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Anglers Who Fish The MILE-WIDE MANATEE Can Get A Mixed Bag

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By G.B. KNOWLES, Tribune correspondent

Published: November 9, 2007

There are few better, all-around places to fish in the Tampa Bay area than the mile-wide Manatee River. In early autumn, the Manatee offers terrific mixed-bag fishing from the mouth of the river to the Green Bridge that joins the small town of Palmetto with larger Bradenton.

Docks, bayous, creeks and various structure provide great fishing on both sides of the river in this area.

The mouth of the river is yielding incredible catches of redfish. Fishing guide Justin Moore caught and released 63 redfish in one day recently while fishing a large series of flats called the Bulkhead, basically the southern side of the mouth of the river. This area also provides great spotted sea trout action, and there will be some snook until very cold weather sends them further upstream.

The best access for the lower part of the river is the county-owned Palmetto boat ramp.

By turning west into the main river channel there, it is about a 15-minute run to the mouth of the river.

There's a plethora of docks providing deep water; these host snook, redfish and trout traveling upriver. The south-side docks are the most productive.

Meanwhile, the mouths of Warner's East and West Bayou, Lewis' Bayou and Ware's Creek produce great snook action. There are significant hard bottom areas just off the mouth of Lewis' Bayou, the third such water body traveling east from the river mouth. Big trout can be found there and in sheltered areas all winter. The same is true for Ware's Creek in downtown Bradenton.

More a bayou than a creek, this is the last tributary into the Manatee before the Green Bridge. At this time of year it is nearly a guaranteed snook catch, but trout and redfish are there along with an occasional Spanish mackerel.

At this time of year, even non-boating anglers can get in on the action as the old Green Bridge just off U.S. 41 has been converted into a fishing pier. Each spring and fall it yields snook, trout, redfish, grouper and tarpon catches.

As the winter wears on snook, redfish and some tarpon travel far upriver to escape the cold. At this time, the upper Manatee proves one of the best fishing locales on the coast.

By crossing to the south side of the river you can avoid a lot of boat travel and slow manatee speed zones by launching at the Braden River boat ramp. From there you can fish the Braden River, a storied winter snook spot, or continue up the larger river.

Just southeast of the mouth of the Braden, the Manatee connects to a number of canals. These canals can produce great snook and tarpon action, as can a number of small creeks on the north and south sides of the Manatee.

As the weather grows colder, the fish move further upriver. You can follow them easily by launching upriver at the Fort Hamer ramp.

It's a bit of a cheat but you often can catch tarpon and snook just 100 yards northwest of the boat ramp where a feeder creek flows into the river. At times, hordes of big crevalle jacks can be caught right off the Fort Hamer dock.

The best spots to fish are the points of islands, sandbars, deep holes, downed or overhanging timber and the mouths of the many feeder creeks.

Fort Hamer marks the freshwater line in the Manatee River, and it is fairly common to catch a snook on one cast and a bass on the next. For these reasons you may need a freshwater and saltwater fishing license to keep fish from the upper reaches of the river.

The snook action can be great downstream from the Manatee dam but only if there is water coming through the spillway. After two years of drought, that isn't likely to happen this winter.

Shrimp, whitebait, jigs and Mirr- OLures work well near the mouth of the Manatee, but the upper reaches of the river are the true domain of artificial lures and flies. Good choices are white bucktail jigs, lipped diving plugs, weighted streamer flies and true topwaters such as the Zara Spook.

It's a good river, with plenty of places to hide when the cold winds blow.

AT A GLANCE

GETTING THERE

There are three good boat ramps that provide access to the entire 30 miles below the dam on the Manatee River:

•Palmetto ramp - 833 Riverside Drive, next to the north side of the Green Bridge.

•Braden River ramp - 3020 Manatee Ave. E. (S.R. 64), adjacent to the Braden River Bridge.

•Fort Hamer ramp - 1605 Fort Hamer Road, just off U.S. 301 south of Parrish.

MORE INFO

Visit www.manatee.org; click on Parks and Recreation, Facilities, then boat ramps.

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