Water Clarity Improves
Capt. Fred Everson
October 9, 2009
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Water clarity has improved this week due to drier conditions, but the inshore fishing has been slow behind the full moon. I fished a lazy outgoing tide yesterday out of my canoe between the Simmons Park boat ramp and Apollo Beach, and I didn't see much. It was a good late morning low tide and I expected to see some snook and redfish, but there wasn't much there. I got out of the boat and waded for over an hour and covered a lot of water where the fish usually are, but to no avail.
I had better news from anglers fishing for Spanish mackerel in deeper water in the middle of the bay. The bigger fish, those three pounds and up, are hanging outside the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. There are lots of fish inside the bay, but those have tended to be smaller.
The snapper bite in Tampa Bay goes on and on, and the fish are bigger than I've seen in 15 years of guiding. 15 inches used to be a good fish, but this year that would be the runt of the limit. We've put several fish in the box that measured two feet, and that's a big fish when you consider the minimum legal length is only 10 inches. The aggregate limit on snapper is 10 fish, but you can only keep five mangrove snapper in the cumulative bag.
Bottom fishing for grouper remains steady by all accounts, and trolling has also been productive. Deep diving plugs trolled around the edges of the shipping lanes have been deadly, and so have the plugs.
Water clarity is starting to improve and the temperature drops and we get less rain. However, it is still pretty poor for early October compared to years past.
Captain Fred can be reached at 813 830 8890 for more information, or you can visit his website at Tampabayfishingguide.com.
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