 Clearwater Bay fishing report for October 2010
Fishing the last two weeks of October has been nothing short of fantastic. The weather was very stable with a mild cool down the first half of the month and a slight warm up during the last half.
The fall and winter season is here with solid schools of redfish showing up around the Clearwater and St. Joseph Sound areas. Search for the fish next to mangrove shore lines with large flats nearby. These schools are fished on a regular basis. If you happen to be fishing on a big school of fish with other fishermen, please be as quiet as possible. This will give everybody a chance to catch some fish before the bite shuts down.
REDFISH (RED DRUM) Regulations:
Slot limit of not less than 18" or more than 27"; no closed season; one fish per person per day limit. Find info on redfish in link below.
http://www.allcatchcharters.com/tampa-bay-sportfish.html
Bigger size trout are being caught around the grass flats and spoil islands in the bays already. As the water cools further, trout will increase in numbers and size. Drift the sand and grass bottoms with live white baits or an artificial jig head with dark colors. A little flash in that plastic tail will increase your odds. Read article on fishing a jig head below.
http://www.examiner.com/tampa-fishing-in-tampa-bay/fishing-a-jig-head
Good numbers of snook have moved back to the mangrove shore lines and are mixed in with scattered redfish. Fish for the linesiders in the morning with 4 inch white baits or 3 inch top water artificials that imitate a mullet. There are tons of mullet in all sizes throughout the flats and back waters and I’m sure these bigger fish are feeding on them.
Find all the snook regulations in the link below.
http://myfwc.com/RULESANDREGS/Saltwater_Regulations_Snook.htm
I had Don and his nine year old grandson, Taylor out for some fall fishing in Clearwater Bay. Taylor didn’t waste any time catching his first redfish. He also caught his first blue fish, trout, mackerel, grouper, lady fish, giant pin fish and then topped it off with a sail catfish. Don couldn’t keep up with Taylor but he did make a good showing with mackerel, trout, lady fish and blue fish. There were plenty of fish caught inside Clearwater Bay and Taylor could not stop commenting on how many different fish he caught. Congrats to Taylor.
Gary from Kentucky came out to see if we could chase some of those same fish. We started out in Clearwater when the tide was coming in. At our first stop, Gary landed his first snook. Even at 21 inches, it put up a good fight. After a couple of small trout, several large mackerel and a juvenile grouper, we moved on. The tide was reaching high when we set up on a school of about fifty redfish. A bronze bomber immediately picked up a bait and took off. Gary did a great job fighting his first redfish which measured in at 30 inches. He followed up with a 25 incher then a 27 incher. The bite shut down and we tried moving several times to find the school, with no luck. The reds pushed off the flat and we called it a day. Gary ended the day with a 67 inch slam. Great job Gary.
A lot of fishing and catching was going on in October. This is one of our top fishing months of the year. All of my charters were catching up to nine different species and lots of them. This equates to a lot of happy anglers. Hopefully we will have a nice cool November and the catching can continue. Stay tuned!
Capt. Gary Burch
www.allcatchcharters.com
|
Print Page
HOME
