Trout Season Draws Closer

By FRED EVERSON
Published: December 24, 2008

One more week until the opening day of trout season and I can't wait.

Earlier this week Mike Strickland and I caught a couple of very big trout in front of Sand Key. Mike's fish was 27½ inches and he said it is the biggest trout he's ever caught in Tampa Bay. The last four trout I caught were all over 20 inches, and that's unusual.

They catch a lot of big trout in the Gulf, but our fish are generally smaller. These fish have come a long way back from the devastating outbreak of red tide several years ago. Trout grow fast, and it would appear that we now have more fish and bigger fish than I've seen in 15 years.
The down side is that we caught these trout while fishing for reds. Mike did catch two redfish, but both were short. Thus far I have not seen nearly the number of redfish I did last winter. I've been looking for them on the flats between Apollo Beach and Simmons Park, and they just haven't been there.

Captain Mark Thomas told me he found some fish in the mangrove backcountry of Little Cockroach Bay, but you need an airboat to get in there this time of year because of the extreme low tides.

The water temperature is about 70 degrees in the Gulf, and that means there will be some snook on the flats. We hooked a good snook on cut bait on the flats south of Apollo Beach last week. It ate a chunk of jack crevalle on a jig hook. Snook seem to savor jack crevalle and that's a good thing. It freezes well, and stays firm when thawed out. Redfish also eat it.

I'm seeing plenty of bonnethead sharks on the flats, and these fish are great winter targets. They fight like redfish, and no wire leader is required. I throw free lined live shrimp and strips of frozen squid at them.

For charter information, visit Fred Everson's Web site, tampabayfishingguide.com, or call him at (813) 830-8890.