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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
December 13, 2006
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
My week began with a beautiful day fishing the flats south of Apollo Beach. Redfish were supposed to be the target, but as I started poling across the north end of the flat, we saw hundreds of bonnethead sharks. These are game little fish, but they won’t take an artificial. Fortunately I had some shrimp on board. We rigged them on jig heads tied to 20 pound fluorocarbon leaders.
Sight casting to the sharks proved to be a ball. They would not strike the shrimp while it was moving, but if a fish followed the bait, I let it sink to the bottom. The shark would circle it two or three times and then whoof it. We were fishing in two feet of very clear water so it was cool to see everything. I also had a frozen ladyfish and a frozen jack on board, so I diced them up into little pieces and chummed them over the side. Soon we had dozens of sharks circling the boat, and even a cobia came in. I threw a plastic eel at it, and it took a look but ambled off after seeing the boat.
Mid week I checked the flats between Sand Key and Big Pass for redfish and found a couple. I did not see a lot of fish on the flats south of Sand Key, so I motored up to Big Pass. I waded the exposed sand bar across it and caught a fat 25 inch redfish in knee deep water less than a hundred yards from the boat. It hit a new penny jerk bait on a weighted keeper hook.
Capt. Larry Malinoski reported hot fishing for big grouper trolling jigs around the ship channel on Thursday. Capt. Chet Jennings said he caught a few snook and some jacks in the Little Manatee River, before the cold front slammed us Thursday afternoon.
Visit Capt. Fred’s website at Tampabayfishingguide.com for charter info, or call 813 830 8890.
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