Clearwater
and Tampa Bay
Florida Fishing Reports
February 27, 2011 - Spotted Sea Trout remains my main target fish throughout
February. The shallow grass flats from Clearwater north to Tarpon Springs have been abundant with
Speckled Trout this month. My favorite artificial bait has been the Mister Twister
Exude Dart or Gulp’s three inch shrimp on 1/8th. oz. Mission
jigs. Although trout love live shrimp, you can out fish someone using shrimp with one of these jigs. You can cover more water
and find more fish fan casting as you slowly drift the near shore flats. Speckled
Trout is my favorite inshore fish to take home for a fish fry.
Next
month I will be turning my attention back to Redfish. The deeper residential docks with oysters and shells underneath will
be a gathering place for larger fish. I have done entire fishing trips around
a few docks in the Clearwater area.
The Scaled Sardines will also be showing up inshore in March. It’s been several months since I’ve thrown
the net and I am ready to get started. See you on the water.
Oct. 15, 2010 was a great day for fishing the shallow
waters of Clearwater FL. Bait was plentiful on the grass flats just inside of the barrier islands passes. I was targeting Redfish on the edges of the flats in 1 to 2 feet of water. The fish were not schooled up but scattered about the edge waiting for the incoming water. All three anglers today caught Redfish: the largest at 29 inches.
Mike, from Tampa, got the Inshore Slam consisting of
a large Snook, Redfish and several Speckled Trout. With the lower water temps. the Snook have been migrating further inshore
away from the beaches. A few Spanish Mackerel were also mixed in with today’s
catch. This month and through November should bring excellent catches of these
fast swimmers.
July 18th. Spotted Sea Trout remains a decent
catch throughout June and July with several large fish being landed. Miss Lydia, visiting with her father, from Alabama
caught a 25 inch fish using a Scaled Sardine for bait. Lydia also had a blast catching several Black-Tip sharks. While several sharks were swimming around the boat, she would just lower her sardine to the nearest one
and the fight would begin. Many Tarpon were seen on this fishing trip in a deep
cut near the Islands of Tampa Bay. We had a
few bites but no solid Tarpon hook-ups on this trip.
Shark fishing should be excellent all summer long. Late afternoon trips ending
around 9 or 10pm can be scheduled in order to avoid the heat of the day. Rock
piles along the beaches will hold Redfish, Black Drum and Flounder through-out August and September.
May 2010 was a great month for fishing in the Tampa
Bay area! Tarpon, Redfish,
Spotted Trout, Spanish Mackerel and Grouper were biting well through-out the month.
Mackerel and Grouper were nice by-catches while fishing for Tarpon around the bridges of Tampa Bay. A large Cobia was also caught this month by my good friend, Art, while visiting from California.
Tarpon were feeding mostly on Threadfin Hearing and Pass Crabs, drifting with the current, near the bridge structure. The strong tides during the new moon phase had the best bite for Tarpon. When the current slacked up a bit, the Grouper came up to feed. Pulling
the Grouper off the bottom and out of their rocky holes was a bit of a challenge when using spinning gear. Therefore, give the fish a little slack line, within a few minutes the fish will swim out of the rocks
and the fight will resume. Sharks were also out in abundance on the shallow flats
of Clearwater Harbor. If you would enjoy catching sharks and watching them take
your bait near the boat, reserve a fishing trip this summer.
February remained almost as cold as January. The best fishing days were the second or third day after a cold front had past through. We found the Spotted Sea Trout bite was best in the afternoon after the moon started
to rise. Mike and Stacey, visiting from up north, caught several nice fish on
artificial jigs near the small Islands lining the coast of Clearwater and Dunedin. Clear, clean water was the key to finding
trout as the cloudy water near the passes did not produce fish. On February 23rd,
Scott W. went fishing for his 60th Birthday. Although, weather was
not ideal - we managed to keep eight nice trout for a family fish fry. Residential
canals have been productive this month offering some protection from the cold windy days. Steve’s
friend caught a large 34 inch Redfish under a boat dock in Clearwater.
He was using shrimp for bait. March should offer warmer days and water temperatures
that make fishing more pleasant. Come on Spring!