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Hot Action Along South Shore

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 13, 2008

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.

A return to warmer-than-usual weather made good things happen for fishermen on Tampa Bay's South Shore last week. With light winds out of the east for much of the week, sight-fishing opportunities abounded between the mouth of the Alafia River and Joe Island.

I targeted redfish Thursday and Friday on the flats south of Apollo Beach. The first day I poled us onto a big pod of reds, but all we managed was on little blue-tailed redfish on a live shrimp. I pulled a pompano jig through several groups of big fish, but they would have nothing to do with it. Tom Rinehart was with me and he also hooked a bonnethead shark on a free-lined live shrimp, but the fish spit the hook.

The next day I went back with two clients and we did a little better. Dan Simmons, a native of Brandon, caught two redfish on a pompano jig, and one of them was a classic tournament fish - 26 inches and fat. The wind blew out of the east most of the morning, then shifted to the south. The light chop made it hard to see the fish.

I saw captain Dean Henry working the deep edge of the same flat, and he told me he saw a cobia and several big bonnetheads, but couldn't do anything with them.

Captain Billy Jordan said he trolled the ship channel between Bahia Beach and the Sunshine Skyway on Friday, but caught only a grouper.
Captain Marc Noe reported hot fishing on the flats outside of Cockroach Bay and south of Port Manatee. He's still catching bluefish and Spanish mackerel on root beer-colored soft plastics. He said sugar trout and jack crevalle chewed the bottom out of the boat off Apollo Beach the next day.

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

or visit his Web site,

tampabayfishingguide.com.

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