April 28th 2009
Finally a nice day to be on the water. We had another front pass through three days earlier with lots of wind. All that wind stirs up the water and leaves it dirty and cloudy. It also dropped the temperature a few degrees from 75 to 71.
But today the water was clear and the tides are starting to move. I picked up my two clients in Clearwater and headed to our first spot. This area was along a sea wall that had a slight drop in water depth from shallow to about four feet. It was at this drop off we set up a slow drift using the trolling motor. David and Rich were throwing 1/4 oz jig heads with plastic tails. One was a Cal 4" New penny and the other was a 3" paddle tail white. After a few minutes, we had our first trout and by the end of the drift we added three more. All were around 16 to 17 inches.
Our second location and target was along some mangroves were redfish like to hang out. We staked out an area that had some grass and sand patches mixed. Using some live white bait, sardines or thread fins, I chummed up the area with a hand full of live ones to see if anybody was home. Also if you cut some up and throw them in the mix it helps the smell factor. I set out the live bait using floats. Keeping the bait just off the bottom, about three feet in this case. It wasn't long we had our first taker. David reeled in the redfish after a couple of nice runs. Measured 24" and released. We only had one other red after about 45 minutes of invested time.
The tide was fairly high and still moving good. I decided to try the pass to see if some large trout had moved in to feed. Clearwater pass is known for large trout on the incoming tides. We set up on some grass and tossed out some live white bait with the same set up float. Also throw out one free line with no float. We waited a good 1/2 hour to get just one 18" trout.
The tide was high and just starting out. We moved back into the mangroves to a narrow channel, looking for Mr. snook. I throw out some live chummers and set up the lines. It took 30 minutes and lots of chummers to finally get that snook to bite. But it was worth the wait. The fish took Rich around the boat twice and along the mangrove roots before finally giving in. We lifted the fish into the boat, high fived all anglers, took pictures, in which I have not received copies yet, and released. That fish had us under the trolling motor, around the stakeout pole and almost in the mangroves. Great job Rich.
We ended the day with a west coast slam, snook, trout and redfish. I would say that the snook fishing is only going to get a lot better in coming weeks as the spring span is starting to happen. These fish will move along the beaches and passes to do their thing. Catch the right tide and hang on.
Capt. Gary Burch
AllCatchCharters.com
727 458-6335