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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
April 10, 2006
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
The absence of scaled sardines on the southshore flats of Tampa Bay continues to perplex recreational anglers and guides alike. There has been some bait to be had at the normally reliable Skyway fishing piers, but even that source has been inconsistent.
The good news is that the snook bite has been fairly steady. Capt. Mark Thomas said that he’s been pecking a few out of each hole, while Capt. Nick Winger reported a hot bite on Thursday behind Joe Island, in Bishop Harbor, and in some of the passes leading into Little Cockroach Bay. The bottom line has been covered by a livewell full of scaled sardines, but they have been hard to come by this year. This month, the angler with the most bait wins. Snook may come out of their winter haunts with the feed bag on, but they are still cautious about everything they eat – except scaled sardines.
Capt. Larry Malinoski had a good offshore report this week, going into the hundred foot water where he caught chicken dolphin, a big cobia, amberjacks, snapper, and lots of short grouper.
Big Spanish mackerel are schooling up south of the Port Manatee Spoil Island, and should be making their way up the bay behind schools of threadfin herring.
There were tarpon rolling in the mouth of the Little Manatee River this week, and Capt. Nick Winger sent me a photo of a big silver king he caught on the flats a few days ago. I’ve also had some reports of cobia sightings on the flats south of Apollo Beach, but most of the fish were shorts.
We will have low, rising tides early in the morning for much of this week, normally perfect for redfish, but catch reports on this species have been worse than sparse. A better bet will be the falling tides of mid afternoon, targeting snook in the river mouths and the mangrove passes.
Visit Capt. Fred online at www.tampabayfishingguide.com or call Shell Point
Bait and Tackle at (813) 641- 3662.
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