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Trout, red snapper plentiful, biting

Photo by FRED EVERSON

Bird Glass and Mike Strickland display their limit of Mangrove snapper caught around the shipping lanes in the middle of Tampa Bay.

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By FRED EVERSON

Tribune columnist

Published: July 28, 2009

Updated: 07/29/2009 04:10 pm

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Fred Everson

The early morning trout bite on the south shores of Tampa Bay is a best bet in late July. Anglers are catching more trout and bigger trout this year than at any time in the last 15 years.

I think it's attributable to two things: the inshore net ban and better water quality. On the flats south of Apollo Beach, there is grass growing in places where in years past there was only sand.

Mangrove snapper are another favorite summer target for Tampa Bay anglers, and the bite has been fantastic. I've had reports of fish up to 22 inches, which is pretty big for a fish with a 10-inch minimum.

There are two ways to approach snapper. You can look for them on hard bottom at slack tide or under the channel markers when the tide is moving. You need just enough weight on your line to put the bait where the fish are. If they are near the top of the water column with a moving tide, a split shot will do. If they are on the bottom, you need enough lead to get your bait down and keep it there.

Shrimp, small sardines, small pinfish and chunk of threadfin herring are all good bait for snapper. I like a long-shanked No. 1 hook on 18 inches of 20-pound fluorocarbon leader for snapper. They see well and are notoriously leader-shy. All of the artificial reefs hold snapper, and the Port Manatee reef and the Bahia Beach reef both produce good-sized snapper. There are also some unmarked rubble piles south of the Port Manatee spoil island that hold snapper.

I went across the bay for the first time in a long while last week to look for trout, but all we caught were a few shorts. The Pinellas Point flat was covered with good-sized sardines, however, and two tosses of the net were all it took to fill the live well.

I ended that day at the mouth of the Little Manatee River, where I chummed out all of the bait I had in the live well. I was hoping for a snook or redfish, but we caught a couple of big jack crevalles that honed in on our chum.

Access to the bay continues to diminish. The proposed closing of Simmons Park two days a week appears to be a done deal. Fishermen and boaters have already lost three ramps at the end of Shell Point Road and two in Apollo Beach.

A much better alternative would be to have bait shops at Williams Park in Riverview and E.G. Simmons Park in Ruskin, put them out to bid and let them collect a modest ramp fee. That way everybody makes money, and the ramps stay open. I was at Simmons Park on a Sunday afternoon recently, and it was packed.

There is literally no place nearby for all these boats to launch if that ramp is unavailable. If Florida is the "Fishing Capital of the World" you would think that access to the water would be a lot better than it is.

Fred Everson is an outdoor writer and Ruskin-based 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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