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Heat Doesn't Turn Off The Bite

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 15, 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.

The wind died and the weather was unusually hot last week. Mid-day fishing was a bear, but it didn't deter the bite on the south shore of Tampa Bay.

Early in the week, I crossed the bay to fish for trout off Pinellas Point with Jeremy Johnigean and his brother, Austin. We caught a few trout immediately on MirrOlure's 52 MS, but the wind died as soon as we got there.

After 20 minutes under the broiler, we decided to put the skiff on plane and look for cobia. We didn't see any, so we headed back to the other side of the bay and caught a few snook and a single redfish at the mouth of the Little Manatee River using live sardines.

Jeremy Johnigean got an inshore slam, finishing his day with a 22-inch redfish, a short snook and two keeper trout.

The next day, I got a much earlier start and we went back to Pinellas Point and caught seven keeper-sized trout and an equal number of short ones, all on the same MirrOlure plugs. We finished the day in Little Cockroach Bay and fished chunks of fresh ladyfish for reds, but all we got for our effort was a single catfish. We were back at the dock by 11 a.m. to beat the heat and clean our catch.

David Griffith of Apollo Beach sent me a photo of a big cobia he caught while fishing with Dan Scopes, former columnist of the East Bay Breeze. Keli Emery told me she also hooked a big cobia on one of the channel buoys, but it broke off on the chain. She did put a big tripletail in the boat, along with several slot-sized redfish she caught in Little Cockroach Bay.

I have not seen any mackerel on the surface in my last three trips across the bay. That's unusual for this time of year. I did see numerous schools of threadfin herring, and a lot of bait on the flats on both sides of the bay.

Visit Fred Everson's Web site at Tampabayfishingguide.com for charter info or contact him by calling (813) 830-8890.

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