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The Wind Has Died Down, And The Ladyfish Are Biting

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2007

The strong winds that have plagued anglers for weeks abated in early November.

I finally got a chance to put the boat in the water without a small-craft warning in effect. In fact, I was surprised to step outside one morning last week and find it dead flat calm.

I had fished both days prior without much luck. We caught a lot of catfish, a small trout and a top-of-the-slot redfish in the teeth of a good northeast blow.
Water clarity was poor, bait was scarce and the fishing was pretty tough.

I fished the river one day last weekend and didn't catch anything on cut bait. The adverse conditions had every fisherman on the South Shore in the river trying to stay out of the wind, and with that much traffic, the fish are usually safe.

I had skipped a couple of pompano north of the Little Manatee River on my way home and I was eager to see whether the fish were still there.

Once you leave the river, there is a vast manatee protection area that is supposed to be idle speed, which is fine when looking for pompano. They skip out of the water in the boat's wake as you drive over them.

Many boaters, however, are either unaware of the slow-speed zone, or they simply ignore it. The waters north of Bahia Beach looked more like a speedboat race than an idle-speed zone.

There were birds diving on the 6-foot line off Mangrove Point, and it turns out the disturbance was caused by ladyfish and Spanish mackerel.

I lost three pompano jigs to the mackerel before I finally wised up and tied on a 50-pound leader.

Then I started catching ladyfish, which I like to keep a good supply of in the freezer for the winter months and times when live bait is scarce.

The action was hot for about an hour and a half. I caught a dozen ladyfish, three pompano, two flounder, a trout and a jack crevalle, all on the same banana-shaped pompano jig.

Taking full advantage of the absence of wind, I idled all the way up to Apollo Beach looking for cobia. The water was pretty murky from all the wind of the past few weeks.

I did see several big eagle rays, but no cobia.

Then I went inshore to see whether the clarity was better on the edge of the grass. It was too murky to see much, even in 2 feet of water, so I called it a day.

With the water temperature in the low 70s the action should heat up for the next few weeks.

Fish ahead of the cold fronts for the best bite. Look for snook to be staging on the flats, and these fish will be eating.

Redfish schools will start to break up into smaller groups, and will feed on a low incoming tide.

Sheepshead will move onto the flats and should bite best on extreme low tides, where they get trapped in some of the deeper potholes.

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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