Pier 60 Fishing Report

Cleaning a mess winter whiting and silver perch

Fishing on Pier 60 in January was productive for anglers going out between cold fronts. After the fronts come through, the weather moderates and some fishing success was possible. Both regulars and visitors caught fish, with plenty of variety of species available.

Silver Perch, also known as Butterfish, have been taken day and night by anglers using a multiple hook rig and small pieces of shrimp. Butterfish are a small but tasty fish.

Mike with a large Winter Whiting

Whiting have been showing up in decent numbers, and the size of the fish has increased all month. The biggest Whiting are colored up, with a tannish mottled pattern on the larger fish. These fish are large enough to fillet and are some of the finest-tasting fish anywhere. The Whiting have been caught mostly in the evenings, and both squid and shrimp have been working for them.

Silver or Sand Sea Trout have just started biting in the late afternoons, and into the evening. Larger ones look much like the Spotted Trout, minus the spots. They have been biting on shrimp, both live and fresh-cut, or a grubtail.

Jerry from Tampa with a nice Spotted Trout

Spotted Sea Trout have been hitting live shrimp and grubtail lures tipped with a bit of fresh shrimp. Some days there are quite a few Trout under the legal size of 15 inches, but the fish are getting larger as the waters warm and water clears between fronts.

Sheepshead are hanging around, legal-sized fish should be here when we see the water temps warm into the 60’s. We carry frozen Fiddler Crabs and Sand Fleas to catch these Striped crab-eaters. The Sheepshead has a bit of a “nutty” taste, and also reminds some as tasting like Lobster. It takes the right bait, tackle, rigging and the feel to capture this worthy opponent.

Hardhead Catfish somehow seem to show up only when the water is roiled up. Beware the spines.

Capt'n Tom

A few BonnetHead Sharks were caught and released lately. Their appearance seems to herald an influx of migrating species.

We also saw some StingRays, Puffer-fish, and Sea Robin caught and released. Both Manatee and Loggerhead Sea Turtles were spotted around the pier this month, and spring is around the corner. We’ll have a few more fronts come through, but the warming trend is inevitable.

Good Luck Fishing!

Capt'nTom

The second half of January saw some good fishing on Pier 60. As long as the wind was not howling right before the arrival of the cold fronts, or during some of the torrential rains we had in the past week or so, fishermen were able to do well after sundown. Lots of good-sized Whiting were caught on cut squid, and many nights saw up to 35 fish per angler. Most of the Whiting were over 12 inches in length, and a few nights the fish averaged 16 inches, with a couple of fish measuring 18 inches!
There were also a fair number of Sand Seatrout and Spotted Seatrout taken at night on live shrimp. Small Silver Trout were also caught on cut bait.

Anglers armed with small hooks and cut shrimp or small crabs were able to catch quite a few Sheepshead, but not as many or as large as a few weeks ago.
Small Blacktip Sharks have shown up in the past few days, and a 3-foot Lemon Shark was caught and released.

Good Luck Fishing!

Alia Rodgers and Adriana Grussing proudly display Whiting and Gag Grouper catches from pier 60.

Alia Rodgers with a nice Whiting

Adriana Grussing of Lakeland, Fl. with a Gag Grouper

Spanish Mackerel

December was a great month to fish on Pier 60.

On the sunny warm days, the Spanish Mackerel were around, hitting on small Glass Minnows, Shrimp, small live Sardines, and live shrimp. Larger sabiki rigs also induced flurries of action.
A few Gag Grouper were caught and released, but no keepers.

At night, Silver Trout, Whiting, and Sand Seatrout were caught, with some fishermen taking home up to 25 assorted fish.

There were a variety of species, including Lane Snapper, Key West Grunt, Black Seabass, Searobin, Sheepshead, and Jack Crevalle.

The water remained clear most of the time, but when the winds churned the waves into froth, water visibility quickly deteriorated, and it takes a few days of clear calm weather to bring the water visibility back.

It seems that the baitfishes are still around, and on some days the water was dark with schools of fish. The larger predatory fish attacked from below, while the Pelicans and other diving birds feasted from above.

Snook have moved inside the passes into warmer areas, creeks cuts, and deep canals. It will take a sustained stretch of warm weather to entice them back to the Pier area.

A few nice stringers of Sheepshead were taken, and the fish were fat and healthy, averaging about 3 pounds each.