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Kingfish
Posts: 1201
 
Location: Tampa Bay | Fall is a time of transition
By FRED EVERSON
Posted September 30, 2009 by The Tampa Tribune
The water temperature is down to 85 degrees, and the first cold front of the fall passed through the area Tuesday night. It made for a nice day Wednesday, with light winds and cooler temperatures, but the bite was slow. So it goes after a cold front.
Snook are starting to head into the Little Manatee River after a summer of spawning. I saw one trophy sized snook under one of the docks earlier this week, and I don’t believe I could have landed that fish with tarpon tackle. I was up before sunrise a couple of days ago and threw a Top Dog around the pilings at first light. I had two strikes on the plug by little snook that simply popped the plug out of the water. The keeper-sized fish weren’t interested.
The best snapper bite in years continues in the middle of the bay. Bottom fishing on a slack tide has been producing mangrove snapper up to 24 inches, and even a few grouper.
Water clarity is still pretty poor for this time of year, but that will change as soon as the weather dries up and the temperature drops. This is a great time of year to fish, as most species are in transition. They know winter is coming, and that means that fish will feed aggressively while there is still plenty of bait to feed on.
I am still seeing sardines on the flats, and there seem to be pinfish everywhere. We have been feeding quarter-sized pinfish to snapper and grouper on the buoys off Port Manatee with good success. I haven’t seen any cobia lately, but that should change as soon as the water clears up a bit.
Visit captain Fred Everson’s Web site at tampabayfishingguide.com for charter info or call (813) 830-8890.
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Transition to Fall - Fred Everson | TBO
