Tampa Bay Fishing Report

Capt. TJ Stewart
March 8, 2005
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report

Are you ready!

Man I sure wish the weather would figure out what it wants to do and warm up. Just about the time the fishing gets real good we have some more weather come through but it just slows the fishing down on the day that the cold front comes through and maybe a day or two after. I’m sure ready for it to warm up!

The fishing for the most part has still been good. Some days you just have to wait for it to warm up a little. The Red fish bite was a little slower then it was the week before but we still managed to catch a few each trip. We had a couple of trips that we caught 20 Red fish. The Red fish of the week was a 28 inch fish. If you are trying to catch some Red fish in water that is under 60 degrees you want to use jigs which on the cooler mornings is what we have been starting with. I have a feeling with the cold weather we will be using some jigs.

But if it was a slower bite with the Red fish the Snook made up for it. But like the Red the Snook like the warmer water. When the water temp get to about 64 degrees or more the fish have been feeding the best. All of the Snook fishing that we have been doing has been on live bait.. The Snook have been moving out of the rivers and into the surrounding bays and this time of year you can find the Snook in good size schools at times. If you get the right water temp and a good tide you can get these fish into a frenzy at times. This past week we had a few of these days and we managed to catch 25 Snook or more in a short amount of time. We caught a lot of very nice Snook last week. The Snook of the week was a 28 inch fish.

We have also caught a few Trout and Flounder .These fish do not mind the cooler water as much. You can use live bait for these fish when the water is cooler and they will still feed. We did have one nice Trout at 22 inches.

The Red tide has been pretty bad out in the bay and the fish will not feed anywhere that you see dead fish. If you run through an area like this try to get out of it quickly so your bait does not die.

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