After days of heavy rains it was great to be back fishing. Before picking up my clients I ran to several local piers and bridges looking for bait. If white baits were around I could not find them.
I loaded the live well with shrimp and threadfins for cut bait. Ben along with his sons Benjamin 7and Joshua 6 met me at O'Neill's Marina for a 4 hour charter. Looking for clean water after torrential rains earlier in the week I knew would be key. We ran to a big deep grass flat on Ft. Desoto that was red hot last week. So much for red hot as the action was slow. Several small fish took our shrimp and cut bait but we mostly got robbed from Pinfish.
A small move proved a little better. Ben's rod bowed deeply and as the reel screamed. Ben's Bonnet Head shark was great sport on light spinning tackle. The boys felt the sandpaper skin of the shark checked out the teeth and put him back. Another short move and we finally found spotted sea trout willing to play.
On our last stop Ben once again had a big hit that I thought was a redfish. Sadly the red was lost. Ben quickly cast back into the same spot and caught a chunky 23" redfish. Benjamin and Joshua both new fisherman were awesome! They were very patient as I worked to keep rods bent. While the bite was not typical of Tampa Bay everyone caught fish. Look for conditions to improve rapidly with light winds forecasted.
Captain Steven Markovich
