Kingfish have been spotty this week. A few have been caught but not consistently. Reports say lots of kingfish are to the north of Tampa Bay. The passing cold front should push them our way. Maximo Marina reports anglers trolling spoons behind planers have been catching nice kings around the Egmont ship channel. When the kings are scattered trolling spoons lets you cover more ground because you are trolling faster than when using live bait.
Capt. Eddie Herrington caught a 22 pound kingfish off the Redington Pier using a legal size Spanish mackerel for bait. Other anglers are also scoring with kings off the pier using big greenbacks and ladyfish for bait.
I filmed an episode of “Fishing with Bill Miller” this week with Eric Bachnik of MirrOlure and we had a terrific morning throwing top water lures. Using a red and white Pro Dog and the green and silver Mirromullet, Bachnik and I caught redfish to 35 inches, speckled trout to 24 inches and had lots of other action on smaller snook, reds, trout, bluefish, ladyfish and jack crevalles.
The Skyway fishing pier reports lots of bait at the pier which means lots of action. Spanish mackerel, a few king mackerel, little tunny’s, jacks and lady fish are all slamming live bait drifted with the tide under a float.
Try vertical jigging around the pilings for pompano, snapper, grunts and other piling huggers.
MacRae’s of Homosassa says the speckled trout catching is a little off but the redfish are on fire. Look for the reds at the mouths of the creeks and there are still some around St. Martin’s Keys.