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Action Hot Along South Shore

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 2, 2007

GO FISHING is a daily look at the area fishing scene through the eyes of local charter boat captains and fishing guides. Today: Fred Everson.

Unseasonably warm weather forced me to fish nearly every day last week. Early-morning fog Thursday and Friday was a slight impediment, but water temperatures are still hovering in the upper 60s, and that makes for plenty of action on the south shore of Tampa Bay.

Early in the week I fished the flats south of Apollo Beach on the extreme low tides and had no trouble finding fish. I caught several redfish on pompano jigs, and several more on large live shrimp. I also caught a couple of jacks in the 10-pound range, and actually pulled my bait away from two fish that were much bigger.

Captain Chet Jennings said he spent most of the week in the Little Manatee River wrestling with huge jacks.

I had a nice surprise one afternoon when I cast a live shrimp to a pair of fish cruising across a sand bar. I thought they were redfish, but when one took the bait and ran with it at war speed and jumped clear of the water, I had a snook. It was well short of the 28-inch minimum, but it took drag like a much bigger fish. Snook season ended at midnight Friday and won't reopen until March 1.

Thursday morning, I got a call from captain Dean Henry in Ruskin. He was looking for company on a fly fishing outing and I was willing. We started out in Apollo Beach waiting for the tide to drop and caught a single redfish from the boat. Then we headed south of the Little Manatee River to prospect the flats for a snook or a redfish. No luck with either, but we did catch a handful of jack crevalle on flies.

To contact captain Fred
Everson, call (813) 830-8890,

or visit his Web site,

tampabayfishingguide.com.

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