Hot Trout Bite

Tampa Bays trout bite remains Hot! Tuesday we found more than half of our winter trout holes were holding many fish. Once again no bait was needed as soft plastic jigs like the DOA shrimp in white and root beer colors along with my favorite the MirrOlure's MirrOdine. You won't hear me complain about not having to throw the cast net or first mate Chris not having to clean up that mess after catching bait. The flats off Pinellas Point had both trout and redfish, Tierra Verde area is holding trout as is Weedon Island. We are finding the larger trout in the skinny potholes during the negative tides and the bulk of the average schooling trout on the deeper edges adjacent to the flats and canals. The water is getting clearer by the day, good time to scale down both your main line and leaders. For the most part we use 10 pound Power pro with 15 pound Fluorocarbon leaders. Keep a lose drag and remember trout have soft mouths so don't pull a Bill Dance when setting the hook. Snapper bite continues strong, we are also catching sea bass with the snapper. Look for the snook bite to get better this weekend as the water will warm rapidly with sunny days in the mid 70's forecasted. Then early next week another cold front arrives. On behalf of On The Mark Charters we would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Capt. Steven