The winds of November are here, making things difficult for deep-water anglers. Water temperature is still in the high 70s, and clarity is still poor for this time of year. I have seen a couple of cobia on the flats south of Apollo Beach, but sight-fishing there has been complicated by sea grass. Where there was once only bare sand in 3 feet of water there is a resurgent growth of sea grass. I suppose that’s a good thing as far as the water quality is concerned, but it makes spotting fish more challenging.
Earlier this week we got into some big schools of ladyfish on the surface on the flats in front of Mag’s Hole. I always throw a few of those in the cooler for use as cut bait. All the major predators like a chunk of ladyfish. Fresh is better than frozen, but frozen bait will still catch fish. It just doesn’t stay on the hook as well. Fresh or frozen, you have to keep it on ice.
We also got into Spanish mackerel and bluefish off Mangrove Point, just north of the Simmons Park boat ramp. We caught fish on practically every cast for more than an hour using chrome spoons. They were tearing through schools of glass minnows, which attracted lots of sea gulls and terns to make the fish easy to find.
Tuesday’s trip yielded some big jacks around the mouth of the Little Manatee River. We caught them on the same chrome spoons, rigged on 50-pound monofilament leaders. Most of the fish were in the 2-pound class, but we caught some bigger fish in the mangrove back country of Little Cockroach Bay. Joe Capo of Riverview had the best fish, a 7-pounder caught on a chunk of ladyfish.
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