Fish St. George Island, Florida By John B. Spohrer, Jr. © August 1999   To Archive of Articles Dog Days Doldrums      Every summer the same question turns up in my mailbag: "Why don't fish bite when it gets hot?" The technical answer is shrouded in scientific mystery but the layman's translation is: They do.      In fact, fish "bite", meaning feed, more in hot months than most other times, they just don't eat at convenient times. Once the water temperature at night begins to stay in the predator fish's optimum range (around 80 degrees) then most of the action occurs in low light settings. Why? Because it's easier for the predator to get close to the prey.      Every predator has a "strike radius". When the prey gets within that distance, it is history. During bright daylight hours the forage fish can see the predators from a greater distance and can more easily maintain the separation, making it inefficient for the big fish to chase and eat them.      That leaves the angler two options: fish during low-light hours or target species that will feed during the day.      Low-light times offer insurmountable problems to many vacationing anglers. Getting up before the sun can mean fighting a fresh hangover. Fishing at night means cutting into cherished, buddy-bonding cocktail time. Sometimes fishing is unfair.      Fortunately there is hope for the summer-challenged angler in the form of two species that will not only bite in the heat but also hit better the hotter it gets. Here we're talking the "T" words: tarpon and trippletail.      August is the peak month for tarpon in these parts and the hotter it gets the more tarpon will abound. Although even the silver sides will bite better in early morning or at evening, they hit well enough during the day to give you a thrill you can share with envious drinking buddies.      West Pass, Indian Pass and the Gulf shoreline of St. Vincent's Island are the tarpon hot spots this year. Search for rolling or jumping fish and cast Long-A Bombers, big spoons or diving MirrOlures to them. In the passes free line large pinfish, big menhaden or full-grown mullet.      For the day angler who is looking for a great meal as well as a heart thumping battle, the trippletail is the ticket. These exotic but increasingly common summer visitors might be found close to any kind of structure in the bay. They are most common in St. Vincent's Sound where they hang around buoys, crab trap floats, channel markers and floating debris.      Use a live shrimp or a two-inch pinfish 24 inches under a popping cork with no weight. Approach the structure from an up-wind angle and float the bait as close to the structure as possible. Use fairly heavy line and react quickly to a strike or the fish will wrap you around the structure.      The next most frequent question I get is, "Where do you fish when it gets real hot?" The technical answer to that is even more complicated but it has to do with why bars are air-conditioned.   View Past Articles   |   Return to Top