Captain’s Corner: Jim Lemke

The Tampa Bay Times

Looking Forward to a little cool down

Capt Jim Lemke Times Correspondent

With the first cold front of the fall season this past weekend and the air temperature dropping in the lower nightly temps in the mid 70’s means Fall Tampa bay Fishing might be just right around the corner here in the Tampabay area.

With the Snook still in there summer pattern but their biological clock is telling them to start moving to the fall spots like the back side of Weedon island or all the residential docks in the bay area. The best times to fish for them is still the early morning and evening when the water temperature is a little bit cooler. The Redfishing is just starting to get better on the flats. I look for mullet schools in the 1 to 3 foot of water on the flats and use your trolling motor to get in position and setup. If you just chase them then no buddy will catch them. The best baits are live baits like Sardines or cut bait. The big schools of Mackerel in the bay and around the reefs for some drag screaming fun. It’s some of the best fun fishing and just not for the kids but for the adults to. The snapper bite is great both inshore and offshore right now over any good structure like rock piles, ledges, reefs and bridges.

Capt Jim Lemke charters out of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater and can be reached at (813) 917-4989 and at captjimlemke@gmail.com