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Tampa Bay Fishing Report
Capt. TJ Stewart
February 23, 2006
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Pictures are Priceless!
Its trying to warm up. That’s right I said trying I guess we have another cold front coming through this weekend. But it is still that time of year not far off though just flat around the corner. We are still doing a lot of fishing this is the busier time of the year. So the folks that are wanting to set up those charters for this spring might want to call soon.
I will start with the Snook fishing these fish have been a little slow. We have been able to catch a few fish each trip. There are a few reasons that the Snook fishing is a little slow. The first and one of the biggest things is the water temp when it gets lower then 60 degrees these fish shut down. Some times you can catch them on artificial but even then its good to have a little warmer water as well for the live bait if the water temp is above 65 you can usually catch these fish on shrimp or shiners.
Red fish are not quite as sensitive to the cooler water. Well I say that but you need the warmer water for these fish to eat live bait as well. They will eat shrimp when it is cold but they will not chase the live bait like shiners when it get too cold. One of the best things when it gets cold is to fish with jigs. Most of the bigger fish we caught this week were on artificial jigs. The areas to look for these Red fish are around the big schools of Mullet and are on the real shallow flats. When the tides fall out and gets really low the fish fall off the flats to the edges. Most of the time you can find these fish in white holes off the edge of the flats.
And still the most active bite has still been the Sheepshead. We have caught Pompano, Snapper, Flounder, Trout, and a few others. But the most active bite with the cooler water is the Sheepshead. Most of these fish we have been catching around structures, docks, bridges, rocks, or reefs. Structure like this is were we have been finding the great Sheepshead. One of the problems that we have had is the water clarity is way too good meaning that the water is so clear that at times these fish are hard to catch. so another good thing to look for is a little cloudier water. Most all these fish we have been catching on shrimp. We have been catching a lot of nice Sheepshead. The fish of the week was pushing 5 lbs.
Another thing I am looking forward to is the bait showing up in the bay. I guess it has not got warm enough for the bait to show up. The water temp is high enough to catch fish with the bait but there is just none around yet. but the shiners should be here soon. Looking forward to the March fishing this time of the year we start catching the Snook and Red fish really good. Sometimes the Tarpon show up as well. It all depends on the water warming up enough to catch bait and that should be real soon. Come visit www.castawaychartersinc.com for pictures.
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