http://www.tampabay.com/sports/outdoors/Captain-s-Corner-What-s-happening-with-the-redfish-_173462594
Fall is when adult redfish return from the open gulf and spawn just offshore of the major estuaries. These breeders rarely come back inshore to the flats where they spend their first 3-4 years of life. Once they mature, usually at around 30-32 inches, they join the brood stock and spend the rest of their lives roaming the deeper gulf in giant schools. Over the past few years, inshore anglers and guides have reported marked declines in the inshore population. From Tampa Bay to Tarpon Springs and south to Charlotte Harbor, the consensus is something is wrong with the inshore stock. Reasons why and potential solutions run the gamut. The real help they need is a good year or two of spawning by the gulf brood stock to replenish our bays and flats. Unfortunately, many of the reds this year have returned only to be met by Red Tide to which they are highly susceptible. It has been a tragic year for them on both sides. School after school of mature breeder redfish have returned and swam into their own demise. Researchers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg recently spotted a school of reds from an airplane and went back the next day to look by boat, but it was too late. The entire school was dead, a victim of Red Tide. On a brighter note, we recently found a large and healthy school of adult reds 20 miles off Tarpon Springs. FWRI is seeking the public’s help in reporting aggregations of adult redfish or dead ones over 30 inches to help assess the damage to the stock. The number to report sightings: (727) 272-8505.
Ed Walker charters out of Tarpon Springs. He can be contacted at info@lighttacklecharters.com .
- Jay Mastry - March 26, 2024
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