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January Angling Shaping Up Nicely

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 9, 2008

Despite the recent cold front, weather has been pretty fair for the first week of the year.

The water temperature remains in the high 60s, clarity is good, and the fishing has been consistent.

I had some trouble getting redfish to eat my past few trips, but I caught a few bonnethead sharks to take up the slack. These fish have been mostly in the 10-pound class.

Capt. Dean Henry caught some snook in the Little Manatee River with his wife, Sharon, and said the bite was hot. I can believe it.

The day after Christmas I took a walk along the sea wall at the mouth of the river and saw pods of big snook laid up along the drop-off. I threw a plug at them and had a couple of big fish interested, but nothing took the bait.

It is an exercise in futility with fish more than 34 inches anyway. Even if you manage to hook one, they will go where they want, and there's nothing that can be done about it. Still, it's fun to get a jump or two out of them before they break off on the pilings.

Capt. Chet Jennings also fished the Little Manatee River last week, catching lots of jack crevalles and snook on live bait. He told me he was getting up early and going to the Skyway to net pilchards, and that it was fairly easy.

He also said there was some bait still to be had locally on the range markers, but the Skyway has been a sure thing. Jennings is running a big bay boat that will run dry in a 2-foot chop, so the 12-mile run is not a problem.

Capt. Larry Malinoski said the grouper bite has been hot around the Skyway, but the fish have been mostly short. He also went offshore with Capt. Glen Taylor out of St. Petersburg to catch some big amberjacks.

Trout are back in season, and the early reports are good.

I waded the flats in front of Big Pass last week and saw plenty of redfish on the minus tide, but they would have nothing to do with the fly I was throwing. Jennings had similar luck before he went back to the boat for his spinning rod. He caught a couple of reds and some nice trout on soft plastic shrimp.

January 2007 could be a tough act to follow, but thus far it looks like it could be a repeat.

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 e-mailing ihuntsnook@aol.com.

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