Guide bites
Capt. Chuck Rogers (813-918-8356): Capt. Chuck says he’s seeing some nice-sized sheepshead hanging around dock pilings in the Gandy Bridge area. Live fiddler crabs and shrimp are good bait choices. Mangrove snapper have been around docks, as well, though anglers will have to weed out lots of undersized fish. Live or frozen shrimp takes them. There are plenty of trout on the grass flats in 6 to 7 feet of water above and below the Gandy Bridge, although as of late the numbers of undersized fish have increased to the point that it takes more time and covering more water to connect with the slot-sized fish. Live shrimp, scaled sardines or jigs with soft-plastic tails are top baits to try. Reds are moving up close to mangroves and bars when the water is up, falling into deeper pockets when the tide falls. They will take live or dead baits when shallow, but the bite turns off when they are waiting out the tide in deeper water. Bay water temperatures over the past week have been in the high 60s and Capt. Chuck advises anglers to look for action off the Bay power plants at Big Bend and Weedon Island when the water cools to around 64 degrees, which it may reach this week.
Capt. George Hastick (727-525-1005): Capt. George reports that his anglers have been hooking some keeper-sized flounder. For those who want to target them, the season opened Dec. 1. He’s finding them on sandy bottom and grass flats with sand holes. They feed on the bottom, so a jig worked through the sand or shrimp on a jig or with some weight gets it done. He’s finding fair numbers of trout on the grass flats in 4 to 6 feet of water, but a lot more of the fish being hooked have been undersized in fishing over the past week. Live sardines, live shrimp or Sea Shad soft plastics on jigs are taking them. For those who net sardines, the schools have vacated the flats, so finding them requires netting in deeper canals and under bridges. He’s been finding most of his reds and school around docks, but also up around mangroves on high water. He’s been fishing above and below both sides of the Gandy Bridge. He cautions anglers to approach mangroves slowly, as some of the reds and snook are out on the flat 50 feet or more from the growth, so try not to spook them. The reds have been taking live sardines and shrimp, while most of the snook his customers have hooked were on live sardines or pinfish. There are scattered schools of black drum in the Bay and when fishing for reds, anglers may come across them. Schools of jacks have been around, with fish 1 to 3 pounds typical. They will take any kind of natural or artificial bait most of the time.
Tackle shop roundup
Gandy Bait & Tackle (813-839-5551): Bill reports the opening of flounder season has a few of his customers targeting them. There have been reports of some nice-sized fish taken on sandy and hard bottom flats on the Hillsborough and Pinellas sides of the Bay between the Gandy and Howard Frankland bridges. Live shrimp on the bottom works well, but jigs with soft-plastic tails also work. He advises dragging the jigs along the sand rather than hopping or jigging the lures. The trail of “sand smoke” created by dragging signals the flounder that prey such as a crab or shrimp is moving. Trout fishing has been pretty good on the grass flats in much of the Bay, with fish in 4 to 6 feet of water and taking jigs with soft-plastic tails or live shrimp. Many are reporting a lot of undersized fish, so anglers will have to put in the time for a limit of keepers. The trout bite has been better on cloudy days; it’s even better before a front when the barometer is dropping. Once the front passes, the sunny, blue-sky days see the bite slow down. As with the trout, many of the redfish reports over the past week have noted that undersized reds have been abundant, with slot-sized fish taking some time to locate. The flats off Weedon Island have produced for some. Cooler air that arrived last week seems to have pushed the schools of Spanish mackerel out of the Bay, but Bill thinks they may not be gone for the winter just yet. If we get a few warm days, he expects they will work up into the Bay again. If things go the other way and we see more cooling, sheepshead are going to be a natural, as the species feeds most actively in colder water. Likewise for black drum, which have been found in several parts of the Bay running in schools on flats, around oyster bars and rocks…