This past weekend a large cold front swept through the Tampa Bay area and dramatically altered our weather patterns. Low temps were in the 40’s and high temps were barely in the 70’s. In spite of the cool and breezy conditions Gary and I decided to give it a shot Monday morning to see if the fish were still willing to bite.
We met at 930 and launched the kayaks into Lower Tampa Bay, Fort Desoto Park. After a short paddle with the wind at our backs we very quickly found redfish. I deployed a few baits and it didn’t not take long to get our first bite. We caught several redfish in our first spot until the out going tide had pushed them out of the area. We relocated and fished a few different areas before we found more redfish, trout and flounder in the potholes at low tide that were ready and willing to eat our jigs.
We ended up with two top of the slot redfish and two nice flounder to take home for dinner in our 6 hours of effort. Considering the conditions, the fishing was more than steady and will only get better as we move into a winter pattern.
Winter time is one of the best times of years for action on artificial lures, less bait on the flats makes the fish more willing to eat a well presented lure.
By Spencer Goodwin
