Winter Fly Fishing Tampa Bay
Capt. Nick Angelo
January 9, 2010
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hope everyone is off to a great start to the New Year! The fishing in Tampa Bay and surrounding areas has been good. If you can brave the cold and get out on the water! Its been cold. As I type this, it is actually snowing in parts of North Florida! I am grateful I dont live anywhere North of the state of Florida. At least we can still get out on the skiff and catch fish despite the cold conditions.
Even in the cold the fly fishing for redfish continues to be awesome. For us fly anglers the cold has helped the redfishing. The fish get super shallow to soak up the sun. Most fish have been caught in a foot or less of water. Sometimes the redfish get so shallow their backs and tails are exposed. We've been having some great days on the water sight fishing with a fly. The large schools of fish continue to hang around the shallow sand flats of Tampa Bay.
Seatrout are now in season, not that I plan on keeping any. We've been finding good numbers of trout over shallow rock and sand bottom. They also seek the shallows during sunny late mornings and afternoons. Most of the fish have been fat and healthy looking.
I haven't seen too many dead fish as a result of the cold. Mostly dead catfish on the surface. We've scene some large snook in shallow water the last few weeks, but they don't seem interested in eating. Luckily I haven't seen any snook kills in the areas I've been fishing.
Thanks to everyone who fished with me during the fall season! When the sun was out we had some killer days fishing for redfish. The calm and cloudy days brought tailing conditions. A few cloudy day trips I thought were going to be tough days on the water. But we ended up getting onto large schools of reds tailing in a foot of water. Seeing all those tails defiantly took out minds off the chilly conditions. Anywhere from 1-10 reds were caught on fly each trip, we averaged about 3 fish. Most trips anglers had plenty of "shots" on fish.
We had a few good trips of snook fishing, both day and night during the milder weather. My good friend and fellow angler Greg hooked a particularly large and oversized snook one afternoon. The fish was laid up in shallow water and inhaled his little black fly. The fish never stopped as it took all but a few wraps of backing off his reel. Rather than loose his fly line, he palmed the spool and the fish broke off.
What to expect in the next few months??? The main attraction will continue to be redfish. Big schools and large single fish in skinny water will hang around for fly anglers to enjoy. The fishing a little North of Tampa will continue to produce quality redfish to sight cast to as well. Those monster snook will show themselves during any period of warm conditions. March is a good month to target large snook with a fly. The fishing around the powerplants will be good for snook and a wide range of other species. Tossing clousers on sink lines can produce a smorgasbord of fish. Big Black Drum are a possibility as well.
Tarpon season is just around the corner! Even this time of year tarpon are always on my mind. I'm currently booking days for the 2010 season beginning the last week in April through July. August had good numbers of fish last year as well. May and June are prime months to fly fish for poons. Please feel free to call or email me for the best available dates.
Thanks and I hope everyone can get out and wet a line!
Capt. Nick Angelo
813-230-8473
www.shallowwaterflyfishing.com
Target Species:
redfish, trout
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