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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
August 16, 2007
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
The wind died and the rain let up for a few days last week but the inshore fishing is still typically slow for August. Water clarity is poor, and there is plenty of hook grabbing plantlife on the surface, which makes keeping your lures weed free practically impossible.
One of the bright spots has been the tarpon action around the Sunshine Skyway. Anglers are taking advantage of the relaxed rules for fishing around the bridge. The Coast Guard recently rescinded the 100-foot rule, and now only the channel under the main span is restricted. Capt. Dean Henry had a great day on tarpon at the bridge fishing with live bait. He hooked 11 tarpon and brought four to the boat.
Spanish mackerel were pushed toward the south end of the bay with all the rain we had at the beginning of the month, and this slowed the bite down to a trickle. I spent one day on the water last week targeting mackerel, and found a few fish, but the bite was very slow. I chummed with fresh cut threadfins around several of the range markers off Port Manatee, but the response was feeble. I suspect that the best bite is early in the morning – just around first light.
Snook season will reopen in a couple of weeks, and despite other reports to the contrary, this has not been a great year for linesiders. In fact, my own personal experience in places where I used to find a lot of snook, now there are none. It seems to me that if FWC is tightening regulations and shortening the season, there is something going on and it’s not good. Some of the other local captains I speak to also say that snook fishing has been tougher this year. Some of that is attributable to all the wind we had in March, April, and May, but then you have only a few fish at the Port Manatee Spoil Island during peak spawning season. I was there twice this year on perfect tides, and caught only one short snook where I used to see hundreds of fish. I hope the reduced slot limit and the additional weeks added to the front and back ends of the season will help, but I have my doubts.
Redfish are in a lot better shape, and I have been targeting them almost exclusively on my inshore trips for nearly two years. We should start seeing the big schools of breeders in the next couple of weeks. And last winter was the best I have ever seen for redfish, both in terms of numbers, and the size of the fish. Rarely did we ever catch a short fish, and half of the fish we caught were over the top of the 27-inch cap.
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