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Freshwater Fishing Now At Peak

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 28, 2008

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

Now that late January has arrived, freshwater fishing will be at its peak for the next three months.

First up is the bass spawn. February and early March have always been the better months, although like so many other things it will all depend on the weather. Last year saw spawning females in December then several fronts kept a lot of bass off the beds until March. This year could be the same, but best bet for a trophy should be the new and full moons of February. The speck spawn is normally a little later although the specks I caught this week already had decent-size roe.

Wednesday I fished with Ronald Davis and Joel Capps in a phosphate pit south of Mulberry. From the first cast we knew it was going to be one of those magical trips. Speckled perch, bass and bluegill were stacked up where the water was flowing into the pit and we hit the jackpot. Minnows did the most damage on the specks with most fish averaging 13 inches and a few even larger. As Davis and Capps speck fished I threw a Zoom Baby Bass Super Fluke into the mouth of the creek, letting it flow down the sandbar. After a couple of hours the creek bite slowed, so we drifted the deeper holes and managed several more specks, bass, mudfish and an 11-pound catfish that nearly spooled Davis' spinning rig.

For charter trip information, contact Mark Cook at (813) 846-9277 or send an e-mail

to tribfishing@aol.com.

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