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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
June 17, 2003
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Southshore Tampa Bay Fishing Report
Fishing on the Southshore of Tampa Bay has been productive, despite some inclement weather. Capt. Nick Winger and Capt. Chet Jennings continue to hook tarpon inside the bay and the fish have been running around a hundred pounds.
Jim Holton won The One Lure Wade Fish Invitational Soiree last Wednesday evening with an 8.2 pound snook caught on his first cast. Jim took a header getting off the boat, picked himself up and dried off then landed the biggest snook of the evening to best eight other anglers. The next soiree is scheduled for June 25. Larry Malinoski also had a stellar night of wade fishing, releasing five snook caught on Capt. Mike’s white spoon.
The redfish bite has been good all along the Southshore flats from the Alafia River to Joe Island. I’ve had my best luck on the later stages of a rising tide fishing the shadow line along the mangroves with live pinfish. Cut threadfin herring is also a good summer redfish bait. I like to fish half-inch chunks on RipTide jig heads. The jig is just there for weight and casting accuracy. I simply put the bait into the deepest pocket of water in the shade of the mangroves and let it sit. Throw out a few handfuls of cut bait to get ‘em going and then hang on. Here I tackle up with 12-pound line and 60-pound leaders, because jacking the big reds out of the root structure requires extra muscle and resistance to abrasion.
I have also had good luck on redfish with 7MR Mirrolures in gold. Bryan Watts turned me on to this lure years ago, and it’s deadly on reds. I fish the gold in the murky water of backcountry potholes, and the brighter Chartreuse and gold in clear water.
My last trip to the Port Manatee Spoil Island turned out to be something of an adventure.
We were seeing lots of big snook close to shore where we were anchored 60 feet off the west tip of the Island when a ship and a tug motored into the port. The bite had been good, and we had landed seven snook in short order. Our attention was focused on the snook that were busting baits along the shoreline. Suddenly the current picked up speed and the anchor pulled. By the time I turned around to see what was going on, the first wave of the ship’s wake hit the stern, washing one angler overboard. The second wave knocked me off my feet and filled the cockpit with water as I scrambled to stow my camera gear. The third and fourth waves threw the boat up on the rocky shore, leaving it high and dry, which was a good thing, because the hull was full of water.
20 minutes it took to drain the boat before we could push it back in the water. I saved my cameras, but my tackle box got flooded and its contents will soon be a pile of rusty junk.
There was another boat nearby with three anglers who saw our boat get swamped and thrown ashore, and a man washed overboard. They were less than fifty yards away, but never so much as asked if we were all right, no less offer assistance. They just kept on fishing. I don’t know who they were, but I sure wouldn’t want to share a foxhole with them.
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