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It's Time To Get Ready For Redfish, Snook

Photo by FRED EVERSON

Mike Stuart of North Carolina caught this hefty mackerel on a live sardine off Port Manatee.

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 2, 2008

Updated:

Snook season is on, and good riddance to August.

It was a wet month with lots of wind, and fishing was worse than slow. Even though we didn't get much weather out of Fay, it sure blew like crazy for nearly a week.

Water temperature in the gulf was down to 86 degrees and that should get some fish moving.

Expect to see big schools of redfish all over southern Tampa Bay in the next few weeks. Snook should also be on the flats and around the river mouths until the water temps dip below 70 - that's usually sometime after Halloween.

September can be another month of doldrums, or the action can light up. But it all depends on water temperature and weather. One of my best days ever came on Sept. 1 about 10 years ago.

I caught and released 14 snook in about an hour and a half while wading with artificials - and five of those fish were in the slot. I haven't had a day like that on artificials in a long time. A year ago, water temperature stayed high and fishing was slow until it cooled off in October.

Conditions are such when the water is this warm that soft plastic baits rigged weedless are a best bet. Any exposed hook is apt to pick up weeds and algae, and that will even deter strikes on live bait.

I will be fishing soft plastic jerk baits for the next month or so rigged on keeper hooks. I like dark colored bait on weighted hooks for redfish, and white bait with no weight for snook. Trout will hit both baits in low-light situations - sunrise, sunset or a swift-moving tide on an overcast day.

As for live bait, there have been several big schools of scaled sardines hanging around the mouth of the Little Manatee River for more than a month. Most of the baits are small, but mixed with some that are big enough to fish with. Small baits call for a quarter-inch mesh cast net, otherwise you will be picking gillies out of the net for a long time.

I am still seeing schools of threadfins on the surface, and most of the bigger baits I am finding north of the Bahia Beach artificial reef.

There is still plenty of Spanish mackerel in the Bay, but those I have encountered were feeding on tiny glass minnows. I caught a few mackerel on small live sardines, but the little baits were bigger than what they wanted. I had fish boiling around the boat for the better part of an hour, and caught only two on live bait, none on artificials.

The best offering to fish feeding on glass minnows is a sparsely tied fly that imitates the tiny fry. I tie my own version, using synthetic hair because it holds up better than bucktail with toothy fish.

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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