The water has cooled down with the recent fronts in the Clearwater/Stpete FL. Bait has been plentiful, with scaled sardines, thread-fin, shad, lady-fish and blue runners. This has started the near shore to explode with Spanish Mackerel, and their big brother, the King Mackerel.
For the King-fish there is no bait to big like mackerel, lady fish, or mullet to catch that big smoker
The back water bite has been getting better Indian rocks to Dunedin. Red-fish are getting to be in good numbers with the cooler water. For the artificial enthusiast, top water bite will help you locate these bruisers, as well as Speckled Trout. These fish will often be together with the mullet schools. With the extreme low tides, you can find the Reds tailing on scattered turtle grass or around pot holes. For these conditions, live shrimp, cut bait and soft plastics will be your ideal baits.
With higher tides, concentrate on points, oyster bars and spoil islands. Make sure there are mullet in these areas, because the Red-fish and Speckled Trout will be there also. The best bait to use now is whitebait, silver dollar size pin-fish and cut-bait. Your leader should be 2-3 ft. of 20 to 30lb fluorocarbon, with a 3-4 o/t light style circle hook. As for the fly enthusiast, all species can be caught