Tampa Bay Fishing Report

Capt. TJ Stewart
January 25, 2005
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report

What a Grouper!

Well it has managed to get a little colder again. With the cooler weather it will change the fishing around again. With the warmer water that we had at the beginning of the month we started using live bait again or shiners. It got warm enough where the bait showed up on the flats again. But unfortunately it was short lived.

I will start with the back water fishing. The colder weather is going to cool the water temp down so most of the back water fishing is going to be done around the rivers and areas where the water temp stays warmer. I usually look for areas were the water is darker or maybe the bottom is darker in areas were the water is shallow. Most of the fishing that you will want to be doing over the next couple of weeks in the back waters will either be with artificial bait or shrimp. During the last week we have had a lot of luck with artificial bait mostly catching Red fish. If you are looking to catch a Trout get your self some shrimp and try fishing off some of the edges of the grass flats. I know that with shrimp we have been having a lot of luck with Mangrove Snapper and Sheepshead. Most of this fishing that we have been doing has been around structure in the rivers docks and bridges. If you are looking to catch a fish on a fly rod the lady fish bite has been awesome and most of these fish are around the structures in the rivers as well.

Then we have the offshore fishing which with the colder water will pick up. The cooler water brings the fish in closer. The reefs that are 3-10 miles offshore start to produce really nice fish. We are mostly catching Grouper and Snapper there are many other types of fish you can catch as well. This time of year we usually use frozen bait, sardines, thread fins and squid. This is because the fish this time of the year are moving a lot slower and they are too lazy to chase the live bait but it usually does not hurt to bring a few pin fish. If the fish stop hitting on the dead bait drop a live bait down. Sometimes the fish change their pace and they will warm up and decide to eat live bait. Most of the fishing that I have been doing has been within 10 miles. The fishing has been very good but the last trip it was pretty rough because it was just after a cold front. The fishing was great we caught a lot of Grouper and Snapper. We had one fish that was great it was a Grouper 33 inches and about 16 lbs. It was one of the biggest Grouper we have caught all season but with the cooler weather we are going to be doing more offshore fishing so we will see what the next couple of weeks brings.

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