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Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
November 8, 2007
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Windy and wet describes the weather of late October, and that kept many anglers on the dock recently. On the one day I did get out I had no trouble finding a few redfish. Water clarity was not all that good, and most of the fish I saw were close to the boat and spooked before I could put a cast on them. I did catch one slot-sized fish on a pompano jig, a fat 25 incher.
The wind was blowing out of the north so I decided to drift the edge of the grass on the flats south of Apollo Beach. I saw a few oversized redfish, and a couple of bonnethead sharks. There should be more fish here when the water temperature falls to 70 degrees. For much of October it was hovering in the low 80’s, but it is started to drop last week.
Perhaps the best fishing of the year occurs with the water temperature in the 70’s. Some years it stays there throughout the winter, and that makes for the best fishing. When it drops into the low 60’s, things slow down. If it gets into the 50’s, some fish start to die. Snook, catfish, mullet, jack crevalles, and trout are all susceptible to cold water.
Snook are a true tropical species and Tampa Bay is at the extreme northern limit of their range. They will usually perish if it suddenly gets that cold. In a long, slow decline of water temperature, however, they can adapt. Florida Marine Research scientist Ron Taylor said the Little Manatee River should have been white with dead snook several years ago in January when the water temperature dipped into the low 50’s, but the decline in temperature was slow and steady and the snook were able to adapt.
We should start seeing schools of big jack crevalles this month. I love tangling with these great big rod benders, but one or two fish is usually enough to wear me out.
Trout season closed on November 01 and will remain so until the first of the year.
Capt. Chet Jennings told me he was catching big trout in October south of the Port Manatee Spoil Island. Most of the fish were right around 20 inches.
Captain Danny Guarino said the redfish bite that was hot around Joe Island died off the last few days in October, but that he found good fishing in Bishop’s Harbor. He said he caught snook, redfish, and trout on his last trip, and at one point had a triple hook up of reds.
Cold fronts will become the big factor later this month. If you can, fish ahead of the fronts for the best bite. Look for sheepshead in the deepest holes around the flats on extreme low tides, and redfish over the sandbars. Bonnethead sharks will also begin to invade the Southshore flats en-masse. They like frozen squid.
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