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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
March 25, 2003
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Southshore Tampa Bay Fishing Report
The good news this week is that the snook have been biting on the Southshore of Tampa Bay. And it gets even better, because the bait is here in the bay, it’s been good sized, plentiful, and easy to catch. Virtually nobody at Shell Point Bait and Tackle has been talking about bait at the Skyway because there has been plenty of local bait for more than a month now.
I filled the live well on two throws yesterday, but an hour later my backup live well pump died. I had planned to do a little snook fishing at the beginning of the incoming tide, but with mostly dead and rapidly dying pilchards I decided to switch the focus to mackerel. For two hours we hooked good-sized mackerel pretty consistently on the gulf side of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, but never really got a hot bite started. I cut up quite a few baits and got a nice chum line going, but never saw a fish in it. Then as the wind began to pick up, it got a little bumpy, so I decided to run back north to get out of the out of the blow and up against some mangrove shoreline.
Redfish are another species that will readily eat a piece of cut bait. My tactic is to pole my skiff as shallow as I can get it and then start looking for fish. Soon as I see a couple of fish scooting out of the potholes, I put the Power Pole down, and put out some baits. The client asked why didn’t I just use a whole bait. My reasoning is that cut bait puts out more scent, and a redfish hunts mostly with his nose. In any event the ploy worked and we caught several nice reds, and missed a few more. I also spent some time looking for cobia on the flats, but between cloud cover and wind, the visibility was really tough, despite good water clarity.
Capt. Chet Jennings, Capt. Billy Nobles, and Capt. Woody Gore all reported hot fishing out of Shell Point Bait and Tackle for snook, redfish and trout this week
Shrimp supply continues to be good, but the size is starting to shrink already.
Capt. Chet Jennings and I were featured in the April issue of Salt Water Sportsman in an article about live bait fishing for snook. Chet and I will also be hosting another flats fishing school on April 19 at the NOAA Weather Station and USF Fish Hatchery on 24th St. SE in Ruskin. Cost of the class is $40 per person and it runs about four hours. One angler who took the last course told me he took eight pages of notes. We cover flats fishing season by season, species by species, as well as important topics such as live bait, cut bait, bait wells, cast nets, boats, boat position and wading. Advance registration is requested. Call the bait shop during the day at (813) 641-3662, or my home phone in the evening (813) 641-7697 for information or to register for the April session of Southshore Flats Fishing School.
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