The issue of red tide continues to be raised, and while the bloom is not here in a solid mass, patches of it blew in this past Friday in enough quantity to move most of the redfish out of here.  Prior to that, we had excellent catches of reds on DOS CAL Shad tail jigs and S7M MirrOlures. 

     A variety of fish were caught this week.  Snook, trout, redfish, flounder, jack crevalle, ladyfish, and juvenile gag grouper were on the list.  By far, snook and redfish highlighted the catches.  Few trout were in the catch, and is seems that trout were hurt tremendously by previous bouts with red tide.  Numbers and sizes of fish have been way down compared to the norm here in Terra Ceia.  Still, it’s possible to catch and release a couple dozen trout on a day’s fishing, but with the sizes being down, I try not to target these fragile fish.  They certainly are not the heartiest of fish when it comes to catch-and-release fishing.

     Some of my normal fishing areas produced well this week.  Bishop’s Harbor, Joe Bay, and Champaign Bayou all held reds and snook until the end of the week.  Baitfish imitations that got hit were the CAL Shad, Love’s Swimming Minnow, High Tide Saltwater Minnow, and 7M MirrOlures.  Productive fly patterns included the Gummi Minnow, Carl Hanson Glass Minnow, and Clouser Deep Minnows; all fished on 8 wt. and 7 wt. rods and floating 3M Scientific Angler Bonefish taper fly lines.

     None of the reds or snook were caught in open water.  My fishing times were planned around higher tides, so we worked mangrove islands and their perimeters for both fish.  The largest red of the week was 28-inches, and caught on a CAL Shad tail jig.  Snook ranged from 22-to 30-inches, also the largest caught on a CAL Shad tail jig.  Trout have been quite small, with only a few keeper size fish being caught.  The largest trout was 18-inches and caught on the MirrOlure Top Dog.  Flounder were caught in Terra Ceia Bay on some hard bottom areas, while the small grouper were caught in lower Tampa Bay on Love’s Lures grub tail jigs.  Some good action was had around Snead Island and Cut’s Edge Marina on CAL Shads with jack crevalle.  Schools of the feisty fish whacked our jigs for a couple of hours.  It was non-stop action around the mangroves with jacks.

     We’ve been dealing with the effects of red tide for almost this entire year.  Who knows how much longer it will last, but one thing for sure…it has been a learning experience with its presence.  If there is one thing I have learned above all else; persistence pays off.  So if all you hear is that red tide is present, then you probably won’t fish.  However, the only way to catch ‘em is with a line in the water.  ‘Til then…catch ya later!

Capt. Ray Markham

(941) 723-2655