 |
Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
February 18, 2005
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing has been nothing but tough, even with mild weather and lighter than usual winds. I’ve been fishing nothing but artificials, and we’ve caught a few snook and redfish, but for the most part they just aren’t feeding. The one redfish I caught this week ate a RipTide plastic shrimp, but we cast to a lot of fish to get that one. I cleaned it at the dock and it had absolutely nothing in it’s stomach. I suspect the fish are just not eating because the water temperature has stayed very cool – low 60’s for the most part.
The offshore guys have been doing better. Capt. Larry Malinoski has been pounding the grouper trolling Mirrolure deep diving plugs, and drifting RipTide crabs over hard bottom.
The sheepshead bite has been good, and there are still plenty of fish in the deep holes in the passes along the mangrove shoreline south of the mouth of the Little Manatee River.
I ran into Capt. Billy Nobles on the water Wednesday, and he said he had a good day on redfish and snook in Cockroach Bay with live bait. I have not heard of anyone finding pilchards anywhere but the Skyway for the past two weeks. I looked for it on the range markers in the middle of the bay earlier this week, but I saw not a one.
We saw plenty of fish on the flats this past week, but the bite was very tough. I did hook and land a couple of snook on Top Dogs in the back country late in the afternoon, but there was nothing like a bite. Until the water temperature comes up a bit, expect more of the same. However, as my buddy Capt. Billy Jordan says “You can’t catch ‘em sitting on the couch.”
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
