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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
February 3, 2005
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Things have been pretty quiet on the Southshore flats this past week. Snook season reopened with a thud instead of a bang. Blame it on 60 degree water temperature.
I am seeing plenty of snook – they’re just not in the mood. I can say the same thing about redfish. On my last trip early this week, we saw hundreds of redfish schooled up on the flats, but they proved to be as stubborn as the snook. We threw RipTide jig heads tipped with root beer tails, which have been catching fish all winter, but never had so much as a tap. I also tried plastic crabs and plastic shrimp, also to no avail. Capt. Nick Winger said he worked the same school of fish with live greenbacks and select shrimp with the same result. I guess we just need the water temperature to rise a few degrees.
Out on the deep edge of the flats I found a big pod of sharks – mostly bonnetheads, but there were a few blacktips mixed in. We actually hooked a small blacktip on a chunk of treated squid wing, but I had rigged for bonnetheads with a jig, and the hook pulled on the first jump. Blacktips want a very sharp circle hook rigged on a wire leader. I like chemically sharpened 3/0 hooks on a short, stiff piece of wire. Blacktips are hard mouthed with row upon row of razor sharp teeth, and monofilament leaders will not put many fish in the boat. Bonnetheads are bottom feeders and do not require wire. In fact they seem to see well, and wire seems to deter strikes. Both fish are good fighters, and both eat well. The trick is to gut them immediately and get them in a bath of ice water.
I like to remove the skin, cut them into steaks, marinate them and cook them on a charcoal grill. Both fish are quite good.
Cold fronts and rain will dominate the fishing for the next few days, and a predicted drop in temperature will probably keep the bite to a minimum. But there are always exceptions, and you can’t catch ‘em sitting on the couch. Weather and tides aside, I fish when I can and make the best of it. There’s no such thing as a bad day of fishing.
I will host a bait catching seminar at Shell Point Bait and Tackle on Sunday, February 06 – covering cast net selection, net throwing techniques, net care and bait cycles. Visit my website at Tampabayfishingguide.com for more information.
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