Finding The Fish – Beginner Module

Hi Al. Fish will always be near where their food source is. For example, redfish prefer crustaceans, such as shrimp, crabs, and mollusks. To find these prey, it’s easiest to do it on a negative low tide. Look for wading birds on a flat. See what kind of birds are there. If there are roseate spoonbills, you’ll likely find redfish there when the tide comes back up. These birds get the color in their pink plumage from iodine that is in crustaceans. The more they eat, the more vibrant their color. Another indication of redfish is seeing mullet schools that jump. The bigger the mullet, the better. The redfish do not typically eat the big mullet but follow the schools of these fish that are milling around in the shallow seagrass beds. Mullet will kick up small baitfish and shrimp as they move through the grass, and the redfish will be close behind to feed on them.
Snook are not only structure-oriented fish but are also territorial ambush predators. They prefer to depend on moving water to bring forage to them. During the summer and warmer months, live baitfish like scaled sardines and glass minnows are two of their preferred meals. But they will eat others, like pinfish, grunts, and finger mullet. Key areas where snook hold in the summer months are points with submerged objects where they can get down current and sit in an eddy to wait for baitfish to come to them. Deeper water around bridges will hold big snook in the summer. Big fish here are lazy and will eat a dead bait before they chase a frisky live one. Cut mullet and ladyfish fished on the bottom work very well here as well as around dock lights in the passes with live ladyfish or mullet. Passes are prime locations. But in the winter, these temperature-sensitive fish will seek water temperatures in the low 70s, at a minimum. This means they will usually go up rivers that are spring-fed. Ground water temperature year around is 72 degrees in the springs, making it a perfect habitat for snook in the winter months, but because scaled sardines and other baitfish that they may eat at other times of the year move out into the Gulf in deeper depths to seek warmer temperatures, they will look for other forage, and shrimp are the primary source, along with glass minnows, that they will find in their winter haunts.
Tarpon are a late spring through late summer fish. Most are migratory, leaving the bays for deep waters in the Gulf on the West Coast at the end of summer. Later than that, you’ll typically find them in brackish water up creeks and rivers, and most will be juveniles under about 3 to 40 pounds. They typically show up around March, but this past year, fish were spotted off the beaches in late February. Migrating fish will stop at passes to feed, and some will stay until they prepare to move back into the Gulf to spawn, usually around June and July. The largest fish caught each year will be at this time, just before the spawning run into the Gulf. They may spend a few weeks out there spawning before they head back into the beaches and bays. You’ll find some moving up inside Tampa Bay and Boca Grande around August and move into the backwaters to feed. The upper bay bridges will hold big tarpon late in the summer and dead menhaden fished on the bottom are the preferred bait up in the bay when fished around these structures. Tarpon love crabs, jumbo shrimp, pinfish, cut ladyfish, and mullet. During April and May, on new and full moons in the late afternoon, falling tides, you’ll find tarpon lining up around passes to intercept pass crabs and small blue crabs to feed on. This will be a top bait to use at this time of the tide. On the incoming tides, I’ve seen threadfin herring outperform crabs. Around the full moon in June, shrimp in the Tampa Bay area will head out of the bays on the evening outgoing tide, and you’ll find tarpon in these areas feeding on shrimp that drift with the currents.
Good luck, and I hope this helps. This is mostly for West Central waters, so I hope it is what you’re looking for.
Capt. Ray Markham
http://www.CaptainRayMarkham.com