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Fish Tales
Inshore fishing gives anglers many options
By CAPT. TYSON WALLERSTEIN
Article published on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007 |
Redfish, sheepshead, black drum, speckled and silver trout have all made for great inshore fishing lately. Juvenile redfish are stacked up pretty thick throughout the Intracoastal Waterway.
Catching them has been pretty easy. Try fishing shrimp under deep docks on those windier days and use gold spoons and soft, plastic jigs around oyster bars when the weather cooperates. Larger reds can be found mixed in with the schools of big mullet, but patterning them has been more difficult. Try fan-casting silver spoons around the mullet schools in an effort to cover a lot of water so that you can locate the fish.
This is definitely the time of year to fish those inland bridges. The sheepshead are schooled up pretty well and scraping the barnacles can start a feeding frenzy. You can also expect to find some black drum mixed in with them. Throw back the larger specimens and hang onto the 3- to 8-pounders as they make great table fare.
Speckled and silver trout offer an angler the best option for bringing home some good eats this weekend. Schools of specks can be found in deeper grass areas all along the chain of spoil islands that run from Clearwater Harbor all the way to Tarpon Springs. Try to find areas where the grass is broken up by patches of sand. Trout love this kind of habitat because it offers them plenty of ambush points.
Soft, plastic jigs work great for trout. Use light colors on clear days if the water’s clean and use dark colors when it’s overcast or the water clarity is a bit off. If the water’s too dirty, you’ll do best by moving to a different spot.
Silver trout are abundant off our beaches right now. Anglers fishing Redington Long Pier have been catching loads of silver and speckled trout. Good places to target silvers would be over patches of the hard bottom floor in 12- to 18-feet of water from the pier north through Sand Key. Tandem jigs work best and often lead to double headers when you get right into the school.
Until next week – GET BENT!
Tyson Wallerstein can be reached at capt.tyson@hotmail.com. If you have a fish picture you would like to see published in the newspaper, send it with your name and where it was caught, to: “Fish Tales,” Tampa Bay Newspapers, 9911 Seminole Blvd., Seminole, FL 33772, or e-mail it to editorial@TBNweekly.com.
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Article published on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007
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Tampa Bay Newspapers
9911 Seminole Blvd.
Seminole, FL 33772
(727) 397-5563
Open Monday-Friday
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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