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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
February 7, 2008
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Our weekly cold front passed across the bay on Friday, and the few anglers who braved the wind caught some fish. There were some big trout hanging out around the oyster bars at the mouth of the Little Manatee River, and I saw a few fish caught on the outgoing tide of late morning.
Water clarity is as good as it ever gets, but a tad chilly. Average Gulf water temperature was 60 degrees a day ago, and it’s likely to get colder overnight. A drop in water temper in seldom conducive to good fishing.
Capt. Tom Rinehart of Apollo Beach tells me he caught some bonnethead sharks south of Symphony Isles on live shrimp. He said he also saw a couple of small cobia, but they would not hit anything.
Capt. Billy Jordan spent a long day trolling the shipping lanes for grouper with no success earlier this week. Prior to that, he said he caught a couple of big fish, but that the bit has been slow in general.
Capt. Chet Jennings has been staying in the Little Manatee River and said he caught a big redfish near Devils Elbow on a live sardine. Bait has become scarce in the bay, but it is still under the Skyway Fishing Pier if you have the boat to get you there and back.
Snook anglers have another month of closed season to endure until it reopens on March 01. I haven’t seen any snook around the mouth of the river since Christmas, and we lost a few to cold weather the day after New Years.
Thus far, I would call this normal winter fishing. My tactics are to sleep in until things warm up. Forecast for the next few days is better with highs in the low 80s and high 70s for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
You can visit the captain’s website at Tampabayfishingguide.com for charter info, or phone him at 813 830 8890.
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