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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
April 23, 2007
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
A week of high winds and cool temperatures made for some tough fishing on Tampa Bay’s Southshore. Water clarity was murky, and water temps dropped a couple of degrees and the bite suffered accordingly.
On Tuesday I tried to find some redfish on the flats south of Apollo Beach. There was hardly any activity at all on the north end of the flat – no birds, no bait, no mullet, and no action. The strong west wind made poling an exercise in futility.
Thursday morning we fished the Little Manatee River just west of the railroad trestle and caught a few mangrove snapper on live shrimp. That afternoon we tried the flats between Big Pass and Sand Key, but cloudy water precluded seeing many fish. Garland Wright hooked a single snook on RipTide’s new penny colored jerk bait but it came off with a head-shaking leap at the side of the boat. Inside the pass, two anglers in another boat caught a couple of snook while chumming sardines, but overall, the bite was slow.
We finished the day at the mouth of the Little Manatee River and lost two more snook along a seawall on the strong outgoing tide. It was difficult to keep the lines tight because the wind was blowing hard against the current.
Capt. Danny Guarino said the fishing around Cockroach Bay was equally slow, and that bait was hard to find. It has been an unusually tough year for finding scaled sardines, which are generally found all over the flats between Apollo Beach and Joe Island from late February through June.
The kingfish bite is still on off the St. Pete beaches, and that there are some very big sharks hanging with the mackerel.
For more information, call Capt. Fred Everson at 813 830 8890, or visit his website at tampabayfishingguide.com.
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