Fishing Tampa's Flats and Bay

What a change! Over the weekend I had back to back charters and the warmer temps and light winds were more than welcome. Clear blue skies and sunshine made the weekend fishing most enjoyable.

On Saturday I had a group of three guys from Ohio. Eric,Mike and M were a pleasure to have on the boat and there friendly banter made for some laughs. The fishing ended up being much better than it had been. I took the guys to some residential canals as I felt they would provide the best action. This first stop would produce lady fish and the guys had know problem after some short instructions casting and getting the retrieve down. I did not keep a tally but I guess they landed over 20 or so of them.

Lady fish

At times the action could get a little intense as the Pelicans are very hungry right now and they would try and grab the fish off the hook. This made for one close call of a Pelican getting hooked but between Eric and I we were able to free the bird uninjured.

On our next stop we worked another canal. This one would hold trout today. The water temp had come up just two degrees and this seemed to turn the fish on. The lure presentation was a bit different this time. But once again the guys caught on and caught around 25 trout. If they would of been keeping fish to eat they would of easily had there limits but all fish were released for future guest.

Eric w/ trout

M w/ trout

On Sunday morning I woke and got ready to head out. I was a little concerned when I got in the truck and I had ice on the windshield. In the back of my mind I could only think how this may have a bad effect on the fishing. I had no choice other than head to the ramp as my guest for this day Ed and Dennis were driving from Sarasota. They were depending on me to put them on some fish.

I knew once again our best chance was going to be fishing the canals. The fish were in the same place I left them the day before but the water temp had dropped overnight so the fish were just not as eager to eat. Ed and Dennis had the jigging down but only managed to entice a few lady’s to eat.

Dennis working the area with a jig

The bite totally shut off so we made our move to the trout canal. The guys started off with the soft plastic jigs,but it was not going to happen this way. I removed the soft plastic and and threaded a live shrimp onto the jig head. This combined with crawling the baits slowly across the bottom got the bite. In all honesty the action was very slow and only a few trout were caught.

Sunday ended up being a little cooler out than Saturday. It was still clear sunny skies but it just wasnt enough to warm the water.

Ed w/ trout

For the next week the weather is supposed to be pretty nice with temps in the 70’s. We have another front coming through but its supposed to be a mild one. Spring is supposed to begin on the 20th of the month. It can not come soon enough.

Don’t forget to check back . I will keep posting up the reports no matter how good or bad.

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