There are days where charters start with high expectations. Perfect weather, light winds and perfect tides then the fish wont chew! Fridays charter started with stiff NE winds, no sun and not much tide so expectations were not huge. At the end of the day its still fishing and you never know what to expect.
Under cover of darkness I put on my life jacket and made the bumpy ride to the Skyway bridge for bait. Good news bait was one toss and done so it was worth fighting the chop.
Joining me today were Jeff his wife Angie from Michigan and their friends Jerry and Lori from California. Most of the weeks weather reports looked like we would have to cancel. If you live locally its not a big deal but visitors don't have that luxury. I hate making the call cancelling a trip and disappointing my anglers.
Needing to stay away from the wind we ran to a Ft Desoto Mangrove Island for redfish. Lori got the party started within 5 minutes. The 5 pound redfish took her all around the boat then over under lines. She handled her first redfish like a pro! Cut pinfish on a 2/0 circle hook was our rigging this morning. Next up Jerry scored another beautiful red only slightly smaller. Then Jerry and Angie really got things going with a double header of redfish. Jeff was next to get his first redfish a chunky 6 pounder. Over 90 minutes we hooked 10 redfish. Lori hooked a true bruiser over 30"' only to have it come unbuttoned.
We ran out to the beach and found all the hotels, condos were offering some protection from the wind so we headed to my Mackerel spot and it was game on. Spanish Mackerel 2-5 pounds were pounding bait after bait. Cut offs are inevitable with these toothy speedsters so beef up your leaders to 40-60 pounds and use long shank hooks.
Things got very interesting as I heard Jeff's Quantum Cabo reel start screaming and it wasn't stopping! Then 5' of Spinner shark exploded skyward. The giant leaped over and over again and finally broke off more than 100 yards away. Jerry couldn't be outdone and hooked another large spinner shark.
Add several Barracudas to 50 pounds pounced on our Mackerel at the boat and you can quickly visualize how exciting things were. Look for lots of Kingfish along the beach once these strong NE winds subside. Water temperature was 76 degrees which means
All in all great people, good fishing all on day that did not look promising.
Captain Steven Markovich
