 |
Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
March 4, 2005
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
The action picked up on the Southshore flats last week as water temps rose and snook turned on. Captains Mark Thomas, Danny Guarino, Chet Jennings, Nick Winger and Jon Turner all reported a hot snook bite mid week on live bait.
The other good news is that the big baits have finally showed up inside the bay. Capt. Nick Winger said he threw the net one time without chumming and filled both livewells on one of the range markers in the middle of the bay.
Redfish turned on too with the rise in temperature, but there is still nothing easy about catching them in the clear, shallow water of winter. I poled a southshore flat yesterday and despite some rain and overcast skies, we found plenty of fish. For the better part of the morning we didn’t get a strike, but after noon they turned on pretty good, and we put three keepers in the boat – all on jigs with plastic tails. They still remain pretty skittish, and we only started to hook some fish after the tide came up and the fish moved onto the grass.
We also hooked a couple of snook along the mangrove shoreline after seeing a few fish blow up on the edge. One of the snook was trophy sized and it jumped all over a jig, but cut the leader off with his gill plate on the first run. We landed another keeper sized fish, also on a jig. Most of the fish I’ve put on the boat this winter came on RipTide jig heads and dark colored plastic tails and plastic shrimp.
The grouper bite has also been good according to Capt. Larry Malinoski who has been trolling Mirrolure deep diving plugs along the edge of the ship channels and over structure. Number two and number three planers have also been effective rigged with six ounce jig heads and white plastic curly tails.
All that was before the onset of the latest cold front, which dropped water temperatures again. The bite shut down pretty hard after all the rain we had last Sunday. The good news is that the red tide seems to be staying to the south of us. Charlotte Harbor is getting hit hard again.
I will host a free fishing seminar at Shell Point bait and Tackle on Sunday, March 13 at 4:00 PM covering flats tackle, lure selection, and rigging. More information is posted on the website at tampabayfishingguide.com.
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
