Captain Zach Zacharias

Water temperatures are slowly rebounding and the fishing action is picking up as well. The Gulf water off of Manatee County continues to be muddied up out several miles, and the action on the nearshore reefs has been minimal as a result. When the water clears, there should be some good action with big sow sheepies, snapper and flounder on hard bottom in the 20- to 40-foot range with structured bottom.

On the inshore scene there has been some pretty decent action most days. Concentrating on deep water docks my clients have been scoring with redfish to 23 inches, average sized sheepshead, and black drum in a wide range of sizes. Live shrimp has been the ticket and a low incoming tide seems to be the best producer. It is still wise to sleep late and fish after the sun has worked on the water a few hours. One trip last week produced a nice catch of speckled trout in Palma Sola Bay. A good tide and slight breeze made drifting for the specks productive. Interestingly, the bulk of the larger specimens were taken on Cotee Jigs while live shrimp bombed out except for a couple dink trout and ladyfish. Most of the jig caught trout were in the 15- to 20-inch slot.

There is usually a huge change during the month of February. Most years finds a solid winter pattern early in the month, and with some luck, a spring pattern sets in by the beginning of March. The weather has been so crazy with the El Nino this year that all bets are off for trying to look ahead with any certainty. All we can do is hope for an early spring but another freeze is possible before it is all over.

Captain Larry McGuire

The best action this week were big amberjack. We also caught some grouper, huge mangrove snapper, porgys and sharks. Due to the cold water it is best to head out deep – 150 feet for the big amberjacks. Closer in the smaller jacks are available.