STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More

Share and Enjoy [?]

As we entered a more typical summer weather pattern — replete with afternoon thunder boomers — snook and redfish were fairly plentiful last week. Tarpon, however, are already becoming scarce, but anglers had success with bluefish and mackerel.

Capt. Ron Kowalyk said the snook bites turned up full tilt last week at area passes and off the beaches. Gulf beaches held scads of mixed-size snook in the 4-10 pound range. Whitebait is plentiful at the passes and on the beaches also.

Other action was good for redfish under the bushes on the incoming early morning tides. Big redfish were hooked on the outgoing tides around the passes.

"Trout action has been mixed, slow but some big fish eating top water plugs, flies and whitebait and pins," said Kowalyk. "Bluefish and Spanish invaded the passes and major flats adjacent to the passes. Flies, spoons, live bait and jigs were all taking the marauding tooth critters."

Cobia and sharks were running the passes and on the nearshore reefs. The baby tarpon were still around in the remote areas of Estero Bay but the pods have thinned to where it was a real hit and miss operation. There's good mixed bag action on the north end of Pine Island Sound, trout, reds, snook and smallish tarpon.

Visit Kowalyk's Web site at www.fishswfla.com.

• From Kowalyk's Captain's Corner: It's the time of year when an outfit set up for toothy gamesters is a must-have addition to your fishing arsenal. The bluefish invading the Gulf beaches passes and flats will at times weigh in at 4-6 pounds.

The ever present summer Spanish mackerel can pop up anywhere but they usually make their presence known with the birds, boils and skyrocketing jumps as they devastate the hapless bait pods. Simple adjustment to your typical backwater light tackle can keep you in the fray and save plugs, hooks and flies that can be easily hacked off by the voracious toothy critters.

If you enjoy topwater plugging, the use of a 60 pound mono leader will help keep your popper, walking stick or skitter-pop style lure from snarling on those typically long casts. The heavier leader maintains a smooth turnover. The heavy leader offers better contact and control of the plug's action. With topwater offerings, the heavier leader isn't a deterrent; the surface disturbance generated by the plug or flies action will overcome any leader shyness.

When these fish are on a mad chew, treble hook spoons are a mainstay of the bite. The fast retrieve and delivery into the thrashing pods of fish and baits generally allows for the use of heavy mono or in extreme cases wire trace. Heavy mono will most often out fish wire.

I've opted for 60 pound mono when fishing docks, larger baits and cut baits even in the backwaters. I've found it to be quite acceptable, especially if there's any color to the water, the tide is running hard, the bait's plentiful and the fish big. That makes the transition from the bay to bombing the maddening crowd a lot easier.

Submissions to Fish Tales should be made by noon each Monday. Contact Cathy Cottrill at 213-6031 or by e-mail at cccottrill@bonitanews.com. Her fax number is 213-6099.