Feature Fish Tails

Reel-Addiction-Sportfishing
We have a Real Addiction
in taking you fishing

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Feature Fish Tails

Gone Fishing
with
Reel Addiction

By Gary Anderson

Captain Mike Zgrabik

The Sun Coast area of Venice, Florida is blessed with a multitude of fishing opportunities bound to satisfy anyone from the novice to seasoned professional anglers. Reel Addiction Sportfishing Charters, is a full service fishing guide operation catering to most any skill level and fishing interest on inshore Florida waters. While specializing in shallow water sight fishing with light spinning gear, they also offer conventional tackle fishing on the flats as well as bay fishing, surf fishing and kayak trips. Each Florida fishing adventure is planned with the customers' abilities, skill level and wishes in mind. You aren't just going fishing with Captain Mike Zgrabik; the Captain is taking you fishing. It's your trip; give him a chance to show what this beautiful area of Florida has to offer.

Captain Mike Zgrabik
Fish'n
Reel Addiction!

On a recent outing aboard Reel Addiction, editor of Inshore Florida, Gary Anderson, avid semipro angler Barry Morgan and Captain Mike ventured out to work the flats and shoals off Blackburn Bay and the Madre of Casey Key. Arriving at Casey Key boat ramp a little past not too much awake, we motored up and made a quick stop across the ditch and under Albee Bridge at Dockside Store to pick up around eight dozen live shrimp. Talking with Nicole Coudal, one of the owners, I found out the skinny on what’s biting where and we compared stories as to my recent Pro-staff report found on the Inshore Florida website. She pretty much summed up what I reported yesterday morning, Friday the 28^th, 2007 on fish tales and such. Her husband, co-owner of Dockside and a fantastic marine artist with his works found at his gallery, Brendan Gallery, was not in at the time so we purchased our bait and told her we would be back in the afternoon for more and maybe see Brendan. Prior to our departure, Nicole gave me a packet of pinch weights by D.O.A. to see if I liked them and if they worked as well as advertised. I thanked her and put them in my pocket with a wave, Mike pointed the bow north and we idled off as our trip now begins. Barry alias YMCA or Goliath man Morgan rigged his Stratos with sixty pound leader in about two feet in length with a number 2 Owner bait hook attached to a barrel swivel, for weight and twist prevention. I was rigging my Pfluger combo with fifty pound leader, a number 1 Eagle Claw gold wide gap circle hook under a slip bobber, while Mike was pre-rigged with thirty pound leader under his favorite alarm the Cajun bobber. A quick stop off one of the bird islands, which parallel the ICW and Barry, netted us up a mess of greenies to go with the shrimp. The game plan was to sight for tailers, moving bait pods and work the mangroves up to our ending point, the swing bridge of Blackburn point.

Barry Castnets Bait

The ICW of Snook Alley and north along the docks that dot the channel is famed for her, snook fishery, but sow trout and abundant ankle-deep tailing reds, some think, not so! When most folks hear we are catching Rats to Lunkers, Tarpon to Cobia and sow trout you generally only see mounted on a wall, I get a number of odd looks and/or outright guffaws. Yeah, most of these naysayer’s are from the ‘Hot Spots’ here in Florida, but the nay saying goes out the window upon their first blow-up on a live free lined bait or a glance at the spotted-tail flash nailing a Inshore Florida custom “FishStick” or Heddon Spook.

Here along the upper reaches of Snook Alley to Blackburn Point, the shorelines are punctuated with stands of red and black mangroves skinny, skinny water and isolated back lakes. With mild south-Florida winters, the Madre of Casey Key, to which I call it, is ripe for an awesome, and heretofore, secret Redfish/Weakfish fishery and for the extra ump, it fairs well for Flounder too, in the winter months along the sides of the channels as well the bars spotted between the grassy flats in the skinny waters. Redfish and Trout are at home here, given the abundance of docks, mangroves and sea grass flats in proximity to deep waters of the Intracoastal Waterway. The Venice Inlet, Snook Alley and the drop-offs along the thousands of oyster beds along the sides of the channel to both sides where these fish can hunker during cold snaps, not to mention the boat slips and canals are an angler’s heaven.

Barry working live bait

Summer reds and weakfish (trout) like to stalk the flats right alongside our famed Florida Snook. When poling exposed shorelines looking for tailing reds, popping trout or darting snook, look for pods of exploding bait along exposed shorelines close to deep water. Most commonly, I find that the biggest fish are the lone wolves, by themselves, away from the schools. I like to look for these solo monsters dorsaling, that is, grubbing with their backs partially exposed. Large Snook, Bull Reds and lunker trout behaving like this in extreme shallow waters and can be quite receptive to a tipped jig, a D.O.A. or on of many a jerk bait.

But as Fall is dieing out to an approaching winter, Barry, Captain Mike and I will change our tactics and fish the deeper waters that these monsters hunker in when the temperatures plummet or as in our case, an approaching cold front arrives tomorrow. Fish seem to know of an approaching front due to the pressure change or drop of the barometer. These pressure changes will keep most of your fish out of the shallowest of waters, turning our attention to the drop-offs and holes where we will fish slow and deep.

In winter, Redfish and trout, like snook like to hang out in the deeper waters in search of ledges, barriers and trenches where they can find thermo clines, where the water typically is a few degrees warmer than the surface. As Mike found a great spot, Barry free lined out a live shrimp and before one could say licitly split, he had the first fish, a nice out of season trout. Again, Barry tossed another shrimp out and wham bam he hooked it up with a rat red. He only needed one more for a Florida slam, a snook, while Captain Mike and I were still trying to give away our first bait. “It is all in the presentation”, Barry blurted out, as I gave him a smike and the captain waved with “yeah, yeah.” But he was right, as I cut off my popper and too free lined a shrimp. Casting right up into the mangroves, I had the perfect spot, except I was “Up” in the tree about six inches over the water, “great cast Gary” Barry said as I to somewhat waved with my finger. Pull, pop, time to re-rig again. We won’t tell you about the next two leaders I left in the mangroves before I decided t to try out that D.O.A. pinch weights Nicole told me to try. I figured maybe I need more weight to have better control of the pitched line. Mean while, both Mike and Barry were busily feeding the fish with cast out, hook it up and release it back. Hmm, must be one of those days. I am still rigging up. I’m fishing and their catching; now I know the difference!

Gary Anderson's Weakfish
(Trout)

Those pinch weights worked really well. They are weed less, reusable, improves your casting distance and look to fit on any offset hook. Pinch it on, use it and remove it when done. When it is needed again, just pinch it back on the hook, I really like this idea. The weight can be made lighter just by bending the weight at on of its groves or cut-outs and breaking it off at the bend. I’ll bet they work great on lures too for adjusting either a sink or wobble to a preferred position and when I used it on a Gotcha, that is exactly what it did as I hooked it up on a puffer fish. Oh, well, I’m in the game now! We fished most of the morning around the points of the Madre at Casey and finished on a spot near the ramp where Captain Mike caught a nice plate for supper; flounder. Overall, it was a great day out on the water with all of us catching more than just fishing. Trout, Redfish, Lizard Fish, Puffer Fish, Jacks, Pinfish and a Flounder. Oh yeah, Captain mike hooked into a couple of slimy oyster clumps too. Great day, great fun and great friends. Till next time…

”FISH ON!”

Rat Red