Hot Fishing in the upper bay, Creek Channels and warmer water areas

It seems the fish are cold too...many of the places that are holding the best fish seem to be areas that have water temperatures warmer than the surrounding areas. some of these would be the upper bay areas that are shallower than normal allowing the water temperature to absorb the sun throughout the say. Many of the upper bay creeks are teaming with bait and fish. An unusually warm fall and beginning of winter has extended a very hot TROUT bite throughout the flats. I'm no weather expert BUT just seeing what is happening on the water makes me believe the Fish want to be warm too. SO if you can get out this weekend....New Years and ALL or if your on vacation from work this week. FISHING might not be a bad stress reliever and a treat for you and any of your out of town guests. If I had to choose some best bets I would say the upper Tampa bay park, Channel A, Double Branch Creek and the flats over on the Dunedin side to be some of your more productive areas. HOWEVER south near the Ft. Desoto Flats and Treasure Island area should be doing just as well.

Jigs and Swim Baits that I like to catch fish in the Tampa Area

Ever get on the water and think man I have all my favorite baits that I use everytime I'm out, I wonder if they will bite on something different. WELL thats when I just strat going through lures, jigs, cranks and everything in my box to see if something else works. The best time to do this is when the fish are really biting and your arms are getting tired from reeling em in. This way you know they are biting and yeah it may be that they are hitting anything BUT you may be able to narrow down WHAT they WON'T hit. Sometimes that can be useful too. Because if they won't hit something when they are really biting then they definitly won't hit it when they AREN'T biting. Here are a few of the Swim Baits I like to use and have caught many trout on.


SwimBaits and Jig Heads (Trout, Redfish and Snook)