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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
December 26, 2004
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Poor weather has precluded much fishing activity on the Southshore flats of Tampa Bay for most of the past month. An extremely cold front passed through the bay a week before Christmas. Heavy rains all day Christmas day were followed by gale force winds.
Despite crummy conditions, anglers who got out on the rare nice days all caught fish. Capt. Chet Jennings reports hot fishing for trout in some of the deeper holes on the Southshore flats, but he’s been using an airboat to get into them on his Cast and Blast Charters. He said the fishing has been better than the duck hunting on most days.
There are good numbers of redfish around the passes into the mangroves, but extreme low tides and high winds have made them hard to get at.
Forecast for the coming week looks no better, with 15 to 20 knots daily for the next four or five days.
The shrimp supply began to suffer during the last severe cold front. One night, the shrimpers came up empty, and on the next few trips most of the shrimp were small. Baitfish are somewhere between scarce and non-existent.
Look forward to a few more weeks of tough weather, and then things should start to break. Trout Season will reopen on New Year’s Day, and by all accounts this will be a banner year for specs.
We’re going to run another tournament at Shell Point Bait and Tackle on Sunday, January 16 -- weather permitting. The Shiverin’ Sheepshead tournament will award 3 places for heaviest sheepshead. First place is a guided trip with Capt. Danny Guarino, Second place is a custom-built flats rod, and third place is a Daiwa spinning reel. As always a jambalaya feed will follow the weigh in. Call the shop for details at 813 641 3662, or visit the website at Tampabayfishingguide.com.
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