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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
September 19, 2007
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers finally got a slight break from the heat, and local fishing picked up. Capt. Chet Jennings said one of his clients caught a 27-inch snook in the Little Manatee River last weekend. He also said they caught many short snook and a slot sized redfish.
Capt. Larry Malinoski said he’s been catching mangrove snapper on the rock piles around Port Manatee, but that the tarpon have apparently moved on.
I ran across the bay with Roger Mills of Ruskin one morning last week looking for pompano, but we never found them. A thunderhead popped up and the air temperature dropped suddenly, so we pulled up the anchor and headed back across the bay. On the way we came across a bunch of birds working the surface. We quickly re-rigged with 50-pound monofilament leaders and chrome spoons thinking there were mackerel under the birds. This was a large school of fish – several hundred yards across – and they did not sound at the approach of the skiff.
We both cast into the froth and hooked up immediately. My fish jumped soon as the line came tight, and to my surprise it was a small bluefish. These fish are great fighters, and toothy as mackerel so the 50-pound leaders were hardly overkill. Nevertheless, I still got cut off a couple of times.
Bluefish are fairly common in Sarasota Bay, but do not appear as regularly in Tampa Bay. Many anglers complain that while bluefish are fun to catch, they are not that good to eat. I find them to be as good or better than Spanish mackerel when kept on ice as soon as they are caught, especially the smaller fish that we see in Florida. Any fish that you intend to eat is best when submerged in a slurry of ice water.
These are indeed the same species they catch in New England where they get up to 20 pounds. They call them “choppers” and these are the fish that cause the reputation for poor table quality. Snapper sized blues eat much better, and are very good when deep-fried or blackened.
If you don’t get a bluefish on ice as soon as it’s caught, it will quickly turn to mush, leaving the flesh with a strong fishy taste. But kept in a well-iced cooler, the flesh remains firm. Bluefish are very easy to clean – the rib cage is nothing like that of a redfish or sheepshead, and the filets are easily separated from the backbone with a sharp filet knife. I like to leave a little more meat on the skin than I do with a grouper or a snook, and then I trim off the red colored flesh around the center of the filet. Dredged in flour, dipped in an egg wash, then dredged in flavored breadcrumbs, I deep-fry them until golden brown. They are about as tasty as any other deep-fried fish.
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