 |
Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
March 7, 2003
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Southshore Tampa Bay Fishing Report March 07
March is here and that means that the prospects for another freeze are mercifully over. This was the toughest winter I’ve yet seen on Tampa Bay but all it took was a few warm days for local fishing to turn on.
Capt. Chet Jennings of Balm says the snook have yet to really fire it up, but he’s catching a keeper snook on almost every trip. Capt. Billy Nobles of Ruskin is also fishing out of Shell Point Bait and Tackle and he is reporting good fishing for snook. Both captains report plenty of bait around the mouth of the Little Manatee River.
I got out with clients last week and couldn’t do much with snook, but we did find a huge school of big jacks and played with those fish for a couple of hours. The biggest fish we put on the boat was 34 inches, and that’s a lot of jack on any tackle. Unfortunately, a big dolphin keyed in on that worn out monster jack and proudly paraded it past the bow of the boat after finally running it down. We saw multiple schools of big jacks in shallow water over sandy bottom for better than two hours. Then the sea breeze kicked in and visibility dropped off.
I poled the edge of the grass line on the same flat and saw a few redfish in the middle of the slot, but we never got the good cast on them. There were still more jacks working the edge. This is the most jacks I have ever seen on a Tampa Bay flat.
Cobia hunting should be good in the coming weeks when the wind allows the necessary visibility. There are plenty of leftover fish around the power plant in Apollo Beach, and those fish will soon be moving onto the flats.
The Spanish mackerel are in and well up the bay. That means tarpon can’t be far behind. Only two weeks of winter left on the calendar, but in reality it’s already over, and not one minute too soon!
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
