With numerous days of warm weather, fishers are enjoying great conditions on the water.
And with the warm air by day and cool water at night, the fog rolls in overnight and early morning, so take care out there.
Although we’re in the middle of December, temperatures are reaching the high 70s to mid-80s in the afternoons, which is allowing a window of opportunity to achieve some good inshore fishing before winter.
Using live shiners as bait is working well on the flats for snook and spotted seatrout. Water temperatures have remained in the high 60s, so these fish are responding to live shiner offerings as they try to pack on a little extra weight to make it through the cooler months to come.
If you’re just burned out on snook and trout fishing, there are other options available. Pompano seem to be showing up in decent numbers and fishing along the beaches and in and the passes with jigs tipped with fresh-cut shrimp is yielding near the limit of these tasty fish. If you don’t find them in these areas, you can always drift the deeper grass flats, where you may find pompano foraging on small shrimp and other crustaceans.
While you’re on the flats, you’re likely to stumble across other species — spotted sea trout, jack crevalle, ladyfish and bluefish. Although these fish may not be your intended target, they do add a nice variety to the bite, which can be quite satisfying when the pompano are few and far between.
If you’re carrying some shrimp in the boat, it’s always worth casting a few baits under some of your favorite residential docks. Redfish, sheepshead and black drum tend to frequent these areas during the winter months. And, if you’re lucky, you may encounter flounder on your hook.
Lastly, with the frequent dense fog — if you’re on the boat — make sure to take the proper safety precautions to avoid any unwanted mishaps. Make sure your compass is working properly, as you never know when your electronics such as your GPS could fail. Also, make sure to carry a couple of sound devices — a whistle and an airhorn. Both of these items can help you avoid a collision. And finally, go slow out there if you can’t see where you’re going. Boats don’t have brakes.
Jim Malfese at the Rod & Reel Pier reports pier fishers have required determination this past week to find a bite. But anglers using live shrimp as bait are catching black drum, sheepshead and redfish. No real rallies are occurring, although there are fish coming to the deck.
Casting live shrimp under the pier on a bottom rig is working the best. While fishing this technique, pier fishers are hooking into an occasional snook, as well as mangrove snapper.
Capt. David White is enjoying the snook bite in Tampa Bay. As long as the weather remains warm, the snook are responding to live shiners as bait for his charters. Fishing deeper edges along mangrove shorelines or areas where docks and seawalls exist is leading White’s clients to success on snook.
Meanwhile, fishing reefs, wrecks and rockpiles in Tampa Bay is producing more action and something for the coolers on White’s charters. Limits of mangrove snapper are being caught in these areas as well as some keeper-size gag grouper.
Send high-resolution photos and fishing reports to fish@islander.org.