2009 Looks Like It Will Be A Keeper For Trout Fishing

A stretch of unseasonably warm weather turned the bite on for South Shore anglers the past few weeks.

Mike Strickland caught a couple of short redfish between Sand Key and Big Pass while casting live shrimp rigged on a jig head and also landed a 27½-inch trout. I also hooked and landed a big trout on a live shrimp.

Trout season reopens Thursday, and all indications point to a banner season. The last four trout I've caught on the flats south of the Little Manatee River have been longer than 20 inches.

That's good news for trout fishermen. The red tide outbreak of four years ago decimated the local trout population, but they are a fast-growing fish, and it appears they have come all the way back. In fact, there seem to be more big fish around than I have seen in 15 years of fishing on Tampa Bay. In years past, I rarely caught many trout over the 20-inch mark, but this year such fish have become routine. The current limit is four trout between 15 and 20 inches, with one fish allowed over 20.

Big trout are solitary, whereas smaller fish tend to school together. When I start catching 13- and 14-inch fish, I move on. On a hot bite, you can catch such fish all day long, but they don't fight very well. Trout are not particularly hardy, and even if you handle them carefully, you will lose a few. Better to look for another spot and bigger fish than to stay there and pound the little guys. Always wet your hands before touching the trout you intend to release, and use a de-hooker. Trout intended for the table should be iced immediately and gutted as soon as they are dead. This makes for the best-eating fish.

Capt. Mark Thomas reported a hot grouper bite offshore. He told me he brought more than 20 fish to the boat, seven of which were keepers.

I have been seeing plenty of bonnethead sharks on the flats, and they are a good species to target in the winter months. They will readily eat a large live shrimp or a strip of squid, and they are great fun on flats tackle. No wire leader is necessary, especially if you use a circle hook. These sharks like shallow water in the winter months and are probably there to soak up the warmth of the sun.

With water temperature hovering in the high 60s, there are still some snook on the flats. We hooked a good snook on a chunk of frozen jack crevalle last week but lost it right at the boat. The nice thing about fishing with cut pieces of jack crevalle is that it's firm and stays on the hook. Snook and redfish both like it, and it freezes well. In the winter months, I always like to have a jack or two in the freezer. Instead of freezing the fish whole, I filet it and portion it into zipper bags. I also use ladyfish, but it's not as firm as jack and doesn't stay on the hook as well.

Lower than usual tides will continue to be the norm for the next few months, and with prevailing winds out of the north, they will often be lower than forecast.