Sports
Target Spanish Mackerel, Bonito, Off Beaches
Capt. Scott Moore, along with other local captains, let Bradenton-anglers know where they should be throwing lines in area waters.
Capt. Scott Moore on Holmes Beach reported flounder are all over the local bays on sand-shell bottoms and cobia can be caught on the local range markers (he reported catching one this week on a marker at the Skyway shipping channel).
But the fast action is off the beaches, where Spanish mackerel are solid up and down the coast, along with bonito and kingfish.
The bait, needless to say, is thick.
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“It’s the most bait I’ve ever seen with the thread fins and Spanish sardines,” Moore said “All over the grass flats, you seen them flashing everywhere.”
Moore, as well as Capt. Ryan Rolland of Outriggers Sportfishing Charters, said inshore and nearshore gag grouper fishing isn’t as good as it is offshore.
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Gag grouper season opened Sept. 16.
“The water temperature’s still warm and those fish haven’t moved in,” Rolland said. “I think it’s better in 100 feet and beyond.”
In freshwater, Mark Stukey of said the Upper Manatee River has been good for bluegill, and some big striped bass were reported at Rye Bridge. Speckled perch are not yet thick in the river.
