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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
August 30, 2005
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
August was a pretty typical month for fishing on the Southshore of Tampa Bay. Bait got smaller and then disappeared altogether for a few days, and then along came Hurricane Katrina. The local effect was a week of high winds and some heavy evening rain, which did little to suppress the fishing.
I did a little scouting last week on the flats and found plenty of redfish, and even caught a couple on the last hour of a falling tide, as well as a large flounder. All three fish hit a RipTide Flats Chub in New Penny on a weighted worm hook. I was pleasantly surprised to find good water clarity and an unusual absence of weeds and algae.
Red Tide has not been a factor locally for over a month, but it still lingers in spots on the west side of the bay and offshore.
Snook season reopens on September 01, and the guides fishing out of Shell Point Bait and Tackle are reporting good numbers of big snook on the flats south of the Little Manatee River. We are seeing plenty of slot sized fish cruising the sea wall in back of the bait shop – more than we have ever seen before.
A few anglers braved the winds this past weekend and most reported good catches of redfish. They also said that some bait had returned to the flats and that most of it was big enough to fish with. That should bode well for the fall. Overall, this has been an excellent year for white bait. Outside of a few weeks in July at the peak of the red tide outbreak, bait has been plentiful and good sized.
We finally got a shrimp delivery today – first one in about a week. High winds from Hurricane Katrina kept the shrimp boats at the dock until last night. Shrimp have been bigger than normal this summer, which is probably related to red tide, which does not seem to affect them. Instead they thrive on the fish kill. I suspect the same is true of blue crabs, which anglers are reporting in abundance all over the bay.
Water temperature is still high – in the low 90’s in the Gulf last time I checked. This makes sunrise prime time for snook on the right tides. I prefer the last two hours of a falling tide and the first couple of hours of the rise for snook and redfish. The lower tide keeps the fish out of the mangroves, concentrating them in the deeper holes out on the flats.
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