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Buoys Marking The Spots

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By FRANK SARGEANT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 27, 2008

They couldn't make it any more obvious.

While channel markers, buoys and range markers are not intended to guide anglers to their quarry, the huge, brightly colored navigation aids are always a good place to start looking for kingfish, Spanish mackerel, blues, bonito, cobia or tripletail, to say nothing of virtually every type of offshore baitfish that swims in the Gulf of Mexico.

On Tampa Bay, the majority of the markers designate the dredged shipping channel, more than 40 feet deep, where the big freighters and cruise ships pass daily through the otherwise shallow waters of the Bay.

The markers are placed on either side of the channel, with red markers to be kept on the right as the ship returns to port, green on the left. Range markers, typically tall tripod affairs, are placed well outside the channel and are used in pairs to allow a ship to line up with a channel where a bend might otherwise put them out of the cut.

The shadow and the structure created by the markers and their cables, pilings and anchoring systems form a natural cover for baitfish, and the bait attracts gamefish. Or sometimes, the gamefish attract bigger gamefish.

Last summer, John Paiva of Tampa caught a king mackerel almost five feet long while fishing near markers north of Port Manatee for Spanish mackerel. The lunker kingfish was likely eating the mackerel, but homed in on Paiva's block of fish chum, and then ate a free-lined live sardine.

Baitfish Galore

Threadfins are the most common baitfish around most channel markers inside Tampa Bay, but scaled sardines sometimes mix with them. Moving beyond Egmont Key toward the open Gulf, blue runners enter the mix as well. It's not uncommon to see tens of thousands of baitfish swarming on the downcurrent side of any large marker during strong tide flows.

It's not legal to tie up to any navigation marker, but you can readily fish them by anchoring on the off-channel side of the structure. Never anchor in the channel itself; ships pass there day and night, and cannot maneuver to avoid you. If they leave the cut, they run aground. And some take several miles to stop.

The idea is to drop your anchor well uptide of the marker, then let the boat drift back until you're slightly below it. That's where the bait and fish are likely to be.

Spanish are probably the most common species around the markers, year-round. The classic tactic is to carry along a frozen block of ground-up baitfish and hang it off the stern in a mesh bag to chum them in. Some anglers castnet or sabiki some fresh baits right off the marker, then snip these up to add fresh blood to the chum line. Live threads or sardines are then nose-hooked and drifted back in the oil slick behind the marker.

If you're specifically after a kingfish, it might pay to jig up a large blue runner from the marker and rig it with a nose hook and a second "stinger" hook in the back on No. 6 wire. Baits 10 inches and up work best for big kings. Again, plenty of chum helps lure them in close.

Get Hooked On Big Cobia

Cobia also love markers, particularly tripod range markers, and you can often see them swimming just under the surface around the structures. Presenting a live pinfish or sardine on a heavy spinning rig usually does the job. They also readily take black plastic eel imitations and large plastic shrimp, among other artificials. Cast the bait uptide of the fish and let the current carry it to them. Cobia more than 40 pounds are caught regularly this way.

Tripletail, more common in the cooler months, also hang just at the surface around the buoys. They like live killifish, baby pinfish and live shrimp, among other offerings. They're not particularly aggressive feeders; you usually have to ease into range and make an accurate cast, placing the bait within three feet of their nose, to draw a bite. Tripletails on our coast average around 5 pounds, but 10- to 12-pounders are taken occasionally.

While the marker is an angler's friend when it comes to locating fish, it can become his enemy when one is hooked. Fish frequently run around the anchor cable or the pilings and cut the line. Some who fish the markers regularly attach a large float to their anchor line, and when a fish is hooked, they uncleat the line and toss it and the float overboard, letting the boat drift quickly away from the structure. The fish is then fought in open water. Afterward, the skipper returns, picks up the float and reattaches the anchor line to the boat.

To be sure, navigation markers are not exactly the fabled secret spots most anglers dream of, but they consistently provide memorable fishing for a wide variety of species. And they're definitely easy to find.

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