Things are busting loose all over. It is that wonderful time of the year when choosing what species to target is the toughest part of your day, except for cleaning fish.
White bait has arrived on most inshore grass flats and has been fairly easy to net up. There are a lot of small pinfish mixed in as well and shrimp are growing to the best size of the year.
My charters have been enjoying a mixed bag that includes sheepshead, mangrove snapper, spanish mackerel, flounder, key west grunt, grouper, hogfish, speckled trout, redfish, and snook. One 25 lb. Cobia was taken and a number of barracuda were spotted along with a few kingfish. The kingfish are bunched up just to our south and will likely be here in force for the last week in March.
The tides this past week coupled with some fairly brisk north and northeast winds have not been the best for snooking, but that will be changing going into next week and some really good action should be shaping up all across Manatee County's inshore waters.
The nearshore gulf reef fishing has been so good it is hard to breakaway from the fast paced and diverse action. The majority of our charter time has been invested out there with just cursory attempts at inshore flats fishing before heading to the dock. That will be changing in the coming weeks when a whole lot more time will be dedicated to snook, reds, and trout when there is optimum tidal and weather conditions.
This time of the year and autumn are the months we all live for, so get out there and catch'em up!!
Good luck and good fishing - be careful out there!!
Capt. "Zach" Zacharias
DEE JAY II 941-795-5026
email: zachcap@aol.com
Docked at Parrot Cove Marina/Sunny Shores
115th st w & 36th Ave.
Cortez, FL 34215
(on the shore of Palma Sola Bay)
Comments
No comments on this item
Only paid subscribers can comment
Please log in to comment by clicking here.