Tampa Bay, Tarpon Springs, Clearwater & St. Petersburg

Capt. Clay Eavenson
November 8, 2007
Tarpon Springs - Saltwater Fishing Report

Scouting for my V.I.P. Client

My

son turned 3 years old last month. He's become my best fishing

buddy... on the neighborhood dock at least. But now, as he would

say, he's a "big boy". When I left this morning to go check some

new water for fish, he all but cried his eyes out that I didn't

take him along with me. He's been on the boat with me before but

never for a serious fishing trip. Usually it's just been a trip

to the beach to hang out with his mom, his little sister, and

me. So today when I saw those bright blue eyes turn dim with

tears because he couldn't go, I decided that if I found good

numbers of fish today that I would take him out tomorrow and let

him try to catch his first redfish.



I didn't leave the house early today because I knew the place I

wanted to check out and it required a high tide. High tide in

New Port Richey was going to be around 11:45am today. So I

rolled out of bed at the crack of 8am and took my time prepping

the little boat (Ranger 169 Ghost). I left the house about 10am

and hit the Ramp in New Port Richey around 11am.

I

have been fishing out of the big boat (Ranger 2200 bay) so much

lately that I forgot that the Ghost had the back of it strapped

down. So I backed it in and tried to get it off the trailer 2 or

3 times before I remembered that it wasn't going to come off the

trailer until I let it loose of it's binds. What was really cool

was that the ramp had absolutely no traffic but there were a few

people at Hooters watching me back the boat down like an amature,

all the while a big fat sticker on my back truck window proudly

said, "Capt. Clay Fishing Charters" on it. I laughed to myself

at how silly I looked while sporting an advertisement about my

naval prowess on my truck. Oh well... no body's perfect.



Once I was through with my circus at the ramp I headed South to

a little bay that I had seen a nice school of fish at over two

months ago. There was no guarantee that they would be there

today but it just seemed right. When I shut the motor off and

calmly dropped the trolling motor, I approached the shallow

point where I'd seen the school of redfish before. They weren't

there. That kind of placed a little doubt in my mind about the

day's plans. Never the less, I pressed on. I worked the

shoreline for about another 150 yards and I spotted the first

fish. He was lying there undisturbed and I made a perfect cast.

When the bait came close he turned it down. More doubt crept

into my mind. But it wouldn't stay for long as I quickly found

that he was the lead fish in a school of over 50 fish. I hit the

Powerpole and began making calculated casts. The third cast

produced the first fish of the day. It wasn't a large fish but

it was a fish and I felt the doubt begin to melt away.

Hooking

and landing that fish spooked the remainder of that school. I

never found them again but I kept working the shoreline and when

I came to a similar spot I found a similar school of fish. This

was a long stretch of shallow water lined with mangroves. But

every 200-300 yards or so, there was a break in the mangroves

and a shallow sand flat with sparse grass extending form the

water. The fish seemed to be milling around the grass that

extended from the shallow water. I hooked another 3 fish at the

next little sand cove.



After I had thoroughly bothered that small school of fish I

moved on. Eventually, I came to a tight cut through which opened

up to a large back country bay. Just inside this bay was a small

island that had a deep cut along it's Northern shore. The water

was crystal clear and I could see them . Tons of redfish were

just hanging on the edge of this deep hole. I began casting

around the edges and managed 6 more fish before the tide started

dropping to a point where I needed to leave.

On

the way back to the ramp I stopped at a few islands near the

mouth of a river that looked similar to the last island that had

produced so well. I decided to try them. As I worked my way up

to them I spotted what looked like a submerged log. It wasn't.

It was a 35"+ snook. I tried my best to get a good cast on her

before I floated over her and I thought I had made a good

presentation. But she disagreed and turned up her nose and swam

off. That's when I saw all the redfish. They were everywhere. I

worked those Islands for another hour and caught 8-9 more

redfish and 1 nice trout.



It looks like I've found my fish for tomorrow's very important

client. My 3 year old son. He's never caught a redfish before

and if he gets one tomorrow he may never remember it; but I will

and I can't wait.



Today the fish were broken up into two groups. I found good

numbers of fish that seemed to like a change in a shallow,

mangrove lined, flat. Whenever I found a large sand patch with

tall grass in it I found fish. I also had good luck near islands

that had deep cuts next to them. I tried a variety of baits

including clear/gold flake Exude RT Slugs, gold spoons, and Mirr-O-Lure

Mirr-O-Mullet. None of which coaxed a nibble. But, the hot bait

for the day was Gulp shrimp in a natural color rigged on a

Mustad weedless weighted hook. Total for the day was 15 redfish

and 1 trout. Check back tomorrow for my son's fishing report. I

have high hopes.

 

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