When it comes to fishing, anglers can hit grand slams along Florida's West Coast by hooking up with snook, redfish, spotted seatrout, and either permit or cobia. Those three species of fish are the most common and perhaps most consistently pursued ones in Florida's inshore waters. They alone are what many consider a slam of their own.

These inshore slams however are, of course, one fish short of being grand, aren't they? No matter what the season, you'll need to pick another species to add to these, if you're going to do it right. Then again, that fourth species can be at least half the fun.

Let's start with some brief ideas on how to tackle snook, redfish, and seatrout. One great thing about pursuing these fish is that they share nearly the same real estate with each other. Once you find one of them, you know the others aren't too far away. It's not at all infrequent here to catch all three species within casting distance of one another. In fact, if you work the deeper holes toward the bottom of any low tide in the minus range, it will happen more often than not, as the fish from adjacent flats are forced by the dropping water to seek the shelter of the deeper holes.

As we target snook, reds, and trout in this area there are other common denominators as well. Look for decent tidal flow and variations in depth. Take some lively bait (either shiners or shrimp depending on the season), and you're nearly assured of getting these first three of the grand slam species.

First Base: Snook

Snook are without a doubt, both the most popular gamefish in Florida and our most tide dependent flats species. So plan your "slam" day accordingly to take advantage of the peak flow while in pursuit of snook. The snook's razor sharp gill plates, along with their well publicized ability to take your bait or plug and dash back to the protection of the mangrove roots or dock they reside by, make them a tremendous challenge to say, the least.

When I say, "dash," I mean dash. While snook don't have a reputation for long drag burning runs and stamina like redfish do, they will more often than not, absolutely clean your clock if you're not paying attention. It will take you at least twice as long to read this sentence, as it will take a big snook to inhale your bait and make the dash 20 yards back to his barnacle encrusted mangroves. Of course once he gets there the battle's over! In terms of how stout an outfit you should use in the snook part of your day, 10- to 12-pound tackle equipped with a 25- to 30-pound fluorocarbon bite tippet is just about perfect for the job at hand.

Around Second, Toward Third: Redfish and Seatrout Redfish and Seatrout can be a lot more tide tolerant than snook, so you can effectively target them as they mill about throughout most of your day. While you will certainly find redfish lying in the same swash channels and cuts that the snook are in, they will undoubtedly be far more numerous hanging around the sandy potholes so heavily frequented by spotted seatrout.

One of the most exciting ways to target both the redfish and trout up on our flats is to get out of the boat and wade to them. There is absolutely nowhere that I know of where you can be as close to major metropolitan areas and yet feel as close to nature as you can out wading on a glass calm flat.

Just pick almost any flat along Tampa Bay's southern shoreline or Sarasota Bay's eastern one, wade along with a bucket full of either shiners or shrimp and just cast to each sandy hole as it comes into range. Out on these wide open flats you are definitely in the land of "long" rods. Sure this is one of those personal preference kind of things, but if you want my advice on tackle selection, take the longest most sensitive spinning tackle you can find spooled with fresh eight-pound-test line.

As the fall progresses into winter we will be undoubtedly be throwing lighter and lighter baits, starting with relatively large shiners, progressing to the smaller ones, and ultimately onto shrimp. When I'm out on those flats, the additional casting distance I get with my nine-foot G. Loomis rods is an asset that I wouldn't be without.

Home Plate: Permit or Cobia

Now at this point in the day, we've already addressed the usual three species, but it takes four species to make a grand slam. If your timing is right, the good news here is that you can normally choose between permit and cobia as a fourth target. Even better news is that both of them are sightcasting type of targets. Sure sightcasting to fish is normally no more productive than blindcasting, but I can tell you firsthand that the added adrenaline rush involved in it is just out of this world.

If the water temps are at 70 or better in along west central Florida, it means the permit are here. Now early and late in the season you will find them on nearshore structure and not on the flats like they are during summer months. But then again, that's okay, as these reefs and wrecks not only yield days of 20 or more permit with alarming frequency, they also provide anglers with shots at fish that are in the 25- to 40-pound class.

If you are serious about potential permit world records, bring your fly rod--this is a great place to pursue them. If you're after your permit on flats, 12-pound spinning tackle or 9- to 10-weight fly tackle will do, but if you are after them where the safety of a wreck or reef is nearby, you will need the best 20-pound tarpon tackle or 12-weight fly tackle to have a fighting chance at all! These fish will pull harder on a pound for pound basis, than almost any other fish in the sea.

Cobia

Certainly not your last option for a fourth species, cobia can without a doubt be a highly exciting one. The beauty of the cobia run, especially in spring along the entire Gulf coast, is that it gives us the opportunity to mix our fishing day with a little bit of hunting.

A good afternoon of cobia fishing can often result in only a few casts with your favorite 12-pound outfit, but if you utilize some stealth on flats covered in crystal clear water, it'll only take a few casts to get into some incredible action.

Cobia aren't known as fussy when they're in shallow water, so almost any type of bait, jig, or plug can be effective. If your timing is right, all you'll need to do is to get yourself onto the flats adjacent to Tampa Bay and start looking for life. Whether that life comes in the form of stingrays shuffling about, or manatees slowing traversing the flats, it doesn't really matter; either one will almost always have a cobia or two following close behind.

Cobia are not just easy to spot in these springtime waters, they are there to eat. Just pole yourself close enough, or utilize an electric trolling motor to get into casting range, and you're gonna get hooked up!

Fishing in and around Tampa Bay doesn't have to be very technical, and it is all very accessible if you have a shallow draft boat, but if you're looking for a specialist to help you along your way, consider the equipment that they use very carefully. The best Guides I know in the Tampa Bay area both G. Loomis endorsed and believe in visibility as a key ingredient in their success. Each of them employs a state of the art tower boat to help insure their success. If you are looking for a high level of expertise give one of them a call.

Captain Jason Ramsey
http://fishtheflats.com
(941) 722-1645
e-mail: [email protected]

Captain Mark Rankin
(941) 723-7547