Fishing Report 11/09/2007 – Capt. Terry Frankford
It's been an up and down couple of weeks for anglers aboard the Reelin & Chillin with the changing weather conditions. Common this time of year is a couple of beautiful days, a front moves in then we end up with a couple windy cold days. There are fish both near shore and in shore so you need to adjust with the weather. If it looks good you can fish the near shore reefs and pick up on Spanish Mackerel, King Mackerel, Little Tunny, and if your lucky a Cobia. I do like to wait a day after it's been really windy before going to near shore reefs just to let the seas settle and the water clear up a little. If it's to rough outside you can still pick up Spanish Mackerel near the passes or where there is fast moving water. Snook and reds are on the flats around oyster bars, mangrove shorelines, and docks. Trout can be found on grass flats for catch & release action, however they are out of season until January first. I have noticed a few Sheepshead around, maybe in a few weeks they will be a species to target.
Just a quick review of a few trips aboard the Reelin & Chillin this week:
Pio Rizzo, Will Price, Chris Ennest, Adam Wolin, and Ross Nevins did a near shore trip and hit plenty of Spanish Mackerel. It was non-stop action at one of the near shore artificial reefs just off Lido Key. All anglers caught plenty of fish on this trip and the Spanish Mackerel were nice size reaching up to four pounds.
Kevin Harrod, Pat Marx, and Yoanna Gouchtchina also did a near shore trip with the same outcome as the above trip. Yoanna did hook into a Little Tunny that gave her a run for her money. After a trip around the boat she landed the LT and was ready for more action after a quick photo.
White bait was used for the above trips, caught just off Lido Beach. I looked for diving birds close to shore, once I found them it only took one or two throws to fill the bait wells. I used my 1/4 inch mesh Bett's net, the 1/2 inch mesh would have worked as well, the bait was plenty big enough.
On an afternoon inshore trip Dave and Sue Mathias headed south with a live well of hand picked shrimp. We noticed some diving birds close to one of the Edwards Islands and decided to drift and stop the shore line using the power pole. It payed off, after shaking off a few smaller fish during the drift we worked an area just a little deeper at the edge of the grass. First Dave picked up a nice red in the slot then Sue backed it up with another nice red, also in the slot. This made for great light tackle action, they were both using smaller Okuma IA-30 reels mounted an Evolution medium light action rods with only eight pound test line.
Rigging:
Near Shore:
Starting with a twelve inch length of #2 wire leader I use a haywire twist attaching a 1/O long shanked hook on one end, and a #8 swivel on the other. This makes a wire leader approximately eight inches long, just long enough to bypass the teeth. I then tie a thirty-six inch length of forty pound test mono to prevent chaffing from tail and body swipes.
In Shore:
Using a sergons knot I tied eighteen inches of twenty pound test fluorocarbon leader to my eight pound test line. Then using a Uni knot I tied on a #4 Owner MUTU circle hook. Depending on conditions you may have to up size a little, like if you going to try to drag a thirty-four inch snook from under a dock. Although a couple of weeks ago a client pulled a forty and a half inch Red from under a dock using the same rig mentioned above with the exception of ten pound test from the reel.
Tight Lines & Good Times, Capt. Terry Frankford
Reelin & Chillin Charters Inc.
941-228-7802
www.charterfishingsarasota.com terry.frankford@verizon.net
