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Now's The Time To Catch Snook, Tripletail, Macks, Grouper

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 31, 2007

Updated: 10/29/2007 11:33 pm

Typically good fall fishing on the south shores of Tampa Bay is the report for this week.

Capt. Chet Jennings tells me the action on redfish has been good, and that's to be expected in October. He's also seeing some oversized fish, and that's also normal. The big breeders are in the bay this time of year to feed on the wide variety of baitfish that are stacked up on the flats during their southward migration.

Jennings also said the snook bite has been much better this month.

While fishing with his son Matthew, Capt. Danny Guarino hooked into a late-season tarpon at the Sunshine Skyway - a really big one. He estimated the fish at 6 feet and more than 100 pounds.

Capt. Mark Thomas reported a school of big Spanish mackerel on the flats south of the Port Manatee spoil island, and he said they were mixed in with some large trout. He told me he was still catching bait on the flats, and that it was plentiful.

Capt. Larry Malinoski has been trolling for grouper inside the Skyway with some success. One day last week, he put four big gags in the box but caught mostly shorts the next day. He attributed the difference to a much slower tide on the second day.

Keli Emery took advantage of the nice weather and ran the marks in search of tripletail, her favorite fish. She and her sister Jandy Wade boated a pair of 10-pounders on live shrimp under the cans north of the Bahia Beach reef. I don't know of another Tampa Bay angler who puts more large tripletail in the box than Emery.

Snook are starting to move into the upper reaches of the Little Manatee River, even though the water temperature is hovering around 80 degrees. I suspect it has more to do with the declining hours of daylight than anything else, but there are some snook on the flats.

No word yet from anyone on cobia, but they should be here any day. Last one I saw was on the tripod off Bahia, and I kick myself for reaching for the fly rod instead of the camera. It was a keeper-sized fish in clear water circling a mark, and I can always use a good photograph of a cobia. It came after the black eel fly twice, short striking it both times.

One more month remains for snook fishermen, as the season's closure has been moved up a couple of weeks to Dec. 1.

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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