The lower Bay just continues to be steady.    The great work of FWC officers to target felony netters and keep an eye on other recreational offenders has led to better fishing for us all.  Their continued efforts to catch felony netters are making the south shore region return as a great fishery again.   But help them out:  Keep your eyes peeled for illegal activity and make a call if you see poaching, 888-404-FWCC (3922).  Your tips will help make cases and you could be eligible for a reward.

Pompano are all over the place, including the bridge pilings of lower Tampa Bay and deeper troughs where they like to collect.    They are good size this year and they should be plentiful for the next few months.    What to use?    Go find the yellow or chartreuse Silly Willy jigs and also get some teaser flies.   Loop knot the two together on 25-pound fluorocarbon leader and hop it up and down off the bottom.    Enjoy the fight and the dinners.   Pompano must be 11 inches in length and the bag limit is six per person.  Neil’s tip:   Don’t keep them until they are 13 inches.   They just aren’t worth it, “the barely legal” fish.

Flounder are better but still not Great.   Targeting and baits are always just about the same:   The 12 Fathom SlamR and Fat Sam Mullet on a 1/8 to 3/16-ounce jighead will locate and catch them.   Slow and steady, bumping the bottom anglers will have no problem catching more than a few.   Keeping a flounder??  My own tip:  Let the 12 to 13 inch fish go and just keep the biggest flatties.  The amount of meat on those “barely legal” fish is pretty meager.  Put those back to let them grow and just keep the ones that are worth the effort.  Neil’s tip:  Same as pompano, minimum size to keep, 13 inches.   14 better yet.

Redfish action has gotten much better.    The action is probably better than it was in April and May for whatever unknown reason.    There are a lot of middle slot fish, some juveniles and an occasional bruiser.   The early morning hours just before sunrise until about 8:00AM has been the best time to go.   The hour around sunset is also seeing a solid feeding period for redfish.   If you ask me, high tide is better.

Same pattern as in June and early July:  Speckled trout can be caught pretty regularly on the 12 Fathom SlamR and Mullet.   It is not unusual to catch flounder while targeting trout and vice versa.  The late afternoons and into sundown have been higher feeding times for trout, beating the dawn feed significantly.  But fish have been caught well into the morning hours as well.

Want to know what’s going on off the Skyway piers?    To get detailed reports, check The Skyway Report on capmel.com.   Written by Paul Bristow every week, he keeps you on the heartbeat of the Skyway bite.  Get out and enjoy the easy action on the Skyway Piers!

As always: Be careful out there!

Neil Taylor
www.strikethreekayakfishing.com
(Cell) 727-692-6345
LivelyBaits@aol.com

Neil Taylor
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