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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
July 14, 2002
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
July 15 Fishing Report for Southshore Tampa Bay
The low tides that coincided with sunset last week provided some action on the flats south of the Little Manatee River. We got off the boat on the outside of the sandbar and worked our way toward shore, casting into potholes, and working all the cuts and swash channels that funneled water across the bars.
We caught mostly snook and trout. Most of the snook were in the 25 inch class, and the trout were all over 20 inches. Our trout fishing seems to get better every year. There was a really explosive bite on Saturday night just before it got dark. My friend John Moore of Newport Vermont, caught a nice red and several trout in the span of a few minutes, and fish were popping baits all around us as the tide began to flood across the bar.
The west winds had pushed a lot of weed and algae onto the east side of the bay, so we were limited to throwing Carolina rigged RipTide jerkbaits in pearl. I have been using the new Exude worm hooks lately and can’t say enough good things about them. The head of the bait is threaded onto a lead screw attached to the eye of the hook via a screw eye, then the point of the hook is brought up through the belly of the bait into the hook channel. The advantage is that it’s much easier to rig a straight running bait, and the extra weight of the hook makes for a longer cast. The only negative I can see is that it seems to pick up a little more weed than a conventional offset worm hook. They also rust quickly.
We also caught some Spanish mackerel out on the range markers off Cockroach Bay. Cut threadfin accounted for most of the fish, but a few hit jigs.
I was on tarpon in several locations near the mouth of the river, but never hooked up. Capt. Nick Winger of Apollo Beach got into the tarpon late Saturday morning and jumped a couple of fish. Capt. Chet Jennings, also of Apollo Beach also reported hooking and fighting a big tarpon for over an hour before it finally wore through the leader.
Weather ruled the fishing this weekend, and few of us were able to get out due to wind, rain, and lightning. Look for better tides starting next weekend ahead of the full moon on the 24th.
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