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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
January 4, 2005
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
A break in the weather brought anglers out in great numbers on the Southshore flats, and the hot ticket seems to be trout. Most anglers targeting trout did well. Capt. Chet Jennings had five keepers on one of his Cast and Blast trips, but said the duck hunting wasn’t so hot.
I poled the flats for redfish last week and had no trouble finding plenty of big fish, but getting them to hit was something else. I spent one day scouting with Capt. Billy Jordan and we saw quite a few pods of big fish, but they were finicky in the extreme. My go to bait in this situation is RipTide’s two inch crab, but the fish ran from every artificial we threw at them.
“No problem,” I told Billy. “Tomorrow I’ll come back at ‘em with select shrimp.”
And the next day I did just that. With clients Bill Barnes and Ed Patrick – both of Sun City. I went back after those same redfish with a live well full of large shrimp. Confident this would do the trick, I mounted the poling platform and humped the skiff over the first sandbar, scraping bottom all the way until I got into the trough. Winter redfish like it shallow – I usually look for them in water less than 18 inches deep. And sure enough, the fish were exactly where I left them the day before. We pitched a few live shrimp in front of an approaching pod, and three fish crept up on the shrimp, nosed up to them and then scampered off. So much for the live bait theory. For the rest of the day we pitched everything in the box at them. Ed finally hooked up with a fish late in the afternoon on a DOA shrimp. My guess is that the water is still a tad too cold to get the bite going.
Yesterday I had another trip and did a little better. We hooked two fish on RipTide jigs with motor oil colored tails, but we cast at hundreds. The bite was a little better, but it’s still not there. I resorted to fishing with straight eight-pound monofilament with no leader before finally getting a strike.
Anglers are still coming in with sheepshead, a winter staple on Tampa Bay. And Shell Point Bait and Tackle is going to run the first annual Shiverin’ Sheepshead tournament on January 16. Entry fee is $25 for adults, $10 for kids 16 & under. Prizes for three heavies sheepshead, and a free jambalaya feed after the weigh in. BYOB. Call the shop for details or directions (813) 641-3662. Captain’s meeting at 10:00 am at the shop – you may register then or anytime between now and then.
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