There are plenty of fish to be caught in areas where red tide doesn’t exist. In these areas, I’m noticing the water to be clean, clear and holding plenty of fish. Whether fishing inshore or slightly offshore, the key is getting to your spot without running through patches of red tide. Avoiding these patches or bad water will insure that your bait will still be alive until you make it to your fishing destination. If you’re successful at this, you should be successful catching some fish.
On my excursions with Southernaire, I’m fishing inshore. Fishing areas where clean water exists is yielding a wide variety of species. Mangrove snapper seem to be the bestseller while fishing around docks. To find these tasty little fish, I’m looking for one particular clue — and that clue is glass minnows. Finding the dense schools of these small bait fish is a sure sign of snapper being in the vicinity. And to tell you the truth, the glass minnows don’t only attract the snapper, I’m also catching redfish, large jack crevalle, catch-and-release snook and an occasional flounder around these schools.
Fishing other structure — artificial reefs, wrecks, and rock piles — is yielding good action. While in Tampa Bay, I’m catching numerous Spanish mackerel and snapper in these areas. Blue runners and numerous juvenile grouper are also present.
So, once again, don’t be too discouraged by the current situation of red tide. In areas where there is clean water, the fishing is quite good — you just have to be willing to search around for good water.
