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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
November 16, 2004
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Southshore Tampa Bay Report
The winds have been up for a couple of weeks, and the first cold fronts have begun to sweep across the bay. This offers a great opportunity for some transitional fishing. Snook are making their way into winter quarters, and the bite has been good. There is finally some decent sized bait on the marks, and it is ever present around the fishing piers at the mouth of the bay. There is still a lot of little bait mixed in, and we are still throwing quarter inch nets.
Fishing in the Little Manatee River has been hot. Capt. Danny Guarino and I hosted a group from Hungry Howies last Sunday. We caught snook, redfish, mangrove snapper, ladyfish, and more than 50 jack crevalles.
Wind has precluded sight fishing for cobia, but I did see one in back of the bait shop last week traveling with a large stingray.
I am seeing more flounder on the cleaning table at the shop this year than I can ever remember. These are generally incidental catches made while fishing for redfish and snook. But if you would target flounder, try fishing live chubs in sandy potholes on the flats. If there is a better flounder bait, I don’t know about it. I like to drag the bait through the holes on RipTide’s excellent quarter ounce jig head.
The great redfish bite looks like it will last right through the winter months as it did last year. There are plenty of slot-sized fish around, but I’m also seeing more small redfish than I ever have in years past. That’s a good thing.
The shrimp supply has been excellent. We are getting lots of large shrimp in each order, and even a few dozen jumbos and selects. Pinfish are still on the flats, and there is some decent sized white bait on the range markers in the middle of the bay.
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