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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
June 29, 2007
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
One week into summer the action on the Southshore was good. Capt. Nick Winger reported having a great day around the power plant in Apollo Beach where he caught two tarpon and a 60-pound cobia. I was there the following day and we caught a couple of blacktip sharks and jumped a single small tarpon.
A late afternoon tide with plenty of flow prompted a trip to the Spoil Island at Port Manatee for some catch and release snook action. Accompanied by Capt. Billy Jordan and Capt. Chet Jennings we left the dock on the Little Manatee River about 3:00 p.m. and then went out to net some threadfins. Water clarity was extremely good, and the baits were wary. I three the net at them three times in six feet of water and came up empty as they skittered away while the net was still in the air. We finally had to run to deeper water, where Capt. Jennings was able to put the net on them.
When we got to the Island, the tide was ripping out, and to our surprise there was only one other boat there. We put the anchor out 30 feet from the shoreline and started casting to the edge. There is a substantial drop off here that combines with the strong current to make this one of the premiere spots on Tampa Bay for snook to spawn. Often you can see the big females finning along the shoreline accompanied by a host of smaller males. As the female snook dumps her eggs the males fertilize them and they are swept out with the tide to hatch. Then the fry are swept back in with the change of the tide and they move onto the grass flats and into the mangrove backcountry to grow into adulthood.
The problem this day was the snook were not there. This is cause for concern because this is the peak of the spawning season at one of the premiere mating sites for snook on Tampa Bay, and there were hardly any snook where there should be thousands.
Capt. Jennings said he was surprised, “I’d have bet the ranch we would have caught a bunch of snook here today, but then the snook fishing has been way off all year.”
Indeed, this is a cause for concern and it can be laid at the doorstep of anglers who prize snook as tablefare. The angling pressure on snook is such that biologists speculate every snook is caught four times before it reaches the 27 to 34 inch slot, and as soon as it reaches the minimum, someone catches it and cooks it.
With that in mind, the Florida Wildlife Commission has tweaked the rules again. Snook season will close December 01 and reopen March 01, adding two weeks in December and the month of February to the closure. The two fish limit on the East Coast is reduced to a single fish, and the slot limit narrowed to 28 to 32 inches. Here on the West Coast the slot was reduced to 28 to 33 inches. Maybe it’s time to make snook a catch and release only proposition. And if the state is worried about lost revenue from snook stamps, why not require a saltwater license for everyone?
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