Captain Steven shocked all my pals at O’Neill’s Marina Sunday as I showed up wearing pants. It’s only the second time the last 3-4 years I was not in my trademark shorts.
With Dan onboard we headed to Tampa’s eastern shoreline to catch 50-100 redfish. This non stop action was just across the bay….As we turned Northward under 275 the wind and water was choppy as we passed Pinellas Point the waves turned ugly and after a mile we turned around.
We headed into the protection of lower Tampa Bay canals and warmer waters. 52 degrees is cold, very cold and the bite reflected it. Soaking shrimp on the bottom resulted in several sheepshead and a flounder.
As the winds started to abate we worked a flat that had some clean clear water. That combined with water temps now at 55 started the trout bite. Chunky spotted sea trout 15-17” started chewing with shrimp and DOA CAL shads on a 1/8 oz jig head working. As I returned to the marina the breeze totally laid down and the temps warmed quickly. It was beautiful at 3 pm to bad 6 hours it wasn’t 6 hours sooner.
