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Kingfish, Cobia Are Arriving Daily

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2008

Wow, where to begin. So many tales, so little space.

First up: kingfish. Word has it that they are starting to show up in good numbers. The early hot areas have been Clearwater Hard Bottom, Pass-a-Grille Pass Hard Bottom and around the Egmont Channel.

Glen Taylor reports catching some decent-sized kings in Egmont Channel between buoys 7 and 8 and 11 and 12. Mixed in with the kingfish where some schools of cobia. Taylor said he would be trolling for kings, then would spot a cobia or two on the surface.

As soon as he would spot them, he would toss a live bait in the cobia's direction, wait for the thump, set the hook and then after a short battle, he would boat either a gag grouper — that's right, a gag grouper — or a cobia.

He stated that it happened that way a couple of times. Kingfish, cobia and gag grouper all in the same area, now that's fall fishing.

Out a bit deeper, we found a hot snapper bite in 75 to 100 feet southwest of the Whistler Buoy. We caught mangrove, yellowtail, lane, vermilion and a bunch of out-of-season red snapper.

The red grouper where also chewing in and around these same depths. The gags are moving in closer best depth has been around the 80- to 100-foot mark. The best areas have been anywhere from Clearwater northward.

Captain Randy Rochelle runs the "Gotta Go" out of St. Petersburg, Florida and can be reached at (727) 365-3218 or go to www.islandercharters.net.

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