TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Little Water Yields Some Big Fish

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2007

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

Water barely covered the bay bottom when Lee and Mitchell Brown of Roanoke, Va., stepped into my flats boat. The boat barely floated in the 6 to 8 inches of water that covered the "deep" holes in Miguel Bay. The plan was to run north and east of the Sunshine Skyway along Tampa Bay's south shore. I headed for some deeper holes that would hold fish on the falling tide, which was headed for a negative low, nearly a foot below normal.

With nearly two hours before the tide bottomed out, I struggled on the push pole to work the boat back into some large holes before the surrounding bottom dried up. At one point, the water was dropping so fast I had to get out of the boat and push. Once at my destination, I put the trolling motor down and eased my way around while we worked the huge pothole with CAL Jigs with Shad tails.

The results were astounding. We had just come off the full moon, but the fish in the hole started biting. In the first two hours, we released a redfish, about a dozen ladyfish, a giant doormat flounder and 75 trout, with the largest speck weighing more than 4 pounds.

During the next couple of hours, the tide rose enough that we could get out of the hole and explore the other potholes nearby before we decided to run back into Terra Ceia Bay.

There, we targeted snook and redfish. The water temperature was 79 degrees, 7 degrees warmer than in Tampa Bay. The fish we found responded. Eight snook, six redfish, a half-dozen catfish and another 30 trout later, it was time to head in.

Ray Markham co-hosts "Florida Sportsman Magazine Radio Live," from 8-9 a.m. Saturdays on WWBA, 1040 AM, and can be reached for charter at

(941) 723-2655.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT