TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Recent Cold Snap Had A Devastating Effect

ADVERTISEMENT

By FRANK SARGEANT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 9, 2008

It has been so long since we had a real freeze along our shores that many anglers have nearly forgotten the sometimes devastating result of a sudden surge of cold weather.

But last Thursday night, all were reminded as temperatures plunged as low as 29 degrees before dawn, ice froze in birdbaths, and thousands of saltwater fish floated up dead and dying, victims of the rapid change.

In fact, on the Little Manatee River, so many fish died that hundreds of buzzards gravitated to the area, feeding on the beached carcasses for days.

Temperatures hit a low of 29 at Charlotte Harbor, and as low as 27 around Tampa Bay. That's a hard freeze, any way you slice it. It killed gamefish, baitfish and vegetation in some areas.

Captain William Toney of Homosassa reported many dead jacks, ladyfish and other bait species, fish but not many gamefish. Toney said a positive of the cold was that it pushed lots of reds, sheepshead, drum and trout to the hot-water outflow of the nuclear power plant at Crystal River, where fishing was outstanding for several days following the big chill.

Captain Sergio Atanes was on the Little Manatee on Friday morning, and reported hundreds of dead and dying jacks.

"A lot of them got caught on the sandbars and in the mangroves, and then the wind blew the tide out and they died up there," Atanes said. He said his anglers had poor fishing for several days after the freeze, except at the Apollo Beach power plant, where the warm water gave up a 27-inch snook.

Captain Billy Nobles said his water temperature gauge showed a 20-degree drop from Thursday into Friday, but he did not observe many dead fish. He said there were a lot of blacktip sharks near the Apollo Beach power plant, but lots of fishing pressure kept most from biting. Nobles said he was able to find several schools of keeper trout in area creeks, and his anglers made good catches on Gulp lures.

Captain Chet Jennings, who fishes the South Shore flats, said he saw no dead fish in the shallows after the cold passed.

"I think the snook were already in the river holes, and the reds can stand water a lot colder than that, so we didn't have any kill in that area," Jennings said. "It seems like the redfish bite has slowed down with the colder water, though - we've switched to Gulp baits on bottom to get them, rather than using artificials like we were before the front."

Jennings said that despite the cold, redfish apparently remained in many of the sloughs in the flats along the South Shore, where they have been most of the winter. He said there were a few large trout in the inside waters, too.

Captain Ray Markham said he saw no dead snook or trout at Terra Ceia but jacks, tilapia, mojarra and other species died in the backwaters.

At Charlotte Harbor, captain Scott Moore said he saw plenty of dead jacks and others, but only a few small snook.

"The snook that got caught in the shallower potholes when the tide went out didn't make it, but the ones in the canals and bigger holes didn't have any problem," said Moore. "I went around the railroad trestle at Gasparilla on Saturday and the fish had already moved back in there, although they had all been run out on Friday."

The cold apparently didn't last long enough to kill mangroves, at least in the Bay area, though some were showing signs of "burned" leaves by early this week. The trees can survive losing most of their leaves, and regrowth in the spring months is rapid.

Overall, area fishing didn't suffer nearly as much as it could have if the cold had been more severe or longer-lasting. Anglers can hope that we'll manage to slide through the rest of the winter without another Arctic Express, thus preserving the "bank" of warm-water gamefish that has been drawing interest for the last decade.

HUNTING NOTE: While cold makes fishing tough, it often makes deer hunting great. Most hunters note that there's a secondary rut in January, and if cold weather arrives during this period, the bucks that normally come out only after dark may run the woods all day long, looking for a last opportunity to breed. The season extends through Jan. 20 in the central zone and through Feb. 13 in the northwest zone.

BOATING COURSE: The Hernando Beach Coast Guard Auxiliary begins a Boating Skills and Seamanship course today, and a Weather and Boating Course on Saturday. Call the club at (352) 573-8155 for location, time and fees.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT