Captain’s Corner: Tyson Wallerstein

The Tampa Bay Times

Mild overnight temperatures will keep the mullet and redfish active on the flats. High a.m. tides can be hit or miss for the next couple of months, if the air temp gets into the low fifties or even lower, the shallow flats that attract redfish and mullet on the high tides will be inactive in the morning.

 If the mullet are active, it’s easy to see where the greatest concentrations are. Working these long strings of mullet with long cast lures such as weed-less soft plastics, gold spoons or top-water walking baits has been the pattern. Running the trolling motor in water shallower than two feet will spook the fish from a great distance, drift fish when conditions are right or hop out and wade likely areas. The fish are spread out or in small loose schools; covering lots of water will increase your bites. Bonus catches of gator trout while working this pattern are becoming everyday occurrences.

 Northern Pinellas spoil islands are popular this time of year, schools of slot sized and larger trout can be found on many of them. Bouncing soft-plastic jigs along the shell bottom will allow you to find the fish more efficiently than natural baits. All of the spoils will hold some numbers of trout including those found south the Dunedin causeway.