The trout bite on my top water lure has been on fire!! Today, I drifted 4 different flats. My first drift was on the Northern side of Indian Key. I went very close to the island were the water is shallow. I caught a few trout and hooked a redfish. All the fish were small. I came back and drifted the deeper side. Still on the Northern side of the Island. The trout bite was better on the deeper side. The Trout were also bigger, but still I did not catch any trout bigger than 18″.
After My second Drift, I picked up and went to the flats on Cow Calf Key. I only made one drift through this flat. I caught some trout but they were all very small. I would say they range from 12″ to 15″. That was a long drift and the bite was not as good as Indian Key. After finishing the drift, I picked up and went to Tarpon Key. I decided to fish the Southern part of the Island. Today having an Easterly wind was ideal for all the drifting I was doing on the flats. I drifted Tarpon Key, pretty close to the Island. As soon as I started to cast, I was catching fish. The island holds plenty of fish on the deeper pockets. As I got closer to the Island, I saw a Big Bull Shark. He was over 6 feet and FAT. As I kept drifting, I saw a BIG school of Redfish. I threw my lure to them but they were on the move and not interested in the Top Water Lure. It seemed they were 5 yards too far on every cast I made.
I kept drifting in hopes to find bigger trout. I found them. They were pass Tarpon Key. They were just outside of the No motor zone. I caught a 19 1/2 and a 22″ trout. I also caught some Bluefish and Ladyfish on this drift. After drifting Tarpon Key, I picked up and left. I headed over to Fort Desoto. I caught Plenty of Trout. I mean PLENTY but there were no GATOR TROUT.
For FUN fishing and catching plenty of trout, I would say Fort Desoto is the place. For the bigger trout, Tarpon Key off the “No motor zone” to the Southwest of the Island is best. Over all, the Trout bite has picked up tremendously and is only going to get better as the water temperature continues to fall.
Let’s go fishing sometime. Book a Tampa Bay Fishing Charter on the Spanish Sardine and we’ll go and catch some Trout on top water lures.
Rafael Rios
Captain, The Spanish Sardine Fishing Charter
