11-18-2001, 10:57 PM
Tampa Bay Area <br>Fishing Report<br>Captain Charles Walker<br>11/18/01<br>As usual the weathermen were wrong about the wind over his weekend. If you take their predictions and add them together, it will be just about right. If they say 5-10 kts, read that as 15. Of course they said the weekend would be 10-15 kts and it felt like 25 most of the day Saturday. There are some fish out there though. We managed a 25” grouper in 17 feet of water, a couple of small blacktip sharks, a cobia and plenty of grunts, but we couldn’t buy a mackerel or kingfish bite. I hear the winning king in the King of the Beach Tournament was caught several miles north of where we were fishing though, just off Clearwater Beach. I talked to several other boats that went offshore Saturday and were sorry for it because of the high wind and a very slow bite. Sunday, the wind was down quite a bit and I hope it’s going to stay that way through the week so I can get a few more trips in. <br>On to the bait house reports:<br>Ruskin Bait and Tackle - 813-641-2325 – The big reds are still around, mostly around the edges of the flats towards deeper water. Cobia are still biting. Snook are in the mouth of the river, as a matter of fact, fishing for just about everything seems to be better in the mouth of the river this month. Lots of trout are being caught of course, the season is closed.<br>Buddy’s Bait and Tackle on the Courteney Campbell Causeway in Tampa - 813-287-1026 – Lots of reds and sheepshead are being caught around the bridges, the causeway, and in the Double Branch area. <br>Bonnie’s Bait and Tackle in Clearwater - 727-446-2772- Winds have been so high all week that very few people are fishing in our area. Anclote has been jam packed with big trout over the last few weeks, but they have been very persnikerty about what they would bite.<br>Trappman’s Bait and Tackle on Gandy Blvd in St. Petersburg - 727-579-1414- Lots of reds and snook around Weedon Island. The snook have been biting on pinfish and select shrimp and the reds are biting on just standard shrimp. The bridge at night is producing some nice snook on select shrimp.<br>Dogfish Tackle on Redington Beach - 727-392-6644- Whiting are biting well off the beaches. There are still a few flounder biting around the passes. There are some reds and snook biting at night around the docks in the residential canals.<br>Don’s Dock on Madeira Beach - 727-391-3223- Some grouper have been coming in from the shallower water this week. Kings and Spanish mackerel have been spotty, but some have been caught. The high winds just kept most people in all last week.<br>Pass-a-Grille Bait and Tackle on St. Pete Beach - 727-360-6606- Flounder are still coming in from our gas dock this week. Our offshore boats have been bringing in lots of keeper grouper from the shallower waters.<br>The Skyway Fishing Pier - 727-865-0668 and the south Skyway - 941-729-0117- Mangrove snapper, Spanish mackerel, silver trout, lots of sea bass, grouper, and some pompano have been brought in over the last few days from the north pier. Sheepshead, grouper, grunts, and some red fish were caught on the south side today.<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>Capt. Charlie Walker<br>http://www.flfish.com