Hot, Wet, and Windy
Capt. Fred Everson
August 18, 2008
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Wet weather, high winds, and thunderstorms continue to make summer fishing on Tampa Bay an iffy proposition. I got my skiff off the lift on Monday with light winds, but the water clarity was poor. It wasn't tea colored; it looked more like espresso. Despite lousy visibility I did find four cobia on different range markers, but could not get them to eat anything. I even had a live threadfin wiggle his tail right in front of a big ling's nose, but he showed no interest in the live bait. One small fish followed a bait back to the boat and boiled on it, but never touched it. Two other fish came off the mark for a close look at the boat, but they would have nothing to do with live bait or artificials. We did catch a single 24-inch mackerel and a nine-pound bonnethead on cut bait, but that was our day.
We tried the mangrove shoreline between Apollo Beach and the Simmons Park boat ramp for redfish and snook, but never got the first hit – not even a catfish. The one bright spot of the day was that catching bait was easy. One throw of the net in Bahia Beach Basin caught enough threadfins and pinfish to last us all day.
The rest of the week it rained, the wind blew, with regular thunder and lightning. Our summer woes continue. On Friday I fished the rock piles off the ship channel near Port Manatee with Capt. Rick Bollinger and owner of Fishhawk Charters Derek Fingers of Lithia and his friend Brian Bargen. Using live shrimp we caught a cooler full of big mangrove snapper, a couple of grunts and one very big flounder. The bite was as good as I've seen it in weeks, especianlly a few hours ahead of the full moon.
Winds are supposed to stay down for the next few days with good falling tides in the afternoon. That could change by Tuesday if Tropical Storm Fay comes this way. It certainly bears watching.
Join Captain Fred at Skipper's Smokehouse for an evening of fishing instruction at his inshore fishing class on Tuesday, Sept. 09 at 7:00 PM.
Cost of the course is $25 and includes a copy of the captain's latest book, Fish the Flats.
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