Lots of bait but no big fish action

[innovationonline]

Went to the North Pier on Sunday and to the South Pier today (Tuesday). There was bait aplenty (pins) but we were totally shut out today in our quest for grouper and other delights.

Fished with a variety of baits, mostly on the bottom...cut pins, live pins, squid and shrimp. Not even so much as a sheepshead or grunt of keeper size today, and certainly no grouper seen anywhere near us.

I was told by a pier regular that they were pulling in Spanish mackerel further up the pier (nearer to land). But no such luck for us.

Beautiful day, though.

[goindeep]

Innovationonline

Im not sure if anyone has said this yet, but welcome to the Skyway Pier forum! This place has been slow lately, but when the action picks up, so will the posts.

Thanks for the report, and please keep the comin!! Alot of the regulars should start postin reports soon (hopefully) now that the holidays are just about wrapped up.

So give us a little background on yourself. Where do you live, whats your fishing background, what do you like to fish for most, etc....theres lots of cool peeps on this forum, and Im sure youll eventually meet and fish with a bunch of em....

Myself, Im in Lakeland, Im the forum moderator (I set this site up when the original Skyway Piers forum lost its funding and shut down in April '08), but have only been saltwater fishing since Oct '07...thanks to guys on here like SkyJay, trucky, Ripnlips, Dive2cfish, fishonfishoff, filletnrelease, (and many more), Ive learned a crapload and do pretty well when I actually get to fish...

Im lookin forward to gettin back out there in the next week or so (ALLEY CREW HOLLA!) and seein if I cant put somethin in the box.

Fish on!

[innovationonline]

Hi Goindeep, and thanks for the warm welcome. I actually used this forum (or something very similar) in the past. But I'm afraid it was the one you said shut down. So I had to sign up for a new ID last week.

I'm from Ohio and was visiting family in Lakeland for the Christmas holiday. We usually try to get to the piers a few times when I visit, weather permitting. We've been fishing the Skyway for about 5 years now. Strangely, my first trip out was my most successful. It was in the days following a hurricane in 2004 (late September, early October if I remember right). When we got out to the piers the action was amazing. We were catching fish almost as fast as we could cast! Lots of catfish, shark, grouper, flounder, snapper, etc. We just cut up pins and tossed them out and the fish couldn't get enough.

Since then, my luck has been spotty at best. I usually get to the piers twice a year (Christmas and Spring, sometimes fall). I've caught a few grouper here and there and had a mackerel or two sheer off my line, but I've been rather disappointed the last 2 years.

Has there been a general decline in fish stocks in the Bay in recent years or am I possibly coming on the wrong days or fishing in the wrong ways? I've tried live bait, cut bait, spoons, floating bait, bottom fishing and my luck hasn't been good.

Anyway, I don't mean to sound negative. I love Florida fishing. It beats Ohio fishing any day, especially when it's 10 degrees in Ohio and 70 degrees in Fla.

I also recently started a small web site related to the Piers but it will be a few months before it is fully functional. Don't worry, I don't have a competing forum :-)