast upcurrent. When the line starts to move, reel until it gets tight before setting the hook. The rock piles along the beach hold the biggest fish. The easiest way to find big sheepshead is to dive the spot beforehand. Most spots are shallower than 20 feet and can be scouted with a mask and snorkel. Chum each spot using a small bag full of diced bait. Place the chum and weight on your grouper rod. Tape the bag tightly above the weight. Drop the bag to the rocks and jig. The weight will rip the bag and dump the chum. The bigger fish are full of roe and should be released. These are the breeders that restock our waters every year. — Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER

published March 30, 2002 Stinger rigs, treble hooks, wire and hardware help catch kingfish. To find the kings, use the Internet. The National Weather Service is at www.Srh.noaa.gov/thw/. This site has the weather, current radar, offshore marine forecast and more. The St. Petersburg link gives you information for Tarpon Springs to Englewood and 20 miles out in the gulf. The marine link displays temperature zones in the gulf. When kingfish are heading north, look for areas with a defined edge of 71 degrees. If the water north is cooler, it’s a good place to start. The major run usually will be in a large area of 71-degree water furthest north. These will be kings between 5-20 pounds. To find the big smokers, look for a small area of 71-degree water north of the largest area. Thursday’s water temperature was 71 from Egmont Key south to Boca Grand and out about 20 miles. Weather permitting, this zone should move north. The longer the water stays cooler north of our area, the longer the kingfish stay. But if the 71-degree zone runs the length of the coast, the kings spread out, making them harder to find.

With big-money tournaments scheduled for the next several weekends, kingfish will get top billing.

Justin Mastry’s 40.85-pounder is the largest I’ve seen so far, but several smokers in the 30-pound class have been recorded.

While many of the kings have come from south of the Egmont shipping channel, improving weather conditions will open the gates and allow these giant cousins of the mackerel to settle in familiar haunts. Some have been landed at the Clearwater and Redington hard bottoms. Anglers at Redington Long Pier have hauled a few over the rails. Blind Pass produced a couple in the 30-pound range, and last weekend several “teenagers” were caught at Markers 5 and 6 in the shipping channel.

The “Short Jack,” a large area of ledges and rocky bottom 3-5 miles south of the channel in 40 to 45 feet, has been fairly consistent. Farther south, off Anna Maria and Longboat Key, kings were found around bait pods. High winds and rough seas early in the week scattered those bunches, but they will regroup in better weather.

Sheepshead fishing has tapered off. But mangrove snapper have picked up the slack. With small whitebait now abundant on many of our flats, it is time to collect plenty of it and then work the rocky terrain along the edges of the Tampa Bay shipping channel.

Redfish have been cooperative and don’t seem to mind the muddy conditions kicked up by recent winds. Anglers at Redington Long Pier have been wearing them out, and flats fishermen at Fort De Soto have been wrestling their fair share.

Snook and flounder have been caught sneaking around Redington, and trout have settled in the potholes around the south county as low tides in the mornings have flushed them off the flats.

Strong southeast winds this week have pushed large schools of Spanish mackerel into the St. Pete Beach hard bottom. When Spanish mackerel hang in one area big kingfish usually show up, and smoker kings love to strike a freelined Spanish mackerel being drifted or slow-trolled.

Look for birds or surface activity to find Spanish mackerel schools. Drift upwind of a school and cast a small spoon with a wire leader past the school and quickly retrieve it, and have a double-stinger rig ready. When you catch a Spanish mackerel, use a wet towel to hold it, pull the spoon out and put the lead hook of the stinger rig in the upper jaw if trolling or through the back for drifting. Rig the bait fast to help keep it lively.

Keep fishing for Spanish mackerel while trolling, because trolled mackerel don’t stay alive long and you must change baits often. Wait until you have a fresh mackerel on the line before reeling in the trolled bait, and throw the used Spanish into your cooler for dinner.

The 20-foot drop, 30-foot hard bottom and the 90-foot hole at Egmont Key are good spots to target big kings when the wind blows from the southeast. If the Spanish don’t show on the surface, troll deep spoons through areas with bird activity. A No. 1 or No. 2 planer with a No. 1 spoon trolled at 1,500 rpm is a great way to find mackerel.

Wind can be an angler’s worst enemy. Most TV forecasts are for land. To get marine updates, call (727) 822-0022. When a voice answers, press 3. This will connect you with the PORTS weather buoy. The next thing you’ll hear is current wind speeds for Tampa Bay. When a TV weatherperson says the wind is 10 knots, call the buoy and find out the wind speed over water. Generally it will be 10-15 mph stronger than the land report.

When the wind dies, look for tarpon and cobia on the beach. Grouper are still stacked up on the inshore spots. Redfish will be on the flats during the higher tides. Trout will be in the thicker grass if the water is semiclear. Permit schools are showing up on the shallow sandbars that line the mouth of Tampa Bay. Reports of big snook in the back country are coming in from both sides of the bay. By now most of the large snook are in the passes to spawn around the new and full moon. Outgoing tides are the most productive for catch and release.

Having a hard time finding something to eat? There is great mackerel action over the near-shore hard bottoms and lower part of Tampa Bay. Throw out a chum block during a strong tide in areas that are holding bait schools and the macks will stack up in the slick.

Fishing for redfish in lower Tampa Bay has been outstanding during big high tides. Schools of 30-inch plus reds feed on the recent pinfish spawn. Smaller schools of 20- to 24-inch reds are hanging in the mangroves at pike high tide

Bigger reds need a quiet approach. When using a trolling motor, watch how the school reacts when the motor is turned on. If the school runs, turn it off and drift or pole your boat up to the school. Repeated razing will cause the pack to stop feeding. White bait will slow the school and keep it in one place. Smaller schools are easier to catch. Most of these fish like to hide in mullet schools. White bait under a cork works if it doesn’t have to sit long before getting a strike. White bait that sits more than a few minutes will be killed by pinfish. This is when we switch to small pinfish for bait. They will last a lot longer than white bait. When the area gets a lot of boat traffic, move to a corner or point of the island and wait for the schools to come by.

Large schools of bait are just off of Blind Pass. The bait are drawing mackerel and black-tip sharks. The bait will stay there if the wind stays light or blows east. Throw out a chum block and free-line a nose-hooked white bait on a long shank hook and leave the drag loose. Most of the mackerel are 2-4 pounds.

Heavy traffic makes anglers work harder

By DOUG HEMMER

published June 28, 2002 The lower parts of Tampa Bay are getting more boat traffic, making fishing more difficult. Fish that hang in schools over the shallow grass flats become spooky. The sound of boat engines and the vibration of trolling motors keep the fish in a defensive mood. Redfish move constantly, snook get deep in the mangroves and larger trout hide in thick grass. The best action has been over the grass piles that are off the edge of the flats. Working jigs where the grass meets sand produced nice trout, blue fish, small grouper, mackerel and ladyfish. Polarized glasses are needed to see the faint outline of the dark spots. Work the area when the tide is moving. When you find a good spot, move upwind and drift the area again. Mackerel and kingfish can be found over the artificial reefs. Using the baits that hang around the reef will increase the action. Anchor and put out a chum block and a flat line for a possible cobia. To find a reef holding mangrove snapper schools, give the spot a quick free-dive. This also will help locate sheepshead schools. When found, chum the spot with chopped shrimp for a few minutes. Then free-line a piece of shrimp back to the school. When your line starts moving, reel until the rod tip bends before setting the hook. The grass flats will never return to the quiet days of the past. We all need to give each other a little room when passing a boat or wader. Remember, fish will spook if you pass within 200 yards. The swash channels along the beach are holding good numbers of snook for catch-and-release action. The males are moving away from the females and like to hang a few feet off the beach. They are easier to catch than the big ones if the boat traffic gets heavy. Casting small white bait on light tackle works the best. It’s also your best chance on catching a few on a fly rod. They are easy to see when the sun is high and the waters calm. Anchor 20 feet off the beach and wait for the snook to swim by. The big females roam alone or stack up in a brown-colored cloud. Pinfish and threadfins have drawn the most strikes. Pinfish stay close to the bottom and have the color beach fish seem to like. Threadfins move slower than scaled sardines, making it easier for snook to chase down. — Doug Hemmer

If first plan doesn’t work, try another, then another

By Doug Hemmer

published July 26, 2002

The recent baitfish spawn, along with an abundance of surface grass and hot temperatures, can make fishing unpredictable and a test of patience. Don’t expect a great bite even when the area you are targeting is holding large numbers of fish. Try to have more than one backup plan.

The flats in lower Tampa Bay seem to turn on when the tide is strong. Early mornings produce good top-water action in areas that have moving water and small amounts of surface grass.

Trout and redfish are striking surface plugs worked over the drop-off of the flats. When the tide is high, head to the oyster bars that line the mangrove islands. As the sun rises, switch to dragging jigs in the grass patches that grow in 4 to 6 feet of water. Once fish are located, anchor up-current of the grass and chum the area with live bait. Most of the action will consist of trout, bluefish, mackerel and small sharks.

The middle of Tampa Bay has large schools of threadfins that have been hanging close to the shipping channel. Recent trips have produced big mackerel and cobia. They were caught while drifting near the bait schools with a frozen chum block hanging off the boat. White bait on a mono leader and a long shank hook produced mackerel in the 2- to 4-pound class. The cobia were caught by sight-casting near the markers. A sardine rigged to 20-pound test landed a few in the 30-pound range. When the tide is slow, you’ll want to switch to a light-wire rig to minimize the cutoffs by mackerel.

Tarpon have been feeding during the afternoon outgoing tide. Area bridges are stocked with schools in the 50- to 100-pound range. When the bridge action starts to slow this week, look for tarpon to be rolling in the morning around the back-bay holes and canals. A fresh shad or free-lined pinfish will draw strikes if the bite is on, but some days all you’ll get will be rolling fish.

Grouper fishing has been slow inside 90 feet. Frozen sardines are outproducing pinfish most days. Schools of sharks may move into the spot you are fishing. If this happens, the grouper bite will turn off like a light switch.

Blackfin tuna can be found around the shrimp boats. The early morning bite is strong, and you can chum up some action later in the day using live bait.

Bonita are thick in areas that have large pods of baitfish spawn. The easiest way to get some action is to troll spoons where you see the bonita striking the surface.

Permit are on a few of the reefs. The 45-foot mark has been holding the most fish. Small, free-lined blue crabs are producing permit in the 8- to 15-pound class. The key to catching good fish offshore is to head out as far as your boat will safely take you.

— Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER

published August 6, 2002 The baitfish spawn has invaded the flats, filling the stomachs of gamefish that normally feed on larger offerings. The spawn baitfish is only a 1/2-inch long, making it hard to imitate with artificial lures. The most productive lure has been a small strawberry jig with a light jig head. Snook, redfish, trout and bluefish nail the rig when worked with a steady retrieve. Snook is in the lights close to the beach. Trout can be found in the grassy spots that are 3-4-feet deep and often line the edge of the flats. The reds are hard to find, with some in schools on the east side of Tampa Bay. Others like the dropoffs beside the flats on the lower west side, where bluefish hang with reds. Being in deeper water makes the reds hard to see. Look for an area that has a slight vibration on the surface. Threadfin schools can be found north of the St Petersburg Pier. Mackerel and cobia feed on these baits when the tide is moving. The cobia are near schools that are close to structure. In the early morning, a corked threadfin or pinfish is the preferred rig for cobia. As the sun gets higher, switch to a weighted rig that will stay beside the structure’s bottom. A chum bag helps draw fish closer to your boat. Don’t worry if you have a slow day. The heat makes August one of the hardest months to fish.

By DOUG HEMMER

published August 23, 2002 High tide best time on flats Afternoon storms have helped lower the water temperature on the flats. This will help draw gamefish back to the mangrove islands and oyster bars. The best time to fish these areas is high tide. The redfish are starting to school near the 4- to 5-foot drop-offs that line the flats. They will move onto the flats to feed during the higher tides, then return to deeper water as the tide falls. Weedless spoons, white bait and small pinfish work on the grass flats. Chum with live white bait when fishing the drop-off. If the live chum fails to produce a surface strike, move up-currant and chum again. White bait and small pinfish under a cork work better than shrimp. Schools of pinfish usually will eat the shrimp before a redfish can find it. Trout, bluefish, jacks and ladyfish are working the baitfish spawn that line the edges of the flats. During the outgoing tide look for the spawn to move over the deeper grass piles in 4 to 5 feet of water. This is when the action gets hot. Small strawberry jigs dragged around the bait schools can draw strikes on every cast. Trips this week produced more than 100 trout in a three-hour period. Squeezing down the barb on the hook will make the releasing of undersized or unwanted fish easy. Tarpon, sharks and cobia have appeared some days. Have a rod ready. Tampa Bay has schools of large threadfins off the St. Petersburg municipal pier and around the shipping channel. These schools are holding mackerel up to 6 pounds and small sharks. Anchoring with a chum block off the side of the boat will get the action going. North of Port Manatee around the towers we found large schools of spawn that were being hammered by mackerel and jacks. The best action was during the slack tide. Drive up to the feeding frenzy and cast a small spoon into the surface strikes before the action stops. Retrieve the spoon at a fast pace just under the surface. When the action dies, watch the birds to find the next eruption. They will flock over the surface as the mackerel start striking. Your rod tip should be pointed down to keep line in the water during the retrieve. This will keep the birds from flying into the line. Put a live mackerel on a stinger rig if you want to have a chance at catching a big kingfish. A few 40- to 50-pounders were seen skyrocketing out of the mackerel schools. Grouper fishing should start at 90 feet. The best action has been in 150 feet. This is about 50 miles out and should not be attempted by boats that are not up to the task. It’s best to go with two boats in case one breaks down. Big pinfish or grunts on heavy tackle should be used.

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER

published August 29, 2002 Snook season opens midnight Saturday. Anglers who prefished this past week will be anchored at the spots that held snook. Most will be looking to catch a legal one of 26 to 34 inches. Tackle will be 30- to 100-pound test; baits will be palm-sized grunts and pinfish, mixed with a few 12- to 16-inch ladyfish. Anglers will want to get to the spots before the other opening night, on a weekend, when a holiday anglers show up. This effort normally brings success, but not on this particular opening night. The biggest problem will be lack of tidal movement. The tide will be slack from 10 p.m. Saturday to 4 a.m. Sunday along the beach from John’s Pass to the Skyway. You may want to fish from 4 to 7 a.m. around the feeder bridges that lead to the beach and in the pass. The tide won’t be strong, but it will be moving, and in the right direction for the snook to feed. Around the second week in September, most of the snook will start heading into Tampa Bay. This migration will be triggered by a shortening of daylight. The Skyway, Port Manatee, Cockroach Bay and Weedon Island will see a big increase of snook. Grunts are good baits around the bridges. Whitebait rules in most other spots. Trout, mackerel, bluefish, ladies and small sharks still are providing hot action around the baitfish spawn. Look for birds flocking over the water to locate the schools.

By DOUG HEMMER

published September 20, 2002 The offshore water temperature is nearing the lower 80s. Action is starting to increase inside the 40-mile mark. As the temperature continues to drop, start looking in shallower water for grouper and snapper. Tuesday was spent fishing aboard the Fintastic with Captain Steve Papen. We started bottom-fishing the small ledges 35 miles out using live pinfish. Papen worked the spots that showed a spike on the bottom recorder. Drifting the spot a few times let us know if the ledge held grouper. After landing reds and gags in the 8- to 10-range, we anchored up. The bite was hot. As soon as our pinfish hit the bottom, the rod would double. The bite lasted about an hour before we made the big mistake. We lost a very large grouper in the rocks. This shut off the bite like a light switch. When the biggest fish gets away, its goes back to the pack barking. The rest of the smaller fish know something is wrong and stop feeding. We headed out to 45 feet, where the big gags want big baits. The grouper were running 15 pounds and up. If you didn’t have a large pinfish or grunt, the amberjacks would slam the bait before it got to the bottom. Tarpon still are hanging along the beach and back in the residential canals. The tarpon on the beach can be found by bird activity and clouds of cream-colored water. Cast a free-lined pinfish near the cloudy water or where you see the tarpon rolling. Snook still are in the passes. Most of the large breeders are moving farther into the bay, but the passes have the 24- to 35-inch keepers. Grunts fished on the bottom, near the bridges, are very productive.

By DOUG HEMMER

published September 23, 2002 Inshore grouper fishing is starting to heat up. Areas that held small gags are producing some big fish. Drop-offs near the shipping channel, areas of hard bottom and small ledges produced keeper grouper. The best way to locate some fish is to troll. Run a No. 3 planner just off the bottom at 1,200-1,500 rpms. Rig a large gold and black crank bait behind 40 feet of 80-pound test to the planner. When you get a hit, mark the spot with your depth recorder or throw a jug. Return to that area and bottom fish with live pinfish. Tackle should be on the heavy side. Rig your rod with 50-80 pound line and a 3-4-foot, 100-pound leader. Rods that had 50-pound line and 50-pound leader got smoked by larger fish. The end of an incoming or outgoing tide will be most productive. Snook are moving in on the feeder bridges that lead to the gulf. Ladyfish, grunts and pinfish are great baits. Use heavy grouper tackle when fishing in the pilings. Fight the snook hard when you get a strike. If you set the hook and don’t keep reeling, most of the snook will cut you off in the structure. Work the outgoing tides until the quarter moon. Then fish the incoming tides up to the new moon. If you don’t find fish in the same place twice, move to a bridge farther up the bay. If you’re using ladyfish for bait, keep only them in the live well. This will keep them lively. A good pattern is to fish for snook when the tide is strong, then go for grouper as the tide starts to slack

By DOUG HEMMER

Target fish that best fit the climate

By DOUG HEMMER

published January 17, 2003 To have a successful fishing trip target species that don’t seem to mind the cold water. Trout, mango snapper and sheepshead are the easiest to catch when the water temperature hits the low 60s or colder. Grouper are available if you are patient. Trout, ladyfish and bluefish are hanging on the edges of the flats in lower Tampa Bay, Fort De Soto and Boca Ciega Bay. Drift fish in areas that have grass patches in 3-4 feet of water. Dark green and root beer have been the most productive colors when dragging jigs across the bottom. In the early morning, trout are stacked in the potholes that have grass nearby. In the afternoon, the bigger trout move onto the flats. The bluefish and ladyfish are staying in the potholes with the 1- to 3-pound trout. Redfish and snook can be found in the residential canals. A 1-ounce striped shad dragged near the docks will draw strikes during the warmest part of the day. Cover as many docks as possible. Sheepshead are in the gulf and near the passes as they prepare to spawn. Look for them to be feeding on the pilings of docks and bridges when the tide is slacking or slack. Fish the areas the sheepshead are visible next to the pilings. In the gulf, most of the action will be on the artificial reefs, markers and rock piles. Dice some fresh shrimp in small pieces to use as chum. Save the center cut for bait. Toss the chum up-current so it will drift back to the structure. Put a chunk of shrimp on a No. 1 hook that is rigged to 20-pound line and a 30-pound leader. Free-line or use a split shot depending on the flow of the current. If you don’t catch a sheepshead in 30 minutes, try a new spot. Grouper action is good in Tampa Bay. Trolling is the easiest way to find them. Try the south end of Egmont Key, the edge of the ship channel and the rubble that lines the Skyway bridge. Grouper fishing has been good in 90-130 feet, southwest of John’s Pass. Live pinfish and Key West grunts will get the big ones feeding. The bite is not as strong in the 40- to 60-foot range. Use frozen squid and give the spot time to heat up. When the grouper start feeding switch to live bait. A chum cage full of frozen squid can be dropped off the front of the boat to help get the action going

Some fish harder to find than others

By DOUG HEMMER

published December 20, 2002 Cool water temperatures put grouper, sheepshead and trout on the list of fish you will want to target this time of year. Snook and redfish can be difficult to find. Snook can be lethargic and slow to feed. The reds will move into deeper water during most of the daylight hours. This makes them hard to locate. When found on the flats during the afternoon, they will feed on any pinfish, shrimp or jig thrown their way. Grouper trips in Tampa Bay have been producing a steady supply of keeper gags. Slow-trolling big gigs on downriggers, pulling gold-and-black, broken-back crank baits on No. 3 planners and large-lipped diving plugs on 80-pound braided line are the techniques used to find a school of grouper. Some days, they are around the rubble that lines the edges of the Sunshine Skyway bridge. This area can be hot, but it will take a toll on your gear when it gets snagged on the uneven bottom structure. The edge of the shipping channel has less outcropping to snag if you troll in the 26- to 32-foot range. Work thisarea from Egmont Key to the channels north of Port Manatee. Make sure your lures run just off the bottom. If the plug doesn’t hit the bottom every now and then, you’re not trolling deep enough. Mark the spots where you catch grouper using the recorder or a throw jug. You can troll that area a few more times or rig up a live pinfish and bottom fish. The secret spots are rock croppings in 12 to 15 feet of water. If you get lucky and find one of these spots on the recorder, troll it with a crank bait thatdives 10 to 12 feet. It might seen too shallow for grouper, but you’ll probably catch the biggest ones in the shallowest spots. Trout are numerous and large in lower Tampa Bay. Trips the past few weeks have been catch and release using debarbed strawberry jigs. We worked the grass spots off the edge of the flats during the early part of the day. When the sun got hot, the big trout were found hiding in the grass on the flats. Fishing during a moving tide produced 100 to 200 releases in a four-hour period. Work the jig slowly across the bottom or you won’t get as many strikes. Sheepshead are hanging around residential docks, bridges and rock piles. Chum the area with fresh-cut pieces of shrimp to get the bite going. Fish during the slacking of the tide, the slack tide and the start of the next tide. This will keep your chum from washing away from the area. Twenty-pound line and a 30-pound leader is a good rig. Put a small chunk of shrimp on a No. 1 hook and free-line it next to the structure. When the line starts moving, set the hook with a quick snap of the rod tip

By DOUG HEMMER

published December 26, 2002 The trout action in lower Tampa Bay has been outstanding. At sunrise, most big ones are on the edges of the flats. Slugger jigs dragged across the bottom, where the grass meets the sand, will draw strikes from 1-6 pounds. Use the lightest jig head available. Stop reeling every five to six turns. This keeps the jig close to the bottom. If you keep the line between the rod tip and jig tight, you will feel the thump of the strike. Most productive areas were in 3-4 feet of water. There were dark grass spots surrounded by aqua green water. Grass spots with tan or light green water were too shallow to hold fish. In the afternoon, the bigger trout move onto the flats. Rig the slugger weedless. A worm hook allows the jig to be worked in less than a foot of water, where the big ones hide from dolphins. They are easily spooked and should be approached by wading. Keep the rod tip high during the retrieve and wiggle it every now and then. You won’t get many strikes, but you have a chance at catching one more than five pounds. The best action is when the tide is moving. It’s catch and release until the end of the month. Once the season opens, release the large females to restock the flats for future trips.

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published April 28, 2004

Snook are moving into the lower parts of Tampa Bay. Areas that lacked fish are starting to hold good-sized schools. The hard part is they won’t stay in one area more than a week or so. The schools constantly move closer to beach areas for their summer spawn. Most of the action has been good when the tide is moving. The best baits to spark interest are sardines, whitebait and threadfins. Free-line the baits when the snook hang on the sandy edges of the grass. When they school over the grass, switch to a corked rig. By chumming the school with live bait, the snook get more aggressive.

Birds are the problem with live chumming. During the winter, there are no bait schools to feed on. When the birds see the sparkle of baitfish tossed into the water, they dive for the baits. This usually spooks the snook, making them move away. One way to deal with the birds is throwing wounded baits away from the fishing spot. When the birds move in to eat these easy-to-catch baits, toss lively bait over the area holding the fish. These baits swim deeper, making it harder for the birds to see.

Dumping a couple dozen dead baits into shallow water before reaching your spot also tricks birds, distracting them. Also try dumping a dip net full of bait next to the side of the boat.

– Doug Hemmer

Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published May 17, 2004

On most days, the lower parts of St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay have many different fish, including tarpon, grouper, snook, redfish, trout and mackerel. Wind direction and tidal flow dictate which species to target. Tarpon, grouper and mackerel are in Tampa Bay. Look for tarpon in the early morning near bridges. Free-lined threadfins near the tide change are the best bet. Grouper are being trolled for along the shipping channel. Target the end of a tidal flow, the slack and the start of a tide.

Mackerel has been steady over the grass flats in 5 feet. Hot spots are markers and tri-pods north of the Pier. East winds put them off the beach. With a frozen chum block, fish during a strong tidal movement with whitebait rigged to a long shank hook and 30-pound monoleader.

Snook are spread out. If you see a school, chum with live whitebait and work the outgoing tide after the new moon. Trout are moving to the thick grass beds during strong incoming tides.

The best action has been on the edges of potholes. Jigs, plugs and whitebait work, but you could free-line a scaled sardine for the big ones. The reds are in tight schools and must be approached with a pushpole or by wading. Trolling motors and idling boats spook them.

– Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published May 28, 2004

Flats fishing over the past 10 days has been difficult. A strong high-pressure atmospheric system has lingered over the area since May 16th, and inshore fishing generally is slower during periods of high pressure.

Adding a mixture of slow tides and a massive pinfish spawn with high pressure has made the feeding periods extremely short. Look for things to improve after the high pressure ends and the tides become stronger.

It might be a good idea to take advantage of the pinfish spawn and use them for bait. This is where the saying “match the hatch” comes into play.

Snook should return to feeding on incoming tides for the next week. Whitebait, threadfins, sardines and pinfish have drawn the most strikes.

The best action has come free-lining baits and chumming with live whitebait. Live chumming puts the fish in a mood to chase bait. A free-lined rig gives the bait a chance to run and looks natural.

When beach-fishing for snook, use a large pinfish to help locate the school of snook. Pinfish are lightly colored like the sand along the beach, and they like to stay close to bottom when free-lined. Starting up-current of the area you’re fishing, cast the pinfish 10 to 15 feet from shore and let it flow down-current.

If your fishing from the beach, walk with the bait as it drifts. When fishing from a boat, anchor the boat and cast up-current, letting the bait drift until it’s behind the boat. Recast over the area at least 10 times before moving to a new area down-current. These methods allow you to cover large areas and find schools of fish.

The redfish seem to be most effected by high pressure, slow tide and the pinfish spawn. Most trips during the past week produced few redfish strikes, even on days on which we were surrounded by hundreds of schooling reds. Those that did eat fed on a scaled sardine or pinfish.

The trout, on the other hand, are feeding fine. They are striking float-and-jig combos, whitebait and small pinfish rigged under a popping cork. They also will hit topwater plugs, which can be a problem because of the large amount of surface grass that foul the plug.

The best action for trout has been in areas with thick grass, potholes and cormorants. The cormorants are feeding on large pinfish, and most of areas that hold enough pinfish to attract the birds will attract trout.

– Doug

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published June 24, 2004

Conditions inside the bay are beginning to affect the fishing. The water on the flats is hot. Most gamefish become lethargic during the warmest parts of the day and will not feed. Bait netted in deeper water, which is much cooler, often die when brought into the warmer waters of the shallow flats.

Another problem is the large amount of floating grass, which can clog the intakes to your live well. This almost always kills the bait. To combat the heat of the water on the flats, put a gallon jug of frozen water in the live well to lower the temperature. When you approach areas of heavy surface grass, turn off the live well until you pass over the grass. If at the end of a fishing trip the well is not pumping as strong, close the intakes to the pump and remove the hose that leads to the well. Then back flush the pump by sticking a hose with a high-pressure nozzle into the outtake on the pump. Hold in place until the water flows freely through the pump.

You can avoid these problems by fishing over the deeper grass patches that line the lower parts of Tampa Bay. The water is 5 to 8 feet deep and much cooler than on the flats. Most of our trips produced trout, mackerel and small sharks. They hit white bait on a long shank hook when fished in the slick of a frozen chum block.

– Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published July 13, 2004

The water on the flats can reach 96 degrees during the afternoon. This will slow the fish bite to a crawl. The best feeding time has been early morning or late afternoon. During the warmest parts of the day, move to the deeper grass flats for increased action. Most of the deep grass can be found in 4 to 6 feet of water.

Lower Tampa Bay has large areas of deep grass just inside and outside the Skyway. Look for darker spots. Throw a jig into the dark area and drag it across the bottom. If the jig snags, you probably found deep grass.

Target these spots during a strong tidal movement. Anchor on the upcurrent side and deploy a frozen chum block. Rig a light tackle outfit with a 25-pound leader and a No. 1 long shank hook.

Use a whitebait hooked through the nose and cast into the slick. Most action will be mackerel, bluefish, trout and small sharks. This may not sound exciting, but the endless hookups can turn a slow afternoon into a productive trip.

Another way to battle the heat is to fish at night. There are good numbers of snook, trout and redfish hanging around the dock lights and bridges that lead to the gulf. Over the next few days, fish the incoming tide. Starting with the new moon, switch to the outgoing tide. The best action has come using grunts and shrimp. With all the spawn hanging in the lights, this is a great time to break out the fly rod.

– Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER

The easiest time to catch jumbo snook is June. Large concentrations will be working the swash channels looking for bait fish. The swash is a ditch that runs parallel to the beach starting just past the water line and running out about 20 feet.

Anglers usually lose their trophy snook to some barnacle-encrusted structure, but this is not the case when fishing the beach. Open water allows you to let the fish run and tire itself. Lighter tackle always draws the most strikes.

There are two easy ways of fishing the swash. The first is to sit on the beach with a live pinfish free-lined in the swash channel waiting for the snook to find you. The other is to use a 1-ounce, 3-inch plastic striped-tailed shad, walk along the shoreline casting down the swash and drag the jig back as you go. This allows you to find the fish faster by covering more area.

Beach snook move around and feed best during strong moving tides. You don’t have to fish in one spot until the tide slacks, then go home. Head south to the next pass. The tides run later as you head south so it’s possible to start in Clearwater Pass at midnight and fish every pass to Sarasota by sunup and have strong moving water at each stop.

– Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg.

By DOUG HEMMER

published September 5, 2001

Strong tides are the key to catching fish in warm water. Fast currents pull cool water out of deep channels and spread it across shallow flats. As temperatures drop, fish move out of holes and channels bordering flats to feed on the edges, but they don’t stay long.

Look for predators to head for mangroves as water cools. Minnows, crabs and shrimp hide from redfish under the roots. Schools of fry swim in tight pods to avoid snook.

Fishing has been hit or miss during medium to slow tides. Look for action to increase during strong tides in the morning.

When the tide is slow, try areas with deep water. Grouper, snapper and sheepshead feed as currents slow. Tampa Bay has grouper in the ship channel, snapper at the Skyway and sheepshead around structure close to the beach.

The passes could be full of fish

By DOUG HEMMER©

published September 21, 2001 When severe weather causes fishing conditions to change, you will need to find areas of strong tidal movement that flush out tainted water and replace it with normal levels of salinity. Passes that lead to the gulf will be the first areas to check out. John’s Pass, Pass-a-Grille and Blind Pass waters have cleared during the week and should be productive during hard, outgoing tides. Large schools of snook are moving into the residential canals closest to the beach areas. They will hang out for a week or two before moving to the bridges that lead to the beach. These are big, breeder females in the 15- to 25-pound range. Trout rods won’t pull them out of the pilings. Use tarpon or grouper gear with at least 50-pound test and 80-pound leader. Grunts are the best bait. Big snook will check out a bait for some time before striking. Grunts last longer because the smaller fish can’t eat them. Hook the grunt in the mouth and out through the nose. Use enough weight to keep your bait close to the fenders. Weights that are too heavy will bury in the sand when the current is strong. When the tide starts to slack, switch to a free-lined rig and cast up-current of the pilings. Let the bait swim to the bottom before reeling in the slack line. When the bait comes back to the surface on the down-current side of the pilings, you will need to reel in and repeat. Water temperatures have dropped about 10 degrees since last week. This should help the trout fishing in all areas of the bay. The big ones won’t be far from the snook. When the snook cross the flats on their way up the bay, the big trout will leave the pack and stay on the flats until winter. Topwater plugs, strawberry jigs and free-lined shrimp are effective. — Doug Hemmer

By Doug Hemmer

There are three major passes along Pinellas County that are holding schools of large snook. Clearwater Pass, John’s Pass and Pass-a-Grille are hotspots during May, June and July.

These tight channels will produce fast currents during new and full moons.

Angling tactics need to be adjusted when fishing fast water. Baits should be hooked through the nose so they won’t spin or wobble unnaturally. Weights should be heavy enough to reach the bottom but not so heavy that they get buried in the sand. Imagine yourself standing in the water where the current is fast and the water erodes the sand from under your feet until you start sinking into the sand. This is the same thing that happens to weights if they are too heavy or are left on the bottom too long. When a snook strikes a rig that’s snagged on the bottom, you won’t feel the hit and they will feel the resistance and drop the bait.

Baits can vary on the size of tackle being used. If I’m working areas close to bridges I’ll use threadfins or scaled sardines rigged to 20-pound test and 30-pound leader. When fishing under bridges, I’ll use grunts, shad or ladyfish rigged with 50-pound test and 80-pound leader. The trick to fishing these spots is to work them. Just because you’re not catching snook doesn’t mean they are not feeding. Go looking for them by anchoring in different spots over and over again.

– Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER

The bait run is slowing. Areas along the beach that held large schools of juvenile spawn are thinning from attacks by sharks, tarpon, mackerel, bluefish and birds. Most larger schools have moved south into the mouth of Tampa Bay. There is a steady supply of bait but you must search all areas of the bay. Currents will change conditions overnight. To find a school of bait, look for birds that have surface strikes underneath the hovering flock.

Tarpon are working the bait schools. Look for pods of bait that are browner than normal. Tarpon like to work the bait into a tight wad so they can get more into their mouth during a strike. Brown pods that have areas of spraying bait are best. The pinfish is the best bait in the well. Free-lining on the edge of the bait school has produced tarpon from 60 to 120 pounds. Other baits: grunts, ladyfish and threadfins.

Snook are staging in area passes for the run up the bay. After Sept. 1 they will go from bridge to bay. Shrimp is a hard bait to get them to eat. Start with light tackle, and switch to heavy gear when the season opens Sept. 1.

— Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg.

By DOUG HEMMER

published August 30, 2001

The large drainpipes that empty storm water into Tampa Bay can become hot spots after a strong downpour. Snook hang inside the opening of the pipes, a safe place to wait for Nile perch that get washed out of the nearby lakes and ponds. When it rains the snook move outside the pipe and feed on perch being washed out. The bigger pipes have a stronger water flow and hold the most fish. The east side of St. Petersburg produces the biggest fish.

The best bait is a free-lined perch. They can be netted near the opening of the drainpipe. I use a black-backed, yellow-bellied, broken-back crank bait. The feel of the strike and the ability to move freely from spot to spot make this lure my top choice. Start right after the rain stops. Most spots can be fished from land. If it starts to lightning you can wait safely in your car or go home. That’s what I like about this style of fishing.

Some of the best pipes are underwater and are found during a strong runoff. Look for a river of boiling water coming under the sea wall. Snook season opens Saturday. Action should be steady until the first cold front

By DOUG HEMMER

published August 9, 2001

Having a hard time catching redfish and trout in lower Tampa Bay? You’re not alone. Areas that held schools of fish last year are empty because the bait run never got up on the flats. When the bait schools are thick, the reds and trout stay in the same area until the bait runs out. If there is little bait to feed on, the schools keep moving. The areas that hold fish are seeing an increase in anglers. This spooks the fish and makes them hard to catch. When we find the flats in these conditions, it’s time to fish the pods of juvenile bait that line the deeper edges of the flats. Flies or small jigs work great when fished with a fast retrieve. Most of the action will consist of mackerel, jack, trout and ladyfish. This may not sound exciting, but it beats fishing all morning for a skunk.

The best action has been at night. Snook are feeding on shrimp free-lined in the shadows of the bridge lights. Fish the bridges that are close to the beach. Big trout are hanging in the same area. The big boys were caught on flies that imitate shrimp. The trick to getting the big trout to strike was working the dark areas outside of the light. They would not be fooled into striking if the fly were stripped through the light. Most trout get big because they are smart. If you want to fool them, keep your rig in the dark.

Look for the action to pick up around September. This is when the days start getting shorter and the beach fish return to the flats.

By Doug Hemmer

There are three major passes along Pinellas County that are holding schools of large snook. Clearwater Pass, John’s Pass and Pass-a-Grille are hotspots during May, June and July.

These tight channels will produce fast currents during new and full moons.

Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published January 1, 2004

The trout action in lower Tampa Bay has been good during a strong tidal movement. The best bites occurred when the wind was strong. Low tides put most of the trout on the outside edges of the flats. Water that was 3-4 feet deep held the most fish. We used a float and jig combination early in the day. When the sun got high, we removed the cork. Strawberry outproduced other colors 5 to 1. Next best was motor oil. We would drift fish the edge of the flats while targeting the dark patches of grass. The trout were lying on the sand next to the grass. If we caught only a few trout on a drift, we would move. Some spots produced 20-30 trout in the 14- to 20-inch range. The trick was to drift different areas until large numbers were found. This system had us catching 50 to 100 within four hours.

Sheepshead are thick from the Skyway to residential canals. The lowest tides are best for finding Asian mussels, oysters and live barnacles to use as bait. Low water will allow you to see them hanging on the bridge pilings. Those not willing to do the extra work can buy shrimp at the bait shop and probably do just as well.

– Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published January 10, 2004

The best way to increase action during a slow bite is to use fresh, diced shrimp. Whether you’re inshore or off, the smell of shrimp will put most fish into a feeding frenzy. When inshore, dice the shrimp into very small pieces and toss them around docks, bridges or rock piles. Then free-line or use a small spilt shot and a large chunk of shrimp on a No. 1 hook. Cast to the area where the diced shrimp was tossed. Mangrove snapper, sheepshead, redfish, pompano and flounder will go to the chummed area.

The water depth offshore is too deep to chum with diced shrimp that’s just tossed in the water; the currant usually drags the chum away from the area you’re fishing. Place the diced shrimp in a small paper bag. Then put a weight rigged to a rod into the bag. Tape the bag shut and lower it to the ledge, reef or wreck. Wait a few minutes for the bag to get soft. A sharp jerk of the rod tip will break the bag and dump the shrimp pieces right on the spot.

The smell will drive the mangrove snapper and small reef fish into feeding activity. The grouper will move in to see what the fuss is about. If you drop a rigged pinfish into the same area, the grouper will find your bait the easiest to catch. If you want mangos use a chunk of shrimp for bait. Don’t forget to untape the paper bag and leave it in the boat for disposal at home.

– Doug Hemmer Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published January 14, 2004

The trout action in lower Tampa Bay is slower than in past weeks. Areas that held large numbers of keepers have been invaded by undersized trout and ladyfish. The larger fish have moved off the outside edge of the flats. They can be found in the potholes that line the inside of the grass flats. Work the area with slug-style jigs or a live freelined shrimp. Ultralight tackle in the 4- to 6-pound class has drawn the most strikes. The best part of pothole fishing is the occasional redfish. We landed more than a few in the 24- to 30-inch class. On sunny days you could see the reds flash as they moved through the holes. When the skies were overcast, we would fish each hole for 10 minutes.

The reds have been somewhat easily spooked, moving out of the holes every time a boat passes. When a boat approaches, watch the direction the reds move. They probably will move into nearby potholes. If you can’t find them, move back to the area where you located the reds. More times than not, they will return.

We caught more trout while dragging jigs through and around holes. The reds wanted a medium to large live shrimp hooked through the tail and freelined in the middle of the pothole.

Try to cover as much area as possible while drifting or using a pushpole. The effort might reward you with a pothole full of fish.

– Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published February 10, 2004

Fishing in lower Tampa Bay is starting to improve. Fish that left the area when the Red Tide moved through slowly are starting to return. Redfish have been cruising the flats during the incoming tide. Free-lining live shrimp will draw the most strikes. Some days they don’t appear and when they do, you can expect the school to be spooked.

Making long cast on ultra-light tackle will help keep the school from running off the flats. A full spool of 4- to 6-pound line and a 10- to 15-pound leader rigged with a large shrimp hooked through the tail should do the trick. Remember to be patient; most redfish trips this time of the year produce very little.

Trout fishing has gained steam. Drifting the edges of the flats while fan casting artificial lures is the best way to locate a few fish. Ladyfish are a welcome sight. These hard-fighting fish that jump around the boat are fun when the trout bite is slow. Be sure to check the leader just above the jig after catching a few ladyfish. Most of the jigs will be lost because of the leader fray.

Areas north of Clearwater and south of Anna Maria still produce the best action. If the Red Tide leaves before the snook and redfish move out of the upper bay, look for the action in the lower bay to return to normal.

– Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published April 7, 2005

Trout fishing in lower Tampa Bay has picked up. Most schools have moved into depths of 4-to-6 feet. The trick: Drift the areas where cormorants or pelicans are at work.

The best rigs are a float-and-jig combination or a single jig rigged to a 15-pound leader. The float needs to be popped hard enough to spray water and then let the float move backward. When the float starts to go under the surface, reel in the slack and pop the cork again. The single jig should to be dragged as close to the bottom as possible. Target areas where the grass meets the sand. A good pair of polarized glasses will help. The hottest jig color has been strawberry.

Strong tidal movement will produce the best action. Tides above 1.5 lead trout to the grass beds in the shallowest areas. The float and jig combination works best in these areas. Most trout will be hiding in the thickest grass. The sound of the cork popping will lure the trout out. More times than not, the trout will attack the jig with the idea of getting it before another does. This aggressive action will turn the cautious larger trout into foolish feeders.

Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg.

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published May 3, 2005

Fishing this week was excellent until the wind blew. Areas that held good numbers of snook, redfish and trout became mud pits. There were probably a few fish in the area, but the water was too cloudy for sight fishing. Most of our time was spent searching for grass flats that had clear water. The best spots were in protected coves during the start of the incoming tide. We found a few redfish and trout hanging in the potholes that line the mangroves. Most were feeding on free-lined sardines, pinfish and shrimp. By the end of the incoming tide, most of these areas got filled with dirty water and the bite would shut down.

Before the strong winds started, we found schools of redfish moving into the mangroves on the incoming tide. A visible wake was created when large numbers of reds moved through shallow water. That made casting in front of the fish easy. Most trips averaged 15 to 20 reds. Our best day was April 25. We were able to catch and release 40 reds before noon. If the winds calm, look for this kind of action to return.

Trout fishing has been outstanding during the end of the incoming tide. Most of the fish had moved into the thick grass in the middle of the flats. A red float and jig combo produced trout in the 15 to 22 inch range. Most of the trout were hanging just inside the cloudy area.

–Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published May 12, 2005

The hot redfish action of past weeks has started to slow.

Most of these areas have had a tremendous amount of fishing pressure. When large numbers of boats work the same area day after day, the fish will find a new place to school. The past few trips have started strong, but after a few hours of action, the school would slowly move out of the area.

A few tips on fishing a crowded area may help keep the reds on a steady bite. When entering a group of boats, use a push pole or trolling motor set on low. Look for a spot to anchor that’s more than a few casts from other boats. Stay in that area until the fish come to you. Constant idling or running a trolling motor will upset the school. When this is happening, everybody will catch less fish. If the schools don’t feel comfortable in that area, they will move to a new location.

When the redfish shut down, we turn our attention to trout. Most of the action has been during the last of the incoming tide. The trout are hanging on the drop-off of the flats when the tide is moving slow. On strong tidal flows, look for the trout to move farther up on the flats. A corked white bait or a float and jig combination will produce trout from 1 to 5 pounds. Look for areas that have bird action or bait schools hanging on the surface. Don’t drop the anchor until you find good numbers of trout. This can be done by drifting the inside and outside of the flats. When you start catching trout, drop the hook.

Doug Hemmer

No fooling, April the month to fish

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published April 22, 2005

April is probably the best month to go fishing. There are tarpon moving into the bridges of Tampa bay, redfish schooling on the flats, trout hanging in all depths of water, mackerel and kingfish prowling the lower parts of Tampa bay and the snook are spread out from the north part of the bay all the way down to the beaches. There is plenty of bait lining the bridge pilings, marker towers and grass flats for anglers to net before heading out.

There are a few techniques one can use when fishing for tarpon around a bridge. The easiest way is to free-line a scaled sardine or threadfin along the shadow line of the bridge. Tarpon like to cruise along the dark side of the shadow and ambush the baits that flash on the sunny side. Free-line two rod back to the shadow line and set in a rod holder. Then rig one of the rods with a 1 ounce rubber-filled sinker and let out line until the weight is a few feet under the surface. While keeping your line tight to the bait, let the bait drift through the shadow-line and down along the pilings. When the bait clears the pilings, recast over the same area until you get a hook.

Snook are still moving out of the rivers. Most of the areas just outside a creek or river are loaded with snook. Good numbers of snook can be found moving along the east and west side of Tampa bay. Some of the largest ones have already showed up in the pass’s that lead to the gulf. Top baits have been large scaled sardines, pinfish and jumbo shrimp. Use the sardines for bait and use the white bait for live chumming. Live chumming will definitely increase your action. Pinfish grunts and small ladyfish rigged to 50-pound test is what is needed when targeting the large snook hanging in the pass’s. Johns pass bridge has been a good spot for large snook.

Spanish mackerel and kingfish can be found in or near the ship channel from Egmont key to a few miles inside the Skyway bridge. Look for bait schools or bird action when trying to find the mackerel. The kings will be along the edge of the channel, around the skyway and in Egmont key. For mackerel, deploy a chum block and chum the area with live white bait. Rig a white bait with a long shank hook and free-line in the chummed area. The kings will be few, but most will run in the 25- to 50-pound class. Slow troll a ladyfish along the drop-off of the ship channel or zig-zag through the 90-foot hole. Most days will produce nothing, but you do have a chance at a real monster.

The redfish schools are not as large as last year. Some have 10 to 20 fish while others might reach a hundred. Gold spoons and jerk baits have been the best artificial, but most days it will take a real bait to get them to feed. White bait, shrimp or pinfish under a cork has been a steady producer. Some days you’ll need to free-line your bait and let it sit on the bottom.

Water depths up to 6 feet are holding trout. At low tide, work the grass piles, and look for the trout to move to the thickest grass. They need the thick grass to hide from predators. To get their attention, rig a jig or live bait to a small cork and start popping. The pop will draw the trout out of the grass to see if other trout are popping at baits on the surface. When they do, what they’ll find is your offering and they won’t hesitate to strike.

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published January 13, 2005

The water is 10 degrees warmer than in weeks past. The rise has increased the feeding patterns of trout, redfish and snook. Most are feeding best during solunar periods and the first hour of a tide change.

Snook on the east side of Tampa Bay are hanging out in the back canals that lead to rivers or residential areas. Anglers fishing the Apollo Beach area and the canals to the south have reported good action when using white or pearl slug-style jigs. A slow drag across the bottom has produced the most strikes. Look for snook sunning in the shallows. It’s still catch and release, but you’ll know where to fish when snook season opens Feb. 1.

Trout have moved back into the 3- to 4-foot grass beads that line the dropoff of the flats. Strawberry and motor oil jigs dragged along the area where the sand meets the grass have produced the most trout. A strong tide movement has the best action. Look for areas that have signs of life. Cormorants, dolphins and ospreys are good signs that the area is holding good numbers of trout. Look at your lure before casting; if the jig has pulled back off its head, the lure won’t swim straight and will spin like a helicopter blade. Push the jig back on before casting. If it comes off every cast or so, put on a new tail. Catches of 50 or more trout are common this time of year. Squeezing down the barb will make the release of undersized fish easy.

Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published February 21, 2005

Spring is just around the corner, and game fish have begun moving from their winter homes in the residential canals to the flats during incoming tide. If the water temperature stays in the 60s, look for this to continue.

Trips the past week produced redfish and large trout in 2 feet or less. At sunrise, we worked the shallow edges of the flats using a topwater plug. Most larger trout stay here at night because the water is too shallow for dolphin to feed.

Using a slow “walk the dog” action, we landed trout up to 24 inches. Some mornings had redfish tailing in the same area. A few reds struck a surface plug, but most wanted a motor oil jerk bait worked slowly across the bottom.

As the tide got higher, the reds and trout moved closer to the mangroves. The glasslike water created when mangroves block the wind allows fish to see the surface, which makes them spooky. Most strikes were in areas with a good ripple on the water.

Bring large shrimp and small pinfish when using artificial lures. When you come across fish in glass-like water, a live bait left on the bottom will outproduce a moving lure.

Release trout larger than 23 inches. They are breeder females that supply our area with an outstanding fishery.

–Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent
Published March 10, 2005

Flats fishing over the past week was outstanding. We found large schools of trout hanging close to the dropoff side.

The larger trout would move onto the flats when the water level reached 12 inches. On days where the low tide was a -0.8 or lower, we would work the 3- to 4-feet range. When the incoming tide started, we could follow the larger trout onto the flats. We used motor oil colored jigs and jerk baits.

Redfish numbers are growing on the flats. Small schools were moving through shallows at low tide. At higher tides, the reds bunched to form a large school. Sometimes they were slow to feed. Most of the reds were caught on a slow moving scented jig or a large live shrimp hooked through the tail.

The best part of our trips are spent fighting large black drum that are migrating in lower Tampa Bay. The schools are in the 30- to 60-pound class and are normally in the Intracoastal Waterway. Red jigs and artificial crabs produced nonstop catch and release action. The black drum are easy to find on the days the schools work the surface. These are breeder drum that take on the color of a redfish. If you see a yellowish gold spot out in the channel, cast a jig into the middle and work it through the colored area.

Doug Hemmer

By DOUG HEMMER

published November 21, 2002 November is a great month to break out the crank baits. They help you quickly cover large areas, and the cooling water puts gamefish on the move. They will search for areas with warmer water and a good food supply. Grass flats that have a channel between them and a row of docks nearby are perfect. The water is warmer in the deeper channel and the docks protect the fish from predators. The flats provide an ample supply of food. At low tide, work the front of the docks and the middle of the channel. When the tide is incoming, move to the edge of the grass. If the high tide puts 1 or 2 feet of water over the grass, switch to a shallow-running crank bait or change to a jig. The best channels are 4-8 feet deep. Use a plug that dives close to the bottom and hits the sand every now and then during a steady retrieve. You can work from a boat, but wading can be more productive. Look for birds on the flats and around the docks. This indicates the area holds bait. Keep moving and work the area heavily before moving on. Use 10- to 20-pound-test line and a 30-pound-test leader to keep snook from cutting you off in the docks. Tie the crank bait to the leader with a loop knot to give it room to wiggle. Use lighter or clear plugs when the water is clear, and darker plugs under normal conditions. Gold with a black back is my most productive crank bait color. — Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 347-1389. Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER

published October 24, 2002 Snook fishing at night during the full moon is best on a strong outgoing tide. Areas close to the beach hold decent numbers of snook. Some artificial lights hold small schools, but others won’t hold a thing. It’s best to hunt for lights with snook in sight. Drifting past a light with an anchor ready is a good way to check a spot. If the light doesn’t have any fish in view, keep going. If snook are in view, slide the anchor into the water quietly. Some spots have trout, ladyfish and mangrove snapper working the outside edges. The most productive bait has been a tail-hooked shrimp. Cast the bait upcurrent and let it drift to the snook with a little slack in the line. This lets the shrimp swim naturally. When the line tightens, set the hook. When they’re hiding under a dock, skip the shrimp across the surface with a side-arm cast. Trout are moving onto shallow flats. Most of the big ones are near grasslines in areas with scattered potholes. Smaller trout stay near bait schools, which can be located by finding diving birds. A jig and small cork has been the hot rig. Drift past the bait in a strong tidal flow and cast to the edge of the pods. Pop the cork, let the bait sink and pop it again. –

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

published May 20, 2003

Tarpon are prowling the beaches from Boca Grande to Tarpon Springs. Recent trips have produced a few hook-ups, depending on bait choice and boat traffic. It’s important to have a wide selection of baits. Scaled sardines, threadfins and whitebait drew the most strikes. Pinfish, shad and crabs should be added when possible. Baits should be presented under a cork, on the bottom and free-lined. Tarpon are finicky and normally don’t feed when spooked. It’s best to let the school come to you. Heavy boat traffic can shut down the bite. Look for areas that have the least traffic. When a school is spotted, look to see if another boat is working it before moving in. If there is a boat, stay to the outside and wait until it leaves or gets a fish on, then make your move.

Flats in lower Tampa Bay are holding big schools of trout, a few redfish and some snook. The trout are over grass spots in 3 feet of water during low tides. They move into thick grass on the flats during higher tides. The reds are near mullet schools on a big high tide. Snook are closer to the beach. Look near mangroves and potholes that line the inside of the beach area. The next few days will have slow incoming tides, large pike highs and a steady outgoing. Target trout early, reds at high tide and snook during the outgoing. Look for the action to increase as tides get stronger.

– Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

published May 24, 2003

Lower Tampa Bay is starting to see great fishing action. Tarpon, snook, redfish, mackerel and trout are available within a small area. Tarpon are rolling in the morning near the Sunshine Skyway bridge, outside the grass flats that line the inside of the bridge and along the beach from Anna Maria to Fort De Soto. Most of our hookups have been on a free-lined sardine. Most snook are inside the beach area. Mangrove islands and docks hold large fish. This is the best month to play catch and release with a monster. Most snook have been hooked on white bait. Redfish are running near the mullet schools during higher tides. They will be spooky and hard to catch during lower tides. Whitebait and small pinfish have been the bait of choice.

Mackerel are feeding hard around the Skyway. Free-line a white bait on a long shank hook and wait for the rod to start singing before setting the hook. Trout are easiest to target, with most 1-2 pounds. Drift different areas until you locate larger fish. Motor oil and strawberry slug-style jigs worked close to the grass will draw strikes during the tidal movement. Make your drifts over the edge of the flats. If trout are small, move farther onto the flats. At low tide, work grass close to a sandbar. Larger trout hang near a shallow area to escape from porpoises.

– Doug Hemmer

Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

published July 8, 2003

Target the dropoff of a flat along mangrove shorelines, over potholes and at the edges of bait schools. Lower the rod and wiggle its tip during a steady retrieve.

Propeller plugs must be popped hard enough so the blades spray water. Then twitch the lure while reeling up the slack in the line. When the line gets tight to the lure, repeat the process.

Grass floating on the surface can mess up a surface plug. Most fish won’t strike a lure with grass. Get around this by using two rods. Remove the hooks from the plug on one.

– Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By: DOUG HEMMER

Published July 30, 2003

© St. Petersburg TimesThe lasting effects of red tide have pushed most beach snook into the passes or farther up the bay. Night fishing produces the best action. Lights and bridges are key areas to target when you can find the right bait. Threadfins, pinfish and grunts work best under the bridges that lead to the gulf. Keep your weights heavy enough so that they stay on the bottom. Leaders should be 3-4 feet and the baits rigged through the nose so they won’t spin in the current. Work the pilings or fenders during strong tides. Fishing dock lights can be hit and miss. There are large quantities of small baits and shrimp for snook to feed on. On some trips we haven’t had a strike using whitebait or large shrimp. Even when snook have been popping to the surface, they haven’t been hitting our baits. The best thing to do then is to switch to a fly rod. Small flies better imitate the miniature baits they feed on. Crystal shrimp or thin, green-over-white flies are drawing the most strikes.

A 7-9 weight fly rod should be rigged with 8-9 feet of leader. Keep your cast just upcurrent of where snook are popping. Use short, quick strokes to retrieve the fly. Even when you don’t get a strike, keep casting to the same area. The snook might need to see your fly a few times before it eats. When snook fishing is slow, there are plenty of trout and ladyfish around. Remember, it’s catch and release on snook until Sept. 1.

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER

published March 4, 2003 The return of bait fish has sparked a feeding frenzy across area flats. Large schools of white bait can be found near the Sunshine Skyway bridge. These can be caught using a small mesh net that’s 8 feet or larger. The edge of the flats near the bridge will have schools that need to be chummed. Once chummed, you’ll be able to catch these with a smaller net. Snook are moving out of rivers and creeks in upper Tampa Bay. Live chum potholes and deep cuts where the water dumps into the bay. Free line baits on light tackle while keeping the chum line lively by throwing a handful of bait every five minutes. When you see surface strikes, cast bait into the action. Some days they will feed heavily, others they won’t. Look for action to increase in the coming weeks. Schools of redfish are moving across the flats of lower Tampa Bay. High tide has been the time at which they have been most inclined to feed. Live chum the area and fish white bait or shrimp under a cork. Chumming with diced shrimp will help keep the reds in your area. Present the shrimp under a cork to keep it out of the grass. Placing a small split-shot near the hook will help keep the shrimp from jumping out of the water when a red moves in to feed. Schools of large mackerel are moving through Sarasota Bay and should arrive in Tampa Bay soon. Reports have placed kingfish in 100 feet of water, 35 miles south of St. Petersburg.

Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER

published March 17, 2003 The Sunshine Skyway is loaded with white bait, scaled sardines and small threadfins. Use the clear conditions — rock piles can be seen in 20 feet of water — to scout new spots. Tarpon have been caught near the north end, but mackerel have been big. Mackerel from 2-5 pounds are eating spoons, jigs and white bait. Fishing on the edge of the bait school gives mackerel a clear shot at your bait. A frozen chum block helps keep the action close. Snook are making a strong showing as they move toward passes leading to the gulf. Scaled sardines, grunts and shrimp are drawing the most strikes. Tackle should lean on the heavy side. Rods should be rigged with 30-pound test or larger when fishing near a structure. Dan Coover has found snook from 24-38 inches under heavy structures. Trout fishing from John’s Pass to the Sunshine Skyway bridge still is hot. Jigs worked around the potholes and edges of the flats will produce specks from 1-5 pounds. — Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER

published April 7, 2003 Tarpon have shown up on the edges of the grass flats that line the Sunshine Skyway bridge. They are rolling in 6 feet of water south of the clam bar. Shad, pinfish or threadfins should draw strikes from 100-pound tarpons. The middle of the afternoon has been the best time to see them. While trout fishing, we jumped one estimated at 150 pounds with a slug-style jig. Redfish around Fort De Soto are feeding best at the start of the outgoing tide. Heavy boat traffic makes them hard to fish, so try a spot near the mangroves that’s not busy. Have plenty of whitebait with which to chum. When a school shows up, toss handfuls of bait near it. Have one rod with a cork rig and free-line the other. Some days, they will only hit the free lines. The best action has been the mackerel at the Skyway bridge and the trout on most of the grass flats. The mackerel are hitting white bait on a long shank hook, and the trout are best fished using a green slug-style jig. Fish early in the day for the best movement. Late afternoon is best for redfish

Snook should be a focus as closure nears

By DOUG HEMMER

published April 18, 2003 The four-month closure on snook is less than two weeks away. Most schools can be found near mangrove shorelines. Areas to check are the St. Petersburg-Clearwater airport, the bay side of Weedon Island, Cockroach Bay, Port Manatee shoreline, the small bridge south of the Skyway and residential canals closest to the beach. Chumming with live whitebait puts snook near mangroves into a feeding frenzy. Free-line your bait where the snook are striking the surface. The best action over the next six days will be on the outgoing tide. Residential docks are a little harder to fish. A free-lined shrimp on light tackle draws the most strikes, but landing a legal one is a challenge. Most keepers are caught on 30- to 50-pound test. Scaled sardines or grunts fished close to the structure will get the attention of larger snook. The stronger the tide, the better the action. Trout action in lower Tampa Bay continues to be outstanding. Pumpkin seed- or motor oil slug-style jigs dragged close to the grass have produced most of the action. In the past week, shrimp on a popping cork got most of the larger fish. The best action will be on a moving tide in clean water. Fish in 3 feet of water on the dropoff of the flat during low tides and move over the flats when the tide is higher. Redfish are hanging close to mullet schools. Whitebait and small pinfish under a cork will help keep your bait out of the grass. Weedon Island and Tarpon Key are holding reds. If there are only a few boats working the area, the action can be good. Anchoring on a corner of mangroves and waiting for the reds to move through works in a crowd. Offshore, small kings are hanging on the Betty Rose and the south county reef just north of the Rose. Grouper action has been spotty. The hot bite is snapper on small ledges. Small live sardines or threadfins work great on light tackle. — Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

published May 1, 2003

This week’s trips to the artificial reefs were outstanding. The Betty Rose was the hot spot, producing kings and barracuda as soon as the baits hit the water. A livewell full of threadfins caught before sunrise was key to fishing the early bite. We would stop upwind of the Rose and free-line two rods with baits hooked in the back, then drift over the reef. Every drift produced kings of 10-30 pounds, but barracudas occasionally would hit the kings. The best way to avoid the cudas was to tighten the drag and horse in the kings quickly after they made a few good runs.

The Egmont shipping channel and the freighters are holding large numbers of schoolie kingfish, most 6-12 pounds. Spanish sardines and cigar minnows have been the bait of choice, and slow-trolling near the anchored freighters produced the most strikes. Try light tackle in this area; rods rigged with 10-pound line provide great action.

Trips inshore produced redfish and snook. We worked the mullet schools with 1/4-ounce silver spoons, and most action came at high tide. Water clarity has been poor, but a spoon’s flash helped the fish find it. When the water clears, switch to motor oil or root beer jigs worked just above the grass.

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published September 16, 2003

The water temperatures in the bay are dropping. Look for increased movement of gamefish as they head onto flats to feed. Snook will start chasing whitebait through mangrove roots, redfish will return to slamming topwater plugs and larger trout will move into deep grass. They should remain on the flats until the water temperatures drop to the low 60s. Snook have been feeding on sardines and shrimp. Use sardines near mangroves during a strong tidal flow. Free-line your bait hooked through the nose and cast close to or under the mangrove. If your bait keeps getting snagged, switch to a corked rig. When the cork gets too close to the roots you can reel it back a few feet. Hook the sardine under the pectoral fin when using a cork. This will make the sardine flash, which helps snook locate your bait. Shrimp work best near docks and structure. Tail-hook the shrimp and cast upcurrent so the bait drifts to the fish. The best hookups come when we skip the shrimp under a dock. Most legal snook need to be caught on 30-pound test or heavier.

Redfish are tailing on low tides and are spooky in shallow water. Free-line a shrimp or a piece of fresh cutbait in front of the fish, and don’t move it or it will snag in the grass. If a redfish finds the bait, your line will move. Reel until the rod bends before setting the hook.

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published October 11, 2003

Fishing in all areas of Tampa Bay is red hot. Snook are running the edges of the mangroves, reds are near the spoil islands and trout can be found hiding in the thick grass beds in the lower parts of the bay. Whitebait is the key to catching snook. Heavy chumming with live bait will pull the snook out of the mangroves and put them in a feeding mood. Drift or push-pole along the shoreline while throwing whitebait around the base of the mangroves. Anchor and fish where the snook pops the surface. The reds are hanging in or near the mullet schools or over the oyster bars during high tide. Pinfish have been the top bait for reds. At low tide, free-line a dead pinfish on the edges of the mullet. At higher tides, rig the pinfish to a cork and fish near the oysters. Driving your boat within 100 yards of the area you want to fish will spook the school. Drift or pole into the spot and everyone will catch more fish.

Trout are feeding off the edge of the flats during the lower tides. When the tide is a 2.0 or higher, look for them to move into the deep grass on the flats. Most bigger trout are hitting topwater lures early in the morning. As the sun gets higher and the surface strikes slow, switch to a float and jig combo. This will give you surface action while keeping the jig closer to the fish that won’t strike the surface.

– Doug Hemmer

Daily fishing report

By DOUG HEMMER, Times Correspondent

Published November 26, 2003

The flats in lower Tampa Bay are teeming with trout from 12 to 23 inches. The best action has been at the end of the incoming tide. A float and jig combo worked in a wrapped presentation will lure bigger trout out of the thick grass and make them strike at the fast-moving jig. Once you have located trout, switch to a whitebait under a cork. Heavy chumming with live whitebait will increase action.

Redfish and snook are less plentiful. Fishing a strong outgoing tide will give you a chance at ambushing some fish as they funnel into the deeper parts of the flats. Anchor where the flats are shallow on one side of the boat and deeper on the other. Start chumming with live whitebait when the tide is running out. Cast a few baits rigged to a cork on the shallow side and wait for the fish to move past as they head for deeper water. The action can be slow but most days will produce a few fish.

Trolling for grouper is heating up. Dropoffs, rock piles and the edge of the ship channel are producing legal-sized gags. Use a planer and a large crank bait to locate the fish. Return to the spot and bottom fish with a large pinfish. Most grouper will be undersized if you use a medium to small pinfish. Keep your tackle in the 100-pound class and you’ll land bigger fish.

– Doug Hemmer

Captain Doug: Big trout on a 12 Fathom Slam R. Rest in peace Doug.

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Neil Taylor

Full time kayak fishing guide, Neil was an advocate for conservation since before the time he started guiding.Outdoor writer, speaker and radio show host, Neil connected closely with Captain Mel Berman and did many positives with Mel to promote ethical angling. After Mel passed away, Neil managed www.capmel.com and eventually became that web site’s owner.

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