Captain Billy Nobles from the Reel Animals mantra Do yourself a favor and take a kid fishing is so true. Saturday I had that distinct pleasure of spending a great day on the water with high school senior Max. To say the least Max is a die hard angler and fishes weekly.
Tampa Bay was perfect at sunrise with barely a wisp of wind and cooler temperatures. Gathering bait around local bridges and piers has changed drastically with huge schools present. I started on the down current side and it was clear the bait was on the up current side. My 10' ¼" was so heavy with bait I had to have Max help me lift it into the boat.
We ran to St. Pete Beach and set up in 22'. I deployed a chum bag and start tossing chum baits. Quickly we had small mackerel boiling on the surface. We took several small mackerel but the action never really fired up.
Running back to deeper grass flats was the ticket as we found bigger mackerel, trout and ladyfish all eager to inhale small white baits. We had the thrill of hooking another big spinner shark that ran 75 yards in seconds then went skyward. The line broke during the spectacular jump. Max is a super young angler, I look forward to spending another day on the water with him. Look for the bait or birds and you will find quick action.
Captain Steven Markovich
