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Spring Like Winter Fishing
Capt. Matt Ercoli
January 8, 2009
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Smoking, that's the best way to describe Tampa Bay fishing this past week. Snook fishing has made up the bulk of my fishing with the nice weather we have been having. Lots of snook and good size ones too. Of course the snook are out of season until the first of February but they are really fun to catch. 70 and 80 degree days have brought our water temps on the flats upwards of 70 degrees on some days. What does that mean to me, lots of snook with light boat pressure?
Red fishing is still pretty good as well. I have been doing better on reds using shrimp on the colder mornings and better with the snook on the warmer days with live green backs. That is a very typical pattern this time of year when we are having a mild winter. It's hard to believe when I watch the news and see sub-zero temperatures around the northern half of our county only to walk outside to 80 degrees. I mean at least you would think it would be cool around here, even at night it's in the 60s. Basically with temperatures like that we are enjoying spring like fishing. Last week we had several days where we lost count catching snook, the largest up to 34 inches. Nearly all the reds we have been catching are in that 22 to 26 inch class, nice keepers.
That's not all that's been biting though. Grouper throughout the bay and out to 15 miles offshore have been real good. Tunny and mackerel are thick within 10 miles and believe it or not the king fishing has been pretty hot within 10 miles as well. So that's the basic run down. If you want to fish inshore you will catch fish and if you want to head off shore it's much the same, fishing is good and the weather is even better. Boat traffic is light and it's a great time to be on the water.
I hope you have enjoyed my report and I hope you and all your families had a nice Christmas and a great 2009.
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