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Fish Biting Drops Off With Cooling Water Temperatures

Photo by FRED EVERSON

Three-foot bonnetheads are sporty on light tackle and usually abundant on the flats all winter. For Angler's Almanac column.

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FRED EVERSON

Tribune correspondent

Published: December 3, 2008

A series of cold fronts has made for some difficult fishing on Tampa Bay's South Shore flats. Water temperature is now at 65 degrees - the point where snook stop actively feeding, and other species slow down.

There are some opportunities on the flats, and unlike in warm-weather fishing, they usually occur in the middle of the afternoon on a sunny day. Water temperatures rise quickly in the shallows, and this attracts fish all up and down the food chain. And while fish may be feeding, they are going to be slower about it and eating smaller baits. The live bait of choice here is shrimp. Plastic shrimp are also a good choice for artificial bait anglers, and so are plastic crabs and pompano jigs.

Speaking of pompano, they were on the flats in front of the E.G. Simmons Park boat ramp for a couple of weeks, but I had a hard time getting them to eat. I skipped dozens of fish behind the boat as we idled across the flat but hooked only a single pompano and several ladyfish. During my last two trips there, I didn't skip any fish.

I checked the hot water outflow at the Tampa Electric Co. power plant in Apollo Beach last week for cobia, but I didn't see any. Water clarity wasn't very good, and there was a fair breeze out of the north, which made it even harder to see anything in the water. There were some eagle rays present, and they were free jumping around the pilings that denote the idle speed zone. There were probably cobia there, but spotting one would have been a stroke of luck.

I did see a few bonnethead sharks over bare sand in front of the seawall. I caught one fish on a jig head rigged with a strip of squid. Something I've been experimenting with is trying to figure out what to cast at bonnetheads. They will often follow an artificial but virtually never take it. I have foul-hooked several fish that bumped the line when they closed in for a look at the lure but have never hooked a big bonnethead in the mouth with an artificial.

They apparently don't see well, and if the bait doesn't have any scent to it, they won't eat it. These sharks do like frozen squid, however, and they will eat it when served on a jig head - a good trick to know for winter fishing, when sharks are often the only game in town.

I also saw a big blacktip shark on the flats south of Apollo Beach while looking for cobia. Blacktips will take an artificial if you put it in their face, but it must be rigged to a wire leader; if the fish gets his teeth on a monofilament leader, you are out a lure.

The best sight-fishing opportunities for this week will be early in the afternoon starting today. We will have a minus tide just after noon on Wednesday and about an hour later on Thursday and Friday.

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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