The Tampa Bay Times
Another round of high winds, accompanied by the latest cold front has dropped the water temperatures fairly quickly in the Tampa Bay region. The fish in our area pause from eating when the water temperatures drop quickly. The sudden change can often shock their system, causing them to have lockjaw for a couple of days. As they acclimate to the new temperatures, they will begin to forage and eat as normal. One fish that becomes very lethargic in these conditions is snook. Their bite had been fantastic in the north Pinellas region over the last couple of weeks with good numbers of snook being caught on my trips. However, with the sudden drop in temperatures, they will become stubborn short term. My focus this weekend will be on other species, mostly redfish and trout. These fish tend to cooperate in cooler water, especially with slow moving baits, such as shrimp and especially cut baits like pinfish, mullet and ladyfish. Redfish have been schooling along with the herds of Mullet that has shown up on most of the flats behind the barrier islands. The best action has been at the peak of the high tide, into the outgoing as the mullet fall off of the flats. Spanish mackerel, small kingfish and bonito had invaded the nearshore hard bottom within 3 miles. Every bait was getting a strike after only a couple minutes of chumming. However, the strong north winds will push some of those fish farther south for the time being. Eventually, others will migrate in especially if east winds begin to prevail.
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