I wish I could tell you that I catch Redfish and Snook on every fishing charter or when I go inshore fishing in the Tampa Bay with a friend. If there is a guide out there with a life time streak of catching inshore slams in the Tampa Bay, send him my way, maybe I am missing something! I was not planning on fishing today, but after a great last morning of duck season in the upper Tampa Bay with my dog Finnleigh and good friend JP, I received a text from another fishing buddy asking if I was going to fish. With light winds, warm air temps and a less than favorable tide I told him “absolutely” and he arrived to my place in about thirty minutes. I had already packed the skiff with my fly fishing rods and two spin fish outfits ready to go and took a quick trip across the street to Gandy Bait and Tackle to pick up a bag of soft plastics with some jig heads to pair them with. Being such a last minute trip, I asked Derrick if it was ok that we used artificial baits and flies. I really didn’t feel like struggling with catching bait or pitching shrimp at docks for Sheepshead. My plan was to pole Derrick around and site cast Redfish and Snook in the shallow flats of the Tampa Bay. Fast forward about three miles of poling my skiff and two hours later, we may have seen 2-3 high strung Snook and maybe a dozen Redfish that were on edge and wanted nothing to do with us. I never like being skunked and thats something I can almost promise won’t happen while fishing with me so I decided to make a move to some grassy flats in deeper water that are notorious for holding Speckled Trout this time of year (basically year round actually, you can literally catch Speckled Trout year round in the Tampa Bay). Look guys, I am not a snob when it comes to fishing. Do I want to catch 27 inch Redfish and 35 inch Snook every time I fish, of course, but it not realistic (don’t let social media fool you!). I rigged our spinning rods up with 1/16 oz Mission Fishin Jigheads and a white DOA paddle tail tied onto a six foot long piece of fifteen pound fluorocarbon leader. When fishing for Trout in the Tampa Bay, I like a finesse rigged bait, this means a bait that falls much slower through the water column (Trout usually eat when the bait is falling, so with lighter rigged baits, you will feel more hits and usually have a greater opportunity connecting with a fish). After we caught a dozen or so respectable Trout, I took the DOA paddle tail off and slipped a ZMAN Mood Ring Trout Trick Worm and Derrick had just as much response from the Trout, if not more than when using the paddle tail. I think this has to do with the worm falling a little more natural and having more action when fluttering down. With the sun going down and about thirty Trout landed, I decided to call it a day and make the run across the bay to put my East Cape Fury on the trailer in hopes to be able to wash her before I ran out of daylight. Even with being defeated by a few spooky Redfish and having a couple Snook turn their nose at us, it was a great day. There are always fish to catch, even when booking a last minute fishing charter in the Tampa Bay! Shoot me a call to get on the calendar for a fishing trip! Over the next couple months, the water will be getting warmer as the cold fronts become less frequent. There will be a larger population of Snook on the flats and the Redfish will start pushing back onto the flats in larger schools. February is always a good month to fish as well. The big Black Drum will make their appearance on the flats around the Skyway Bridge and on certain tides, you can catch them tailing by the hundreds! Sheepshead, Redfish and Snook are still in the canals in large numbers and usually will fall for a live free lined shrimp! Inshore fishing is great year round in the Tampa Bay and we can always find something to bend a rod! Of course there are days like this when you go out with a few soft plastics and fail to catch your targeted species, but live bait is a game changer and that is something I always provide, thank you for reading my Tampa Bay inshore fishing report and I look forward to getting on the water with you!
