October 2009 Tampa Bay Fishing

Shorter days, slightly cooler nights and an abundance of bait make the perfect recipe for some awesome fall fishing action. The Upper Bay has finally cleared up from the summer red algae outbreak which made sight fishing and seeing the bottom in the shallows almost impossible.

Bait is still schooled up on the flats and will remain there until the water temp drops below their comfort level. However, windy conditions associated with an early cold front will move the bait around, so be prepared to do some looking if that is case. Having a back up supply of artificial baits will come in handy at one point or another. Top waters, jigs and gold and silver spoons are great choices for starters.

Snook

This is the month when Snook fishing really starts to pick up as we head into the fall transition. As the Mullet start to school up heavily in preparation for their fall run, both Snook and Redfish will be taking advantage of them. Just keep your eyes and ears open while working a strip of shoreline and you’ll see the mullet being showered by these aggressive predators.

While live bait can be very effective, when you come across a feeding frenzy such as this, any lure closely resembling what the fish are feeding on will work just as well. A good choice for this situation is a Zara Spook which can be thrown far and will allow you to cover an area in a short time.

Night fishing around dock lights will be another effective way to land a few linesiders this month. Docks that have some sort of current flowing by are the best to try. Live Shrimp make an excellent bait for dock light fishing. They’ll stay right in the strike zone long enough for a fish to find them. Jerk Baits and D.O.A. Lures are good back up choices for fishing the docks.

Trout and Redfish

Trout fishing will still be very productive this month on most of the Upper Bay flats. If we happen to have some cool weather move in, find the deeper water closest to the flat and work along the edges. If the flat has had bait on it, chances are the fish would have moved off with the bait. Once you locate the area where the bait is holding, start working it over.

This can be an exciting time to target reds as Mullet start to bunch up in large schools along most of the Upper Bay shoreline. Cast top water lures and gold spoons in and around the Mullet until you locate an area that the reds in. While many reds will be scattered throughout the Mullet, they will school up separately close by.

On high tides all this activity can be found right on top of the larger Oyster Beds. Snook and Trout will hang in these areas as well for an added bonus. A good rule to follow is if you can keep from spooking the Mullet everything else will remain in the area. If at all possible, use a push pole to get into position to work a school of fish.

Best of the rest

While Snook, Redfish and Trout will be stealing most of the spotlight this month, there are other species that can still be targeted and caught. The bridges and deep structure near Port Tampa are still holding Mangrove Snapper. Just be sure you have a good supply live Shrimp or Sardines when the bite starts up. There’s also a good chance to pick up a few Gag Grouper while fishing Snapper.

There have been large schools of tiny bait fry scattered all over the bay north of the Howard Franklin Bridge. Feeding on these baits is everything from Blue Fish, Lady Fish and Mackerel, all the way up to Sharks and Tarpon. If you happen to stumble across one of these feeding frenzies, it’s an awesome sight to see.

Cobia will join in on this action, but can also be found swimming around the flats. Keep a close eye on any large ray or Manatees that happen to appear and have a bait ready. When you spot a fish, keep your eyes on it at all times or you’ll lose sight of the prize.