North Pinellas, Stewart Ames

January was the expected mix of cold fronts and warming trends.  Fortunately, the fronts didn’t result in an excessive number of trip cancellations.  Trout fishing has been wide open, possibly relating to the fact that these fish cannot be harvested until June 1st of this year.  In a normal year, these fish are abundant, but the fact that none are being removed has probably led to the high quantity catches.  The only noticeable change over the last few weeks has been that, although numbers are up, fish size dropped a little bit.  This is no cause for concern though as it seems that each year, different groups of fish come and go.  It won’t be long before larger fish (the over 20’s and up) will be back. There is some talk of a February meeting to discuss sea trout but no one is particularly hopeful that the season will be opened back up. So, in the meantime, enjoy the good fishing and plan on targeting sheepshead if you want some dinner. The abundance of fish does make the use of plastic jigs very productive so plan on throwing these to add a little sport to catching these fish.
Redfish have been the normal plan “B” once enough trout have been caught and, as is usually the case, the best fishing for these is either on the dead lows, where fish are forced into deeper sand holes on the flats or on the high tides, where they can reach some of their preferred feeding stations, such as docks, oyster bars and mangrove shorelines.  Fishing has been productive for the smaller 16-20 inch fish but more hit and miss for larger specimens.  As waters warm and stronger tides start to return in March, the redfish switch will get “thrown” and, all of a sudden many more larger fish will be available.  Good luck and good fishing.

Captain Stewart Ames
GONE FISHING CHARTERS
P.O. Box 541
Crystal Beach, Florida 34681
727 421-5291
https://Tampa-Fishing-Charter.com