Cold Fronts and Wind
Cold front every 3 or 4 days, I sure hope this doesn’t continue all winter.
This month has been rather windy to say the least, very few days to get out and enjoy the water.
But, if you can find a day to get out when the wind is under 15, or have a secret spot where you can hide from the wind, the trout and some nice size pompano are out there.
Been hearing of reds scattered around and if you can find the right spot, some big snook.
Saw a lot of folks pompano fishing at the power plant, didn’t see any caught but they must be coming in.
I was able to get out a few times in the last couple weeks, here’s a short recap.
Evening trip Last Sunday, got into a school of 17 inch reds about an hour before sunset. Sat there about thirty minutes with a redfish every cast, haven’t caught that many in a long time, fun stuff.
Moved to another spot looking for a keeper and it didn’t take long, second cast a much larger red took off for a ‘screaming run’. I thought I had a monster, turned out he was hooked in the belly, for whatever reason they seem a lot bigger that way. (how you hook a fish in the belly with a circle hook?)
Best day was Friday, Ron and I went out to see if we could find some trout for a fish fry.
We were on the water at daylight, had 5 dozen nice shrimp from JC at “Bait and Tackle of Apollo Beach”.
We headed up toward Picnic Island to check for early redfish.
Pretty water, good tide but no fish in the shallows, maybe they came in after the sun warmed it up a bit.
Went out to the flats, had an brisk east wind, in about 3 feet of water we started drifting and casting live shrimp under a cork, Ron finally picked up a trout in about 4 feet of water, so I hit the spot lock on the Minn Kota and for about 2 hours we had a ball, caught plenty of trout, pompano, small sharks, a few big jacks.
Managed to get our ‘fish fry’, trout and pompano. The biggest pompano I have ever caught in Tampa Bay.
5 trout, and 4 pompano, 6 ½ pounds of boneless filets. Good eats.
Goliath, I ‘m not sure, with these cold fronts the water in the bay has cooled down to 75 degrees.
With this 15+ wind I have not been able to get out and try my regular spots. Been looking for some new places where we can hide from the E and NE winds. One new spot I was able to hook one last week.
Tried a couple spots Friday with no luck. Not sure if it’s the ‘fronts’ or if thay’ve left for the winter.
I can normally catch Goliath’s thru November sometimes in to the first week of December.
This year, we’ll see. Looks like more fishing for trout, reds, snook, and try and keep up with the pompano.
Those pompano sure are ‘good eats’.
