The Tampa Bay Times

Well, as we have a fast-moving hurricane heading our way, fishing will get interesting in the next few days. Today on the 4th of July, and tomorrow, conditions are going to be fairly normal other than the chance of thunderstorms normal for this time of year. The beaches in northern Pinellas have been loaded with snook lately. We are finally seeing large numbers of them, mostly males, inhabiting the troughs and swashes along the beach especially near structure. There are plenty of large females mixed in, and if you have live sardines or 2 to 3 inch pinfish in the well, you can get a lot of hook ups. Trout have been very scarce after the push of red tide through our area. Although not high numbers, I saw more trout floating dead than any other game fish. There were a lot of grunts, pinfish and catfish washing up on the beaches and floating in the bays. It seems to have cleared up quite a bit and fishing was good this past week. Of course, after a strong tropical storm or hurricane goes by the water is churned up for a couple of days. It doesn’t take too long for it to calm down as conditions return to normal and the fish are ready to eat again. In preparation for a storm with heavy rains, always make sure your boat batteries are charged allowing bilge pumps to kick on to empty water, preventing boats from filling up or sinking, especially if they are not on a trailer.

Brian Caudill
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