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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
June 17, 2005
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
In 10 years of guiding on Tampa Bay I can’t remember a tougher year for weather. It went from windy and cold, to windy and wet. That said, there have been some bright spots. It has been and continues to be a banner year for snook, but given the inevitable increase in fishing pressure, it’s hard to wonder how long it can last.
Catch and release snook fishing at the Port Manatee Spoil Island is booming, but local guides report that bull sharks and bottlenosed dolphins are keyed on the action, too. The large predators are hanging around boats, picking off the stressed snook as soon as they are released.
The redfish bite has waned in the past few months but it was good all winter. Captain Nick Winger told me he found some fish in the mangrove roots on a high tide south of Port Manatee, and that all of the fish were oversized. But overall, redfish have been hard to come by in June.
Capt. Chet Jennings said he’s seeing plenty of Tarpon around the Skyway, but that the bite has been slow.
Spanish mackerel are everywhere in the bay this month, and they are as big as I’ve ever seen them. I have also seen several large schools of bluefish on the sand bar in front of Cockroach Bay. They were tearing through schools of threadfin herring, which have invaded the bay in great numbers. There are huge schools teeming on the surface all the way from the Skyway to the Alafia River and further north.
Pilchards are still spawning on the flats in numbers I have never seen before. One of the bright spots this season has been the availability of whitebait. Traditionally they leave the flats in late May or early June, but I’m still finding huge schools of big baits in shallow water.
Next weekend affords some great wade fishing tides ahead of the full moon on June 22. I like fishing the minus tides around sunset because they concentrate fish in the deeper potholes on the flats. Snook, redfish and trout all become active at sunset on low tides. Weedless lures are the best artificials to throw in shallow, weedy water. Live bait is always effective, but you can’t cover as much water with it on foot.
Red tide is being reported inside the bay. Capt. Todd Faucher said that the bait he caught this morning on a range marker in the middle of the bay died as soon as it hit the surface. I was out with Capt. Nick Winger yesterday and we too saw some dead fish inside the bay.
My latest book, “Fish the Flats” is finally out. It’s available at Shell Point Bait and Tackle in Ruskin (813) 641 3662. For information about ordering your signed copy, check out my website at Tampabayfishingguide.com.
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