Skyway Report, 9/9/2016

By Paul Bristow

Slightly cooler nights and mildly breezy conditions made for a pleasant climate as anglers found some great multi-species action at the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Piers over the past week.  Lunar cycles supported only moderate tides, and while these tides did not clear the water as quickly as stronger tides would have, they were sufficient to create zones of clear water adjoining murkier water.  Baitfish used these lines in an attempt to hide from predators, but based upon the surface feeding activity witnessed by pier visitors, they did not have much success!  Spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, blue runners and ladyfish prowled just outside the baitfish balls in an effort to locate an easy meal.  Tarpon were seen rolling even further outside of the baitfish schools, and many shark species seemed to be lurking underneath.  The artificial reef action remained strong, with anglers catching mangrove snapper, grouper, grunts and porgies.

Spanish mackerel limits were quite common over the past week, but anglers fishing both the early morning and late afternoon hours secured most of the mackerel limits reported.  Mackerel were crashing baitfish right near the surface, and this made silver spoons fished extremely fast (or behind a popping cork) one of the most effective presentations.  White nylon jigs, striper poppers, shad darts and Gotha lures also performed fairly well.  When mackerel begin feeding near the surface at the Skyway Piers, often the traditional trolling sinker used with various artificial lures can be replaced with a popping cork.  Leave about 6 feet of monofilament or fluorocarbon leader behind the float and add your favorite artificial lure.  Pop and rip the float and your lure along the surface in a retrieve folks often call ‘water walking’.  Cut belly strips of scaled sardines and threadfin herring both performed well fished with a similar presentation – using the float so that the belly strip flutters at the surface as you attract fish with the occasional popping of the cork.

Blue runners were plentiful this past week, and were also joined by hoards of small to medium-sized jack crevalle.  Blue runners are just a smaller member of the Jack Family of Fishes that boast the same sporting qualities of the larger jacks.  Runners do not get very large, but they can function equally well as live bait or fillets for the frying pan.  The flesh of the blue runner is much whiter, milder and flakier than that of the crevalle.  Many folks that enjoy them find it funny when so many anglers limit their use to baitfish options.  Like other jacks, blue runners are a schooling species, and larger sabiki-style bait rigs are one great method to score on multiple fish.  Small nylon jig rigs fished in tandem are another option, as are small spoons, pompano jigs and Gotcha lures.

Tarpon of many sizes are making their presence known along each fishing pier.  The beautiful sight of fish rolling around the tide change made many folks sightseeing at the piers quite happy.  Anglers in pursuit of other species, such as grouper or mackerel, were not as entertained when their first meeting with the silver king led to an entire spinning reel being emptied of line in just a few seconds!  Anglers in pursuit of tarpon with the appropriate tackle were able to record multiple jump-and-dumps and/or leader releases in just a single tidal cycle.  Free-lining live pinfish, scaled sardines, blue runners or ladyfish was perhaps the best way to hook up.  Fishing cut bait on the bottom or fast-cranking buck tail jigs in the shadow line also hooked plenty of tarpon.