December Fishing Report Tampa Bay
December has started out with excellent weather unlike the previous month of November, which was almost a complete blow out with front after front and 20mph winds. The inshore fishing this past week was phenomenal with slams coming to the boat almost every trip. Although the Trout and Redfish action has been awesome!
Trout fishing has finally started to pick up in the last week with the slot fish starting to school up, and the larger breeder trout starting moving into the shallows. Look for slot size fish to be in the deeper channels and creeks throughout the bay area. Live shrimp, sardines, and jigs have been producing limits on daily basis. The larger breeder size trout have also started to show up in their shallow winter time haunts. These big trout can be extremely spooking and require a long cast in order not to spook them. Darker colored soft plastic jerk baits rigged weed less or on a light jig have been producing the best results, although large live shrimp free-lined are hard for these fish to pass up.
The redfish fish bite has been outstanding this past week as well with good numbers of fish being caught on every trip as well, most of the fish have been under slot to mid slot size. Look for the redfish to be hanging out around docks and oyster bars this time of year. Live shrimp and soft plastic jigs have been working equally as well.
Snook have still been around and I have been finding them on the open flats, around docks, and in the back country. The fish have been a little sluggish, and fishing late in the afternoon has produced good results once the water has warmed up. Live sardines and shrimp have both been working well, but artificial lures have been out producing bait. Soft plastic jerk baits fished on 1/4oz. jig heads fished slow and on the bottom have been my go-to baits.
Pompano, Cobia, Jacks, and Sharks have also been around the warm water discharge of the power plants. This fishing around these areas has been sporadic at best, but worth taking a look if you are in the area. Look for these areas to heat up in the coming weeks with the arrival of the winter time cold fronts.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Jared Simonetti
(727)831-0111
Follow along at: http://instagram.com/captjareds/