Hot Water Reds
Capt. Thom Rodgers
August 6, 2012
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
After sticking my head in a bucket of ice water, I looked out of the corner of my eye to see a rod doubled over in the holder. I love cut bait on hot days. You can talk, get a drink, and find some shade on your boat if you got a cover of some sort.
We started fishing late on the full moon. Was it Thursday or Friday? I really have to start doing something other than fishing. I lose all sense of days of the week! You gotta learn to love August in Florida. It's an acquired taste for sure. If you like turning a hair blower on high and putting it in your face...you will love August.
We Fished in about 10 feet of water off of an island in Ruskin facing Tampa Bay and caught 2 nice redfish in the lower thities right off the bat. This hole is shaped like a bowl about 50 feet across. We had been there for only 15 minutes. Not too bad I thought as the drag screamed a little bit. Edwin's face lit up with a smile as the red shook it's head and ran about 30 feet on the opening run.
It only took us a few minutes to catch a ladyfish and a couple of jumbo pinfish on shrimp. They were immediately cut up and sacrificed to the redfish gods. Just enough weight to keep it on the bottom and I kept the jumbo split shot within 8 inches of the bait to keep the bait from moving around too much in the tide on the bottom. Since we started at the 4 PM high tide we only got to fish about 4 hours. 3 more reds in the upper slot made my fishing partners Edwin Liu (Minxiang) and Sam Martino happy. Starting late and catching your bait where you fish helps make the dog days more tolerable for all. I managed to park the boat tight against the mangroves to shield my partners from the setting late afternoon sun as well. A perfect afternoon all in all.
Several short Snook and trout up to 18 inches were caught while throwing topwaters while the bottom baits soaked. Throwing plugs helps a bit to break up the 15 minute or longer intervals between hits on the bottom baits. Circle hooks allow a guide to not manage the bottom baits intensively. The rods just bend over and.....fish is on! Call me I'll take you there.
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