Doldrums Are Here
Capt. Fred Everson
July 28, 2008
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
The summer doldrums are here, and local fishing suffers accordingly. Despite a few days of calm winds and plenty of sunshine, the fishing I did can only be described as mediocre. I have been across the bay twice this week to fish for pompano and trout, and both trips were a bust, despite good tides and perfect weather.
The saving grace on Friday morning proved to be a few snapper and some Spanish mackerel in the middle of the bay. Capt. Billy Jordan and I took his skiff west of Pinellas Point in search of pompano. We skipped a single fish on the flats, and had a couple of bumps on pompano jigs, but that was it. Trout fishing on the flats off Pinellas Point was slightly more productive, but we never caught the first keeper. Then we moved out to the marked channel.
Even the mangrove snapper bite was slow. We fished a dozen different channel buoys and caught only three fish between five anglers on two boats. Finally we got into a few schools of Spanish mackerel. The first fish hit a chrome spoon that wound up right under chin. The second fish hooked itself in the exact same spot. There were fish boiling the surface of the channel all the way between Port Manatee and Bahia Beach, but they were sensitive to the sound of the engine and you had to shut it down and sit around for a few minutes before they would surface again. I also saw a big shark tearing through one the of bait pods that was being ravaged by the mackerel.
We had trouble finding bait big enough to fish on the bar off Pinellas Point. We finally netted some small pilchards, and they proved to be the key to catching the few snapper that we put on ice.
Join Capt. Fred for an evening of fishing instruction at Skipper's Smokehouse Inshore Fishing School on August 12 at 7:00 pm. Cost of the course is $25 and includes a copy of the captain's latest book -- Fish the Flats. Wives, girlfriends, or significant others admitted free.
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