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Tampa Bay - Saltwater
Capt. Matt Ercoli
January 6, 2003
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hi everyone, I hope you had a great Christmas and a happy New Year. I hope Santa brought that new fishing rod. The past couple weeks has brought on some pretty cool water temperatures. As for the weather, if you are reading this from out of state, it has been pretty nice with a lot of sunny days with a few rainy ones mixed in. As for the fishing it has been pretty typical for the winter. Water temps are getting down in the mid to high 50 ‘s at night and as high as 65 degrees during the warmer days.
Trout are now in season and have been one of our most consistent catches with a lot of keepers in the 16 to 20 inch class, no real monsters but a lot of nice eating sizes. On some of the better days we caught them as fast as you can possibly catch fish and I would say 2/3 of them where good keeper size. They seem to have been especially good on the colder days when the chilled water has concentrated them into a few small pockets of deep warmer water.
The mangrove snapper bite has been almost equally as good, though it seems we have to weed through a lot more smaller ones to get some nice size eating ones.
Redfishing is starting to pick up, most of them are in the 22 to 24 inch class. Extra low tides have concentrated them on the edge of the flats and they can be very temperamental. One day they eat, the next they can be very spooky and not want to open their mouths. Typical winter redfish.
I have been catching quite a few sheephead, many of which are good eating size over the 4 pound mark.
The black-drum are still inconsistent but we are catching a few while targeting other species, the larger ones being around 8 to 10 pounds.
Blue fish have been biting like crazy, especially on the fast moving tides. Pretty nice sizes, a lot over 20 inches and I bet our largest ones would have gone 24 inches. Small ones for you northerners, but then again Florida never has been know as a great blue fishery. They are sure thick as thieve though and a lot of fun on light tackle.
As for the rest of our fishing, we are catching a few grouper, a pompano here and there and some flounder.
As far as action goes, the bite has been fast for the most part. Most of my charters have been burning through 10 to 12 dozen shrimp per day.
I hope you enjoyed my report. The nice days have sure been pleasant. If you’re heading out fishing good luck and have fun, there is a lot of good winter fishing to be had out there. Just remember the fish are very concentrated right now. Small areas hold a lot of fish right now so if you’re off them a little bit you’re not going to catch them, but when you are on them the bite can be very fast. Think a little deeper and a little warmer, that’s the water you are looking for.
I have some days left in January, if you are looking for a fishing charter give me a call and remember snook season is right around the corner. Late Feb and March is when some of our best shallow water sight fishing for snook will be done. If you would like a day for those months it’s time to start planning. Our best day during that period will produce as many as 100 snook per day on live bait and 30 plus on the fly, it can be as good as it gets!
Happy New Year, Capt. Matt
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