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South Shore Fishermen Say Enough With The Cold Fronts

Photo by FRED EVERSON

A vacant cleaning table at E.G. Simmons Park boat ramp on a Saturday afternoon says a lot about winter fishing behind cold fronts.

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By FRED EVERSON Tribune correspondent

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 11, 2009

Who would believe fishermen could be yearning for December weather in March?

Back then, the water temperatures were in the low 70s. There were snook, cobia and redfish on the flats, and the winds were mostly light.

That all came to a halt in early January, and since then we've been visited by twice-weekly cold fronts and enough wind to keep all but the insane on the docks. Since March roared in like a lion, maybe we will get a break sometime soon.

Capt. Larry Malinoski of Ruskin told me he found some black drum in shallow water on one day, but the following day they were gone. Capt. Billy Jordan said he bottom-fished one day last week and reported the bite was worse than slow.

Hopefully, we'll see a change in the weather as spring approaches, but I'll take slow fishing over freezing temperatures any day of the week.

Even after the passage of yet another severe cold front the first week of the month, the water temperature in the Gulf held steady at 62 degrees. If we could only string six or seven warm days together, it would bring that temp up to the magic number of 70 degrees, when everything starts to pop.

The bait that usually shows up in the Bahia Beach Basin in late February has yet to arrive. It's probably already in the bay, but lurking in deeper water. Scaled sardines are everyone's favorite bait for snook and redfish, and they come onto the flats in late winter and early spring to spawn. They usually stick around for two or three months, then move back to deeper water.

When I'm looking for bait this time of year, I usually rely on cormorants and pelicans to show me where it is. If you see a group of pelicans on the water with sea birds landing on their heads and backs, it means they're eating glass minnows.

Same thing if you see them diving shallow, and then straining water out of their beaks. But if the birds are diving deep and then throwing their heads back when they reach the surface, that usually means they've found sardines.

When you find pilchards in four or five feet of cold water, they're usually clinging to the bottom where you can't see them.

I like to put my Power Pole down, toss a light anchor out from the bow, and then put out a chum slick of fishmeal and jack mackerel. The trick to netting a lot of bait is to give them time to find the chum. This way you only have to toss the net once or twice.

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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