Captain’s Corner: Tyson Wallerstein

The Tampa Bay Times

Two weeks of warm weather with no significant cold fronts has really gotten the fish moving in upper Tampa Bay.  

 Snook have been feeding through ought the entire day a real sign that spring has arrived in our region. As more and more snook funnel out of the deep backwaters to the more open surrounding grass flats they are looking to feed as much as possible before their upcoming summer spawn. Live pilchards are candy for early spring snook. The oil rich baits provide the fat content necessary for the fish to put on weight.  

Pilchards can be found holding around bay bridges where they continue their spring spawn. Mark schools of pilchards typically found holding on the up tide side of the structure and chum them to the surface with tropical fish food.  

Look for redfish to school up on this week’s full moon. Afternoon incoming tides are perfect for finding redfish before they push back under the trees on the high tide. Gold spoons cast through mullet schools has been the pattern recently.  

Obvious concerns of red tide hoover over us all as we are seeing more development of the toxic algae bloom in our area. It seems at this point our only real hope for a change in the current red tide trend would be a couple of late season cold fronts, one of which is set to come through early next week. Cross your fingers that mother nature will take care of this looming problem for us.  
Capt. Tyson WallersteinFlats Monster Inshore Fishing
(727) 692-5868
capt.tyson@hotmail.com
www.Flatsmonster.com