Guide bites
Capt. Cody Albright (727) 992-3918: Capt. Cody says the big news over the past week has been a nice spike in the redfish action. He’s been finding the most fish around oyster bars, hard points, creek mouths and mangroves north of the Cotee River, with small pods of fish the norm. Four or five nice fish from a spot has been possible, with as many as 40 fish landed and released after multiple spots fished. Capt. Cody said anglers fishing any spot they’ve ever caught reds in the past have a good shot at finding them in the same place now. While he hasn’t targeted them, his anglers have been picking off a few snook and nice trout while going for the reds. Two areas that have been particularly good have been Salt Springs and Westport. Mangrove snappers are active and feeding, and his anglers have been taking them inshore and offshore to 40 feet of water. Capt. Cody says the gag grouper season has been good to him, with almost all the fish he found in no more than 10 feet of water. The season ends Oct. 1 but the spots he’s taking them have seen a lot of cobia and Spanish mackerel move in. With the gag season ending, anglers who put out a chum block along hard, limestone bottom and ledges between 8 and 12 feet of water may see all the action they can handle. He’s also taken some good numbers of flounder on these spots, as well, with fish to 24 inches landed. The flounder season is open through Oct. 15 and with the numbers he’s seen without even trying to catch them, anyone targeting them with baits on the bottom may be able to score big.
Capt. Matt Cowden (727-534-6603): Capt. Matt says with the cold front cooling things down, the inshore bite in Pasco waters is on. The redfish, flounder and mangrove snapper have been a highlight, and he expects the bite to be even stronger going into the weekend. Anglers have until Oct. 15 to keep flounder, and he thinks there is no better time to target them. They are bottom feeders and baits like shrimp or minnows fished on sand and grass bottom work well, though jigs dragged on the bottom are another popular tactic. Shark fishing remains strong and likely will remain so until the water chills down significantly. More cobias are showing up on the flats and just offshore. Lots of them are on the smaller side, though the increasing numbers bode well for bigger fish to follow into the fall, when fish that have spent the hotter months farther to the north begin coming south for winter.
Capt. Josh Fritz (352) 345-9304: Capt. Josh reports it’s been a fantastic gag grouper season. It’s catch-and-release only from here on, as the season closes Oct. 1, but the depths from as shallow as 8 feet out to 50 feet have been holding lots of big fish. Red grouper remains open, however, and he notes that they have been coming on several trips, even in relatively shallow water. Live pinfish and sardines have been the best baits. Inshore, the redfish are starting to school in bigger numbers and it’s only going to get better in October. Fish are staging along rocky islands and spoils, as well as outside hard-bottom points, and are starting to move into back bays. October also will be seeing more big trout moving shallow and spots that hold reds often will be where the yellow-mouth gator trout are likely to be. Live pinfish and sardines are top baits for these jumbo trout.
Tackle shop roundup
The Rusty Bucket (727) 645-6598: Capt. Bill says cooler water has the inshore mangrove snapper fired up, with lots of fish to 15 inches taking shrimp and live sardines on rocks and in canals. Redfish have been “everywhere along the Pasco coast, with cut pinfish working well on them. The numbers of schooling fish make throwing artificials, including top-water plugs, viable for those who prefer. Upper-slot-sized and oversized fish have been common. Backcountry tarpon have been a good bet for those with patience. Smaller live pinfish and sardines under a float have been hooking them, though soft-plastic artificials also work. Deeper bayous and backwaters are holding them. Trout and some snook have been right there with them, as well as in channels leading into backwaters. It’s over now, but by most accounts, the September gag grouper season was a winner. Anglers bagged fish anywhere from 8 feet of water out to 25 feet in big numbers on live pinfish and trolled plugs. Anyone looking to have some fun with them can continue, though they must be released.
Tarpon Trading Company (727) 937-1488): Larry reports that customers continue to do pretty well on slot-sized trout fishing the grass beds off the beach at Fred Howard Park. Live shrimp or jigs with soft-plastic paddle tails take them, but the jigs allow anglers to test more water faster to locate the fish. Some decent redfish reports have come in over the past week, with anglers scoring fish around rocky spoils and mangroves near the mouth of the Anclote River, in a small pass that was cut by recent hurricanes about mid-island. The pass has been dubbed Hurricane Pass No. 2, Bean Pass and Pelican Pass by locals. Redfish also have been taken over the past week along mangroves on the backside of Anclote Key at Dutchman Key. One customer reported taking nice-sized mangrove snapper fishing the pilings of the U.S. 19 bridge on the Anclote River.
Armed Anglers (727) 945-1808: Will says there were some good reports of redfish being taken along Dutchman Key on the back side of Anclote Key. Snook moving off the sandy beaches there are starting to move around to the backside of the island, as well as to outside rocky points and mangroves along the coast. Trout fishing seems to be picking up nicely on the grass flats, particularly along the edges of drops into deeper water and around places like Three Rooker Bar. Will’s dad got out and fishing deeper grass flats scored a number of nice ones on a recent trip using live shrimp, though jigs also are productive right now. Several customers have been buying bonito and stingrays at the shop for shark fishing. Most have been fishing the beaches at Honeymoon and Caladesi islands, though some have been traveling as far as Gulf beaches off St. Petersburg. Lemon and bull sharks have been the primary species landed. Will notes that the hogfish bite offshore may be picking up, as some customers are starting to buy a lot of frozen shrimp and Hog Ball rigs. The best fishing for keeper hogs usually occurs between 40 and 60 feet of water, which has been where a lot of anglers fished for gags through the open September season.