Story tools: E-mail story | Printer-friendly | iPod friendly

What's Hot: Bait

By CHUCK CURRY (Contact)

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Let’s talk bait. Why? Because we haven’t in fishing’s "What’s Hot" column.

With that out of the way, what’s been hot on the water over the past week has been jigs, sand fleas and spoons as bait for pompano and mackeral, according to John Zukaitis of Bait N Wait on Fort Myers Beach.

"Fishing gets better as the water warms up," Zukaitis says.

With catches of sheepshead and others, primarily on shad-tail jigs, coming in over the past 10 days, the fishing outlook is turning to tarpon, snook and other fish that become more active as the water warms up.

The past week saw cool weather to start, then chamber of commerce-type conditions (lows in the 60s and highs in the 80s). The upcoming week through Wednesday will see more of the same, but current forecasts have a bigger chance of rain on Sunday or Monday.

On the fresh water side, Paula Stuller of Estero River Canoe & Tackle Outfitters says that fresh water shiners have been in demand because of the recent cool streak. Bass, a main target for many on the water, bite better in cooler temperatures, Stuller says.