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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
January 3, 2007
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Warm weather and light winds combined to make for a great week of fishing after a dreary day on Christmas. Water temperature is still in the high 60’s and the reports from Southshore anglers have been stellar for late December.
Capt. Danny Guarino said that the bait situation has deteriorated at the Skyway, but it’s still there. It just not as easy as it was a week ago. Guarino said he’s still catching snook all over the Little Manatee River, and taking one or two big trout out of every hole. Trout will be back on the menu tomorrow as the season reopens New Year’s Day.
Several reports came in this week from anglers trolling the bay for grouper. Capt. Larry Malinoski said he boated four fish trolling hard bottom around the ship channel between Apollo Beach and Port Manatee. Another angler reported catching 8 grouper trolling deep diving plugs around the Bahia Beach reef. Of the eight fish put on the boat, only two were keepers.
I fished with Mark Sieger of Madison Wisconsin and Jay Cody Diele of Ruskin on Thursday in perfect weather. With clear water and a nearly cloudless sky, the visibility was as good as it gets. We found a school of 8 pound jack crevalles on the flats south of Apollo Beach and instantly hooked up with two of the rod benders. Half an hour later, we had both fish to the boat. Then the jacks simply turned off and wouldn’t hit anything we threw at them – even live shrimp, so we put the anchor out and chummed up some bonnetheads. We stayed in one spot in the middle of the flat and caught fish after fish on live shrimp. We rigged our baits under floats and on jig heads with equal success.
I found some redfish on the flats off Apollo Beach a few days ago and caught one on a Rip Tide Jig Head rigged with one of their five inch pearl mullet.
The boat ramp at Bahia Beach is now closed, as is the one at Shell Point Marina.
For charter information, visit Capt. Fred’s website at tampabayfishingguide.com, or call him at 813 380 8890.
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