The King is certainly not dead at the mouth of the Tampa Bay Estuary, with a massive fish landed on Thursday at the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Piers.  As has been discussed in this report over the past few weeks, late arriving kingfish seasons in the Tampa Bay region often bleed well into the month of December and also occasionally produce some truly huge rogue fish.  Spanish mackerel also remained around despite the possibility of being swallowed by their larger brethren and certain time & tidal periods produced good numbers of these fish.  Gag grouper remained on a great bite and multiple numbers of legal-sized fish were taken on both fishing piers this past week.  Bottom anglers seeking good eating reef fish were rewarded with a wide variety of nice grunts & porgies.  Sheepshead are now being seen on many pier pilings and anglers are reporting plenty of fish in excess of the legal minimum length requirement.

Gag grouper are the first on the list for this week’s report for several reasons.  Gags biting great at both fishing piers is the primary reason for discussion, but many anglers are also unclear about the seasonal closure in the Tampa Bay region.  Gag grouper were granted an extra month of harvest by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) for the 2017 calendar year.  Gag grouper remain open for harvest during the month of December at the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Piers and anglers can read more about gag grouper seasonal regulations at http://myfwc.com/news/news-releases/2017/august/25/gag-gulf/.  Gag grouper fishing at the piers is generally done by either free-lining live baits, anchoring live or dead baits or by plugging with diving artificial lures.  December can be a fantastic month to target gags at the piers because cooler waters make this species more aggressive and thus willing to chase baits.  Perhaps the ideal approach is to plug over certain areas looking for the most active fish and then deploy live baits in areas where missed strikes occurred.

King mackerel are an amazing fish to take from a fixed structure because of their innate ability to strip hundreds of yards of line from a reel within just seconds.  Truly large kingfish rank amongst the most exciting of all gamefish to be taken from a fixed point on the Florida peninsula – ranking up there with tarpon, sharks and cobia.  The kingfish season this year was slow to start, but some very nice fish have been taken in recent weeks.  Tampa Bay waters were cloudy for a few weeks in late November, but the preferred food sources of kings did not leave the area.  These sight-minded predators were simply unable to feed effectively.

Until the food source leaves the estuary, or the water temperature becomes unsuitable, predators are unlikely to leave a baitfish buffet like the one provided by the  Skyway Piers.  Free-lining live baits like blue runners, jack crevalle, ladyfish, or even pinfish & sardines can find these late season nomads just as easily as anchor-lining several baits behind a trolley rig.  They true key in late season kingfish success is to remain in the game until the last minute drive.  Get that bait out and then do something you might find more entertaining.  Keep that puncher’s chance alive until the most severe winter temperatures arrive.  The largest king your author has ever seen (boat or pier) was a 62 lb. fish caughtvery late season while almost nobody was on the pier.  I will never forget those smiles, or how the tail had to be held so far above their heads so that the snout was even with the ground.  The couple used to be regular visitors and I sincerely hope that I see them once again…

Reef and piling fishing outside of the gag grouper crowd has also been great at the piers.  Some anglers complained that it was tougher to get a limit of mangrove snapper over the 10″ size range, but that is a common occurrence each winter at the piers.  The remedy for those who want both action and fine eating fish species is simple…  It is time to switch baits from cut herring & scaled sardines to shrimp & squid.  Porgies and grunts of various types simply prefer these other bait sources and these are fish that rate right up there with snapper as far as table fare.  Sheepshead absolutely seek smaller mussels, crabs and shrimp and just love to hang around the Skyway Pier pilings and reefs.  Never discount fish like spot tail porgies or sheepshead as fine cold water options at the piers when seeking fish fillets for a wide variety of fish cookery options.  In essence, there are always some fine eating options available at the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Piers, anglers just need to learn some simple tactics and keep an open mind.

Paul Bristow
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