Fall is in full swing and with that we start to get some cold front blowing in. Water temps are cooling down to low 80s and the water visibility is starting to clear up. The bait is getting to be the perfect size and the redfish are starting to spawn, which usually happens in October. Snook are fired up and the trout are pushing onto the shallow flats. Soon the creeks and Canals will be loaded with fish on negative low tide Winter days. November will be much the same as it is right now with a great bite. All is well here in Tampa Bay!
Saturday was an amazing day for fishing. The cold front with 20 mph winds was vastly approaching, but it wasn’t supposed to get windy until the latter half of the day. Unfortunately, the rain came first. Luckily, it didn’t start raining till about an hour into the trip, but once it did it wasn’t strong just steady. Enough to soak you to the core even with rain gear.
I was able to get down to the bait spot and back up with almost no wind and no rain. Bait was a little tough to get at first, but eventually it came in think to the chum. When there is no wind and very little tide the chum just wants to spread out in a big circle instead of a nice stream of it. Bait fish hit the chum slick and work their way up to the point of origin. Needless to say, I blacked out both live wells with scaled sardines, pinfish and a few threadfins.
I picked up Tony and his brother Sammy, from Pittsburgh, around 8am and headed to the first spot. This is the third time we have fished together, so now the crap taking was in full force. Good thing I can take some razzing! I wanted to fish a certain shoreline that has been lights out, but another Captain was already there and posted up directly in the middle. So, I went to the adjacent shoreline and we were quickly hooked up. First few cast and we landed two big redfish and after that it was steady action of snook, redfish, and a few jacks from a school that swam by. Through out the day we just hoped down the shorelines from nook to nook consistently catching fish in every spot.
I wasn’t going to run far in that rain and with the potential of the winds picking up greatly. Which, by the time we left at 11:30 it was starting to blow about 15 mph from the Northwest. That wind comes directly across the bay and right at the boat ramps making it an uncomfortable mission to pull the boat out in 2-foot waves. We were supposed to fish till 12pm, but we had caught well over 30 fish and the guys were soaked, cold, and tired. It was kind of cool feeling that cooler air all of a sudden hit us.
The snook and redfish were eating both pinfish and scaled sardines. At first, I had to take over casting to get an accurate cast under the mangroves, but once the tide started to drop the fish pulled out towards the edge of the tree line and the guys took over casting. I am a ridiculously good caster and I am told that almost every trip I go out. People are amazed at how accurate I can be casting to a spot. Not to toot my own horn, but I am a sniper with a rod and reel! LOL!
We caught a lot of quality redfish that morning, along with a lot of smaller redfish. I can’t complain about the smaller redfish, because it is a welcome sight to see, knowing that in a few years we will have a lot of upper and over slot redfish. The grass is also making a big comeback, but we have a long way to go to get back to what it was like. I feel that this grass growth is the main reason the fish populations are getting stronger and the mullet are also everywhere. Where a few years ago there were hardly any mullet around. I also witnessed a horseshoe crab spawn at the boat ramp on Friday. Hundreds of them were all over the near by beach. Horseshoe crabs are a good indicator that the quality of the bay’s substrate is getting better and more suitable for life and grass growth. Hopefully, there will be some major grass restoration efforts in the near future.
Sorry, I got off topic but I am passionate about the health of our estuary and the little things make we happy. Tony and Sam did an excellent job landing over 30 fish in just 3.5 hours. We also had some very bice reds pushing 30 inches and lost a dozen good fish as well.
Fishing is on fire and should stay this way for the foreseeable future. Winter time should be awesome as well. I highly suggest booking a trip sooner that later and take advantage of these great fishy conditions. Call now 407-977-7650 or go on line and book now through my website. There are no booking fees! Fishing is fun!
Capt. Bucky Goldman of Bag’Em Fishing Charters LLC www.tampafloridafishingguide.com or www.captbucky.com