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Fish The Flats To Find Redfish

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2007

Updated: 12/03/2007 07:13 pm

Snook are now a catch-and-release proposition until March 1.

Most of the South Shore anglers I spoke to indicate a robust population of small snook this year, which could bode well for the future. The slot limit for snook was also tightened this year, with keepers having to measure between 28 and 33 inches, with one fish per day on the Gulf Coast.
Redfish are still schooling on the flats.

On a minus tide in the early morning after Thanksgiving I waded the flats with my fly rod with Capt. Chet Jennings. We saw plenty of tails, but neither of us hooked a fish.

The next day the water temperature dropped, and I returned to the same area and never saw the first tail. I did spook a school of about 30 reds out of a hole, but couldn't even get them to eat a real shrimp.

I finally got one fish to hit a jerk bait on my way back to the boat, but that fish missed the hook.

The low tide got even lower the following day. With a -.7 tide at 9 a.m. and light winds out of the east, it was a perfect day to sight fish from the skiff. I poled onto the flats south of Apollo Beach as shallow as I could get and purposely hung the boat on a sand bar.

I would wait there for fish to come into casting range until the tide changed and the boat floated off. I got one hit on a blind cast, but never saw anything but a bonnethead shark.

An hour later, I poled out to deeper water and caught a small redfish casting to the edge of a patch of grass. A few minutes later, I poled into casting range of a big school of reds that looked to be near or above the top of the 18- to 27-inch slot.

I hooked up with my first cast and the entire school followed the one hooked back to the boat. Seeing all those fish around the boat made me wish I had the camera in my hands instead of the fishing rod. Then the hook pulled, and I couldn't get another bite from the fish that were still milling around the boat.

I decided to leave these fish alone for the rest of the day, and let the wind take me out to the edge of the flat. On the way I hooked a 10-pound jack crevalle. The fish was full of fight and took nearly 20 minutes to land on my 10-pound test monofilament.

That afternoon I had some folks over for grilled bonnethead shark, and I can't begin to praise enough the quality of that fish.

I caught the shark a couple of weeks earlier, steaked it and removed the skin. Then I soaked the steaks in a solution of salt water and vinegar for about three hours. I rinsed the steaks and froze them, then thawed them out in the fridge the day I was ready to cook them. I marinated them for three hours and cooked them on a charcoal grill for three minutes a side, and it may be the best piece of fish I have ever eaten.

Fred Everson is a Ruskin fishing guide. All South Shore fishermen and guides may submit information and photographs to be included in this column by calling (813) 830-8890 or sending an e-mail to ihuntsnook @aol.com.

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