Count on Early Fall Kingfish Run

SALTWATER SCENE

With water temperatures likely to dip with this weekend’s cold front, look for kingfish to follow right behind the plethora of bait.

Already, captains are reporting occasional kingfish off the beaches – but they seem to be rare.

At the Sunshine Skyway Bridge fishing piers, anglers reportedly have been hooking up with kingfish, along with cobia, for five days.

The surprise, according to Skyway bait shop attendants, is that sheepshead are on almost all of the pilings. But anglers have not been targeting them. Get some small pieces of shrimp, put them on an equally small hook to fit in the sheepshead's small mouths, and drop them to the bottom. Although tough to fillet, sheepshead have some of the best-tasting, flaky-white meat around.

Capt. Stewart Ames of Tampa said he’s been fishing near passes for some big redfish to 36 inches.

But most of the big reds have been near Tarpon, he said.

Off the beaches, he said some smaller Spanish mackerel were mixed in.

SOMETHING TO TRY

Go target a big, breeder red in potholes and oyster bars near passes on a low tide.

“Fish near the passes for those big fish,” Ames said said. “They’re a little hard to find right now.  There are a lot of 21-22 inch fish and there are some offshore breeders.”

TIP

Capt. Rick Grassett of the Snook Fin-Addict said to watch out for tripletail in the coastal Gulf.

“I like to put the sun behind me and run along a crab trap line about 50 feet away from the floats,” Grassett said. "When you spot a tripletail, drop off plane past the float and approach the fish into the wind, so you maintain control of your boat. A variety of crab, shrimp and baitfish fly patterns will all work well for tripletail. The key is to make your first shot count. They are much harder to catch once they know you are there.”

GUIDES

Capt. Stewart Ames of Gone Fishing Charters can be reachedat 727-421-5291. Web site is www.tampa-fishing-charter.com.

Capt. Rick Grassett of the Snook Fin-Addict cam be reached at 941-923-7799.