Saltwater: Sheepshead remains best bet in Tampa Bay

Fish of the Week

Sheepshead: Sheepshead remain the most numerous and consistent catch for Tampa Bay area anglers and locations elsewhere.

Strike Zone, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Elsewhere

1: At Big Pier 60 in Clearwater, both speckled and silver trout, along with whiting have been the most numerous catches this past week. A few white grunts have also been caught. Local, regular anglers who know how to target sheepshead are also catching decent numbers around the pilings, reports Big Pier 60 Bait & Tackle (727-462-6466).

2: At Madeira Beach, lane snapper season opened on Jan. 1 and they are thick. Good-size lanes are biting from shallow water nearshore out to 150 feet deep offshore. Red grouper season also opened, and good numbers are biting, but anglers have to weed through many shorts to get a keeper-size fish. The hogfish bite is good at a depth of 30 to 50 feet and bunches of Spanish mackerel are also biting at that depth. Deeper offshore, big red grouper are more numerous. Scamp grouper, along with mangrove, mutton and yellowtail snapper are also biting. Pelagic anglers are catching kingfish, blackfin tuna and the occasional wahoo, reports Capt. Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard’s Marina (727-393-1947).

3: At John's Pass, the pass is loaded with sheepshead right now and they are starting to school up around the bridge pilings. Black drum are biting around the bridge, the jetty and the nearby beach. Silver trout and whiting are also biting from the jetty and in the surf. Speckled trout are biting during the day on the shallow grass flats and mangrove lines inside the pass. At night, they’re biting on the bridge and dock lights. Snook are biting inside the back of the pass near Bay Pines and Long Bayou. The redfish bite is good on the residential docks inside the pass, reports Hubbard.

4: At Fort De Soto Park, good numbers of sheepshead are around the marina, but snook and mangrove snapper are hard to find. Schools of big mullet are roaming the area flats with plenty of redfish following them. Pompano are biting at the Pass-A-Grill Jetty on Doc’s Goffy Jigs and shrimp. The pier is producing some sheepshead on the pilings on shrimp. Fiddler crabs are producing if you can find them, reports Capt. Claude Hinson of Tierra Verde Bait and Tackle (727-864-2108).

5: Around the Sunshine Skyway and lower Tampa Bay, sheepshead are the hot topic right now. The water temperatures from the recent cold front over Christmas made for a big push of sheepshead in the bay. They can be found around the inner bay, on the artificial reefs, the bridge pilings and natural rock bottom throughout the bay. Shrimp and fiddler crabs fished on light tackle are the best baits. Trout fishing remains good over shallow grass flats in 3 to 7 feet of water. Now that the water temperatures are warming up, the snook fishing has improved. Boat docks in the Manatee River are producing good numbers, reports Capt. John Gunter of Palmetto (863-838-5096).

6: At Anna Maria, bridges, rock piles, seawalls, residential docks and just about any structure in the area are producing good numbers of sheepshead. Speckled trout are biting in the deeper holes and ledges on the grass flats in the sound. Snook and redfish are biting on the mangrove lines on the east side of the sound later in the day after they get a good amount of sunlight, reports Capt. Shawn Crawford of Florida Sport Fishing Outfitters (941-705-3160.

7: At St. Petersburg, good numbers of sheepshead are biting around all the bridges, rock piles, the reefs and just about any structure in the area. Snook fishing has been good this week in the creeks and rivers where there’s warmer water. The residential canals are also producing a good snook bite and Bayboro Harbor has been especially good this week. Offshore out of Pass-a-Grill, there’s been a good red grouper bite on the swiss cheese bottom about 30 miles out. A few mangrove snapper are also in the mix, reports Larry Mastry at Mastry’s Tackle (727-896-8889).

8: In the north end of Tampa Bay, sheepshead are biting around all the bridges and most structure in the area. Shrimp and fiddler crabs are the best baits. If you can’t find fiddlers, mud crabs will also work. Whiting and silver trout are biting in the deeper channels. Speckled trout are biting on the deeper flats and artificial baits such as paddle tails are still producing in the potholes and ledges. Some schools of redfish are roaming the area flats and in the upper bay. Cobia are holding at the power plant runoffs and hot water at the Big Bend Power Plant is producing pompano. A few black sea bass are biting in the deeper channels and to the south near the Skyway, reports Gandy Bait & Tackle (813-839-5551).

Elsewhere

∙ At Homosassa, with the warmer weather this week and good tides, redfish and speckled trout fishing is good along the edges of the keys and river mouths. Rocky points that retain heat from the sunlight are good areas to target. A variety of baits are producing trout, but nose-hooked jerk baits are especially productive. The key is to work the baits very slowly, as the water is still very cold. In the river, there’s good black drum fishing. Deeper water, along the channel from Hell's Gate to the east, is the best area to try. Live shrimp on a 1/8 oz. jig head has been the best bait, reports Capt. William Toney of Homosassa Inshore Fishing Charters (352-621-9284).

∙ At Fort Pierce, offshore there’s been mahi again this week on ballyhoo around the 200-foot mark. Kingfish are biting while trolling live baits near the surface at a depth of 50 to 80 feet. Good numbers of lane snapper, along with a few mangrove and muttons are biting on the bottom on the 80-foot bar. At the inlet, pompano are biting in the surf all the way south to Jensen Beach. Spanish mackerel and bluefish are biting from the jetty at the mouth of the inlet. Some flounder are biting in the south jetty cove again this week. The catch-and-release snook bite is good inside the inlet. Sheepshead and black drum are also biting in the inlet and around the bridges. The Melody Lane Pier is good for sand perch, reports the Fishing Center of St. Lucie (772-465-7637).

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Saltwater: Sheepshead remains best bet in Tampa Bay