Guide bites
Capt. George Hastick (727-525-1005): Capt. George has been spending some time fishing around the mouth of the bay, working grass flats near the Skyway Bridge in 5 feet of water and doing well on trout. Live sardines or jigs with soft plastic tails are working. He’s also finding them on the grass in the same depth below the Gandy Bridge. Bonito have moved up close to the beaches at the mouth, as well as around the Skyway fishing pier. Working mangroves on both sides of the bay from the Gandy north, snook are responding to chum and coming out to take live sardines. The reds have been buried about 10 feet into the mangroves, but will come out to about as far as 10 feet onto the open flats with some chumming.
Capt. Chuck Rogers (813-918-8356): Capt. Chuck is fishing more toward the mouth of the bay and on the beaches, as that’s where the action has been best. He’s been scoring bonito to 12 pounds off the Don Cesar, but also doing well on Spanish mackerel there. A lot of sharks are in that area, and several of the bonito are being cut in half by them before they can be landed. The water temperature after the last cold front was 72 degrees, putting things into the transition to a solid fall pattern. This week he’ll be working dock and bridge pilings, as well as submerged rocks for sheepshead, which fire up and feed better as the water cools. He’ll also be working the shell bars for pompano, which should be responding favorably to the colder water. The sheepshead take live shrimp or fiddler crabs well, while Doc’s Goofy jigs, sometimes tipped with shrimp to sweeten the offering, are the ticket for pompano.
Tackle shop roundup
Riviera Bait & Tackle (727-954-6365): Billy says now is the time to fish. His customers have been reporting good action on trout, reds and snook fishing in and around the Gandy Bridge area on both sides of the bay. Grass flats from Weedon to Picnic islands have been holding trout in 4 to 6 feet of water. Look for flats with deeper sand holes in them and also work the drop-offs into deeper water. Live shrimp or jigs with soft-plastic tails work well. The reds have been around the shallows at Weedon Island, as well as in Coffeepot Bayou. Anglers say they have been running with the mullet schools, so keep an eye out for moving mullet and you may find the reds. Snook are inching their way more and more into backwaters, creeks and canals as the water cools, but some are still feeding on outside points and mangroves to fatten up for winter before making a commitment to moving into the backcountry. Sheepshead fishing is picking up with the cooling water and the average size of fish is getting bigger. They are on any kind of structure right now.
Gandy Bait & Tackle (813-839-5551): Bill says his customers have been slamming the mangrove snapper. Shrimp fished around rocks, docks, and under the bay bridges have been producing lots of keeper-sized fish and plenty of limits have been reported. Anglers are finding some schooling mackerel in the middle of the bay below the Gandy Bridge, and there has been an uptick in the redfish bite over the past week. Most of the better redfish reports have been coming from the northern part of the bay, with some schools being found around mangroves and flooded oyster bars. Fresh cut bait has been the go-to choice for them. The big tarpon are still being found up the bay, but no place has been producing hookups like the Skyway Bridge. A few have been hooked around Port Manatee. The Skyway also has been producing the best Spanish mackerel catches. Trout fishing has been good along many of the channel edges that rise up to grass flats. Live shrimp or jigs with soft plastic tails are working well.
Clearwater Bait & Tackle (727-669-5455): Anglers have been working the creek mouths above the Courtney Campbell Causeway, doing well on redfish and a few snook. Rocky and Double Branch creeks are being mentioned the most. Anglers fishing grass beds on the north side of the causeway have been scoring some trout on live shrimp. The causeway bridge pilings are producing some nice catches of sheepshead, which have been showing up in better numbers and the fish being landed are larger on average. Live and frozen shrimp work, but so do fiddler crabs and sand fleas.
