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Tampa Bay - Saltwater
Capt. Matt Ercoli
December 5, 2006
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hi everyone, we sure are having some great weather this December. Winds out of the north today and it’s probably still 70 plus as I write this at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Well I have a few interesting things to talk about before we get to the report. First is on an offshore outing aboard a friend of mines boat, the Lucky Dog, we nailed a sailfish about 30 miles out, not a big one but about 65 inches or so. That’s a pretty rare catch in these parts and only the second I’ve been part of. The funny thing is that the fish hit a grouper rig with a 6 once weight with dead bait sitting on the bottom. Who would of thought there was a sailfish on the end of that rod, especially when we had flat lines out on the surface. Another thing I saw on the water this past week was an osprey carrying a flounder. Now I have never seen that before, I’ve seen them flying along with all kinds of different fish, but how do suppose an osprey saw and then dove down to catch a mud covered, camo colored fish like a flounder on the bottom. As he past by my fisherman and I admired the beautiful sight and I exclaimed, “well you’ll never seen that again”. Of course wouldn’t you know that 15 minutes later another osprey passed by carrying a flounder coming from the opposite direction. So I guess they are much better fishermen than I ever thought. I wonder if they catch stingrays too. I’ll let you know as soon as I see that, you can bet on it.
Okay more on fishing. With winter coming on we are going into a transition phase. Water temp is critical to locating and catching fish on a consistent basis this time of year. A good fisherman knows that the water temp gauge is crucial to locating and catching fish from one day to the next. A few degree change in temp can effect my whole approach, from location to the bait I use to catch them.
Redfishing has been very good, especially on the coldest days. We had a few days where we caught over 50 and never pulled anchor. They are ranging from 16 to 26 inches depending on the school. Sometimes I find myself weeding though lots of small reds to get a nice keeper. The action is real fast and it’s a lot of fun. There are still a lot of green back minnows around but it seems that the reds have switch to shrimp, even on the warmer days shrimp are what the reds are eating.
As for snook, I’m still pitching the white bait to them but on some of the colder days shrimp was working better for them as well. Now that the water is back in the 70s white bait is choice. This past week we averaged probably 20 to 30 snook per day, mostly small, 22 to 25 inches but we did have a few keepers under 30 inches. The water is ultra clear on a lot of the flats where snook are laying and on some they are a little finicky. I have actually been targeting snook which are hold up in the dirty water so they are easier to fool.
There are nice trout around, though I haven’t been targeting them, I’ve been seeing some nice schools of large eating size fish on deeper grass, remember trout season opens on the first of January.
We have also been getting some nice jacks in real shallow water while fishing for snook. Most is in the 10 to 12 pound range and a few larger. I know you fly fisherman out there like to here that.
Sheephead are also in thick and are mixed in with the reds. We have caught them up to 6 pounds thus far.
As for offshore, grouper is the main target, there are still a few large kings out there now that the water has warmed up, we had a pair around 20 pounds a few days ago. The grouper are everywhere though I haven’t targeted them much lately. It seems that most are within 20 miles to all the way up in the Tampa bay ships channel.
Well I hope you have enjoyed my report. My calendar is already starting to fill for next year and well into tarpon season this next summer. If you are planning a trip start getting it together. I really fill up after New Years.
Seasons greeting,
Capt. Matt
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