01-10-2001, 01:37 PM
Tampa Bay Area <br>Fishing Report<br>Captain Charles Walker<br><br>1/7/01<br>When I started calling my bait houses for a fishing report this week, I got the same answer as last week; the cold has put the fish off and very few people were going out. I know this isn’t what you want to read but last week was probably the longest lasting cold spell that we have had in this area in nearly twenty years. Almost every night the temperature was right at freezing and there was frost on the lawns and windows just about every morning. For you Yankees that have no sympathy, remember, we live in Florida and hate the cold weather almost as much as we hated carpetbaggers just a few years back. The inshore fish have hopefully found the warm water areas of the Bay and ICW too hole up in and most of the offshore fish have moved back out to deeper water where the temperature is a little more stable. Today, Sunday, was 70 degrees plus and tonight should not get too cold and a warm front will be bringing some rain tomorrow, supposedly, but another cold front is right behind it. I hope the fronts will start moderating now that December is behind us and the water temperature will come back up a few degrees. We really need it to stay above 60 degrees if we are going to have any kind of fishing at all. Hopefully I’ll have some better news for you next week.<br><br>Here’s last week’s report in case you missed it:<br>12/31/00<br><br>I guess I should have known that the weather would not cooperate. After all, why should the end of the year be any different than the rest of it. As everyone probably knows, the worst cold front of the season arrived right behind a rainy warm front which only gave us one day this week to go fishing. Of course that was the day that I didn’t have a trip scheduled. I’ll bet though that there are grouper out there just dying for someone to drop a worm in front of them. Mangrove snapper and trigger fish should also be in a feeding mode……..If only I could go fishing!<br><br>If the weather lets us get out this week the bait of choice will be frozen sardines and squid. Good ole smelly wintertime bottom fishing bait. With the water temperature in the 50’s now, finding live bait will be just about impossible and most of the grouper are not going to want to chase it anyway.<br><br>On to the bait house reports:<br><br>Ruskin Bait and Tackle - 813-641-2325- The lack of fishermen this week has been pretty depressing but those that have been fishing have caught reds in the river and cobia around the power plant. The few that have mad it to the center of the Bay and trolled the channel have caught some nice grouper.<br>Gandy Bait and Tackle in Tampa - 813-839-5551- Cold!~~! Some cobia have been around the power plant and some pompano around the Big Bend area. Sheepshead are biting well around the bridge pilings<br>Buddy’s Bait and Tackle on the Courteney Campbell Causeway in Tampa - 813-287-1026- Lots of sheepshead are coming from the bridge. Across the street a school of reds really bit well on greenbacks.<br>Bonnie’s Bait and Tackle in Clearwater - 727-446-2772- Silver trout and whiting have been coming in from the beach and the pass by the bucketful but nothing much else has been going on with all the wind and cold.<br>Trappman’s Bait and Tackle on Gandy Blvd in St. Petersburg - 727-579-1414- The warm water outlet at the power plant has been a good spot this week. Plenty of sheepshead are coming from the rock piles and the bridge.<br>Dogfish Tackle on Redington Beach - 727-392-6644- The overnight boat that went to the middle grounds did well on grouper this week. Snook were biting well around the docks before the cold front this weekend. Whiting are biting well off the pier if you can stand the cold.<br>Don’s Dock on Madeira Beach - 727-391-3223- Grouper were biting around the bridge. Drum are biting in the pass. Whiting and silver trout are coming up for everyone that is fishing for them.<br>Pass-a-Grille Bait and Tackle on St. Pete Beach - 727-360-6606- Our all day boat brought in plenty of grouper this week. Whiting and sheepshead are biting around the jetty and along the seawall. Some small sharks have been caught off our gas dock this week.<br> Tierra Verde Bait and Tackle on Tierra Verde - 727-864-9200- Trout opens tomorrow and they are really jammed up in the deep holes. This week has been really slow down here.<br> <br>Folks, feel free to call any of the places in my report for more information, and be sure to tell them that you read about the fishing in their area in Capt. Charlie’s fishing report on the Internet.<br><br>If you want more information about fishing in the Tampa Bay area or wish to book a charter, simply e-mail me at captchas@flfish.com or if you wish to arrange a charter faster, call me at 727-546-7257. Be sure and visit my web site for lots more Tampa Bay Area fishing info at: http://www.floridasaltwater.com .<br><br>Good fishing and tight lines,<br>Capt. Charlie<br>http://www.flfish.com/fl//<br><br><br><br><br>Capt. Charlie Walker<br>http://www.flfish.com