GO FISHING is a look at the area fishing scene through the eyes of local charter boat captains and fishing guides. Today: Frank Sargeant.
Plenty of big trout in shallow water continues to be the sporting challenge, according to captain Scott Moore, who fishes mostly in lower Tampa Bay and in Terra Ceia and upper Sarasota Bay.
"They're up in a foot or two of water, it's clear and they're really spooky," says Moore. "Best way to get at them is to wade and toss a jerkbait or a small jig."
Moore says trout are much harder to see than redfish, and they often appear only as a gray shadow over the sand.
He says most of his clients had been catching trout on the Lil John soft plastic from MirrOLure this week.
The north end of Old Tampa Bay is another prime late winter wading area, with flats around Double Branch and Rocky Creek good areas to start exploring. Both reds and trout hang in the shallow potholes here, with action best the last two hours of outgoing and the first hour of incoming tides.
The South Shore waters, roughly from the Little Manatee to the Skyway, also have plenty of prime winter wading spots, including several north of the Cockroach Bay channel and more south of the Bishop Harbor slough.
Another good location, fished mostly by boat, is St. Joseph Sound north of Clearwater — the spoil islands here traditionally produce the largest trout caught in the Bay area, with fish close to 30 inches reported every winter. Most are caught on live shrimp under a popping cork.
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