 |
Tampa Bay - South Shore
Capt. Fred Everson
January 15, 2008
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
A return to warmer than usual weather made good things happen for fishermen on Tampa Bay’s Southshore this week. With light winds out of the east for much of the week, sight-fishing opportunities abounded between the mouth of the Alafia River and Joe Island.
I targeted redfish on Thursday and Friday on the flats south of Apollo Beach. The first day I poled us onto a big pod of reds, but all we managed was on little blue tailed redfish on a live shrimp. I pulled a pompano jig through several groups of big fish, but they would have nothing to do with it. Tom Rinehart was with me and he also hooked a bonnethead shark on a free lined live shrimp, but the fish spit the hook.
The next day I went back with two clients and we did a little better. Dan Simmons, a native of Brandon, caught two redfish on a pompano jig, and one of them was a classic tournament fish – 26 inches and fat. The wind blew out of the east most of the morning, then shifted to the south. The light chop made it hard to see the fish.
I saw Capt. Dean Henry working the deep edge of the same flat, and he told me he saw a cobia and several big bonnetheads, but couldn’t do anything with them.
Capt. Billy Jordan said he trolled the ship channel between Bahia Beach and the Sunshine Skyway on Friday, but caught only a single grouper.
Capt. Marc Noe reported hot fishing on the flats outside of Cockroach Bay and south of Port Manatee. He’s still catching bluefish and Spanish mackerel on root beer colored soft plastics. He said that sugar trout and jack crevalle chewed the bottom out of the boat off Apollo Beach the next day.
You can visit the captain’s website at Tampabayfishingguide.com for charter info, or phone him at 813 830 8890.
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
