Water Cools Off -- Action Heats Up
Capt. Fred Everson
October 31, 2008
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
The first serious cold fronts ripped across Tampa Bay this week, and for those who got out ahead of them the fishing was good. It was windy for most of the past week, so my fishing was confined to the Little Manatee River.
Capt. Chet Jennings also fished the river and told me he did pretty well on snook and jack crevalle. He was using live bait, which was still plentiful everywhere on the southshore flats this week.
I went upriver this weekend and caught several jacks and some short snook on sardines while fishing with J. J. Johnigean of Plant City. The wind was honking out of the north, so travel in my 17 foot skiff was limited, but we didn't have to go far to net some bait. A few tosses of my quarter inch net was all it took, but many of the baits were small.
Capt. Rick Bollinger told me that trolling for grouper has been productive. He said he caught several keepers trolling jigs on planers. He said he rigged one planer with a large spoon for Spanish mackerel, but caught a grouper on it.
The mackerel bite has remained steady in deep water around the ship channel, and there have been some big fish in the mix.
It has been unseasonably cold for the past few days. That could send the bait on its way south, and it could also move some cobia into the hotwater outflow at the power plant in Apollo Beach. Soon as the wind dies down, I'm going to give it a look.
I also skipped some pompano coming off the flats at Simmons Park earlier this week but did not catch any. This is the right time of year to find them on the Southshore flats. Pompano jigs seem to catch them as well as sand fleas or fiddler crabs, and you can cover a lot more water with the artificials.
For more information visit Tampabayfishingguide.com, or call Capt. Fred Everson at 813 830 8890
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