Tampa Bay and Surrounding areas

November 24th, 2008

Tampa Bay and the Nature Coast

Fishing this past week was great for redfish, trout, and snook, in North Tampa Bay and along the Nature Coast. The weather finally got chilly last Saturday. A cold front came through and ended our unseasonably warm weather. We also had super low tides this past week due to the brisk north winds and the full moon. The fish didn't have many places to go with the water being so low. The small amount of water that remained on the flats held groups of hungry fish.

Fishing along the Nature Coast near Homosassa yielded good catches of fat seatrout, and skinny water reds. We found the trout to be feeding in deeper holes or hard bottom areas, along the shorelines in the Chassahowitka Wildlife Refuge. We found that incoming tide was best. We caught plenty of trout on fly using sink-tip lines and chart. clousers. You can't beat using a D.O.A deadly combo when using spin tackle. I increase the deadliness by putting a gulp shrimp on the end of the line.

A gulp shrimp in nuclear chicken was hard to resist by the redfish as well. We found plenty of reds tailing and pushing wakes with the extreme low tide. We had some good days for sight fishing with a fly. Blue bird skies and a bit of wind allowed us to spot, then cast to reds cruising in shallow water. Nothing compares to watching a redfish charge and eat a well placed fly. Small toad flies in black or brown with bead chain eyes worked well.

Fishing in North Tampa Bay was good for redfish, trout, and especially snook earlier this week. Following the cold front, the bite was on. Big snook were out and putting on the feed. We found snook stacked along the shorlines of upper Tampa Bay. We caught the snook using D.O.A. CALS and small baitfish flies. Lady fish also provided some good action while working an area for snook.

The Trout were also eating well around the edges of the grass flats. I saw a few trout that I thought were nice snook at first. Good friend and guide, Capt. Bryon Chamberlin, managed to sight fish a fat 28 inch trout on fly. There were also were good numbers of trout caught wading and casting chartreuse clouser flies.

Redfish grouped together in the deeper sand holes among the flats of Tampa Bay. The low tide brings all the fish off the grass flat, and into these holes. Wading in the grass, and casting a fly into the sand holes, is an effective way to fish them. No fly works better than a "Green & Gold Clouser", a fly created by friend and fellow angler Leigh West. We also found plenty of reds to sight fish for on the higher tides as well. The water is getting real clear with the water temps dropping.

Next weeks tides will start getting low in the a.m. beginning Tuesday. Fishing should be great through Thanksgiving weekend. Get out there and wet a line!

Capt. Nick