November 16, 2011 - Tampa Fishing Charters
If you enjoy catching lots of big trout, now is the time of year to be in FL. This week I was fortunate to have my friends, Ben from CharlestonFishFinder.com and Shane from Barrier Island Eco Tours visit me. They did not have a lot of time so we decide to do a quick trip out of Dunedin, FL. We spent a little bit of time looking for bait, but it was not there. I did not feel like going out and looking for it on the beach, but I have heard that it can still be caught out there.
Without live bait, I knew it was going to be an artificials day. We started in some grass near a spring, but the grass had bloomed and the pot holes were not there. Not to mention that the over cast skies and low tide made it even harder to see them. We picked a few trout here and there and then moved on.
A few miles north, we found some cleaner water and more salt and pepper style pot holes. This spot had some keeper fish on it. Our baits were jigs, Mirro-deans, and mini Zara spooks. I tried going back into the rivers and canals looking for snook but the tide was so low and that made it difficult. So we kept traveling north.
By this time, the tide started coming and we found some fish in the 3 to 5 ft range. Here we caught trout, lady fish, Spanish mackerel, flounder and blue fish all on jigs. As the water moved up on the flat, so did we and that is where our 3 to 4 lb trout came from. Catch trout in FL is pretty common, like catching spot tails in SC. I love catching snook, but trout make for great days this time of year.
This was one of the average size we caught:
That one above is a barely keeper, obviously not a 3 or 4 lber.