SSP or NSP today 🤔

[sas]

Anyone out this morning see any Mac's running? Would like to head out for the afternoon run.
Thanks for any and all updates.

Have a wonderful day 😊

[inoeatfish]

Good luck. Today and this whole weekend looks like a great time to fish. I’ll be working all weekend. So no reports from me.

[sas]

Are there any mack's bitting this morning?

[inoeatfish]

My friend fish this morning to 2pm and he did Not catch anything. He is a much better fisherman than me and when he didn’t catch anything, that’s bad out there.

[aaronf116]

I've fished the skyway multiple times in the past few months and haven't had a good trip in a while. It's really bad.

[Mackerelman]

The Red Tide may be causing the problem. It is Present in the Bay.

[carlf]

Latest sampling data hasn't shown red tide in the vicinity of the SSP or NSP for around a week. The only area it was detected in the last was around Clearwater Beach and Maximo Park, and then only at trace levels.
ocgweb.marine.usf.edu/tbm/hab/

Macs are highly mobile, here today, miles away an hour from now. I am betting they have moved up the bay by now, might try this weekend.

[inoeatfish]

There was a lot of bait at the NSP, especially spanish sardines on Monday morning. I usually catch a lot of macs on the outgoing sunset tide in mid to late April. But this year feels so much slower in volume.

[carlf]

Some positive hits for trace to low levels of red tide today on the southeast side of the lower bay but nothing like it was weeks ago.

I hope to get out Sunday

[seabird]

Apr 17, 2023 21:50:27 GMT -5 aaronf116 said:

I've fished the skyway multiple times in the past few months and haven't had a good trip in a while. It's really bad.

I haven't gotten out to the skyway or Desoto in many months...guess I haven't missed much

[fishfinderbill]

Fishing has been bad for the past couple of months. Went out last week and hooked a big sting ray, that's all. Noticed no dolphins either which might be telling us something. The word must be getting out to other fishermen, Friday was a beautiful day and virtually nobody on the whole pier

[inoeatfish]

I’m going to hit the NSP sunset Thursday and see if I can get lucky.

[fishfinderbill]

Continuing on the topic of WTF? Where's The Fish. I wonder if in our group there is a Marine Biologist who can give us a feasible explanation on when we can expect the fishing to return to its Glory Days. Or am I too hopelessly optimistic?

[carlf]

I'm a coastal ecologist who worked along side marine fisheries biologist for 15 years.
Between increased humane populations in all coastal areas, ecological stressors like red tide, and changing climate patterns, I think fishing for some species in some locations is going to change and/or be unpredictable for the foreseeable future.

Flounder is a great example: fishing pressure (including the fact that all fish over 14" are reproductive age females) combined with warmer winter weather (lower water temps trigger the hormonal changes that lead females to being ready to spawn) is really messing up spawning success. While reductions in bag limits, size/slot limits and closed seasons when females are leaving the passes to head offshore to spawn, have seemed to help level off the declines we saw in stocks between 2010 and now, there is not much we can do about the changes in winter weather.

In regards to Spanish mac, stock assessments indicate that mac populations across the Gulf are healthy, over target populations. And harvest is under control, with no sector exceeding quotes. But throw in local events like red tide plus changes in seasonal water temp regimes with a fish species that is naturally highly mobile and migratory, and you get what we see now: our historic experience tells us we should be slinging them over the rails at Desoto, NSP & SSP but no ones catching. But then you talk to a guys with boats who was fishing a few mile away and they were slaying them the same day. So the fish are in the area, just not at SSP/NSP.

Cobia is another species that is way way down vs. historical levels. We keep lowering the bag limit and raising the size limit but they keep dropping. Maybe they reached some sort of tipping point??

We can take some solace in the fact that some species seem to being very well. Everyone says lane snapper (at least offshore) catches are way up. Red Snapper populations are way way up vs when I started fishing offshore back in 1994. Grey snapper are almost stupid easy to catch in the bay. Pompano stocks are good and permit are spreading north along the panhandle and into Alabama.
So its not all doom & gloom.

[fishfinderbill]

Thanks to Carlf for the informative report. I've fished the SSP for over 20 years and never caught any flounder. I don't know why the predatory fish such as Macks, I'd even settle for Jacks, Lady fish and Blue runners, aren't taking advantage of all the bait fish that is around. A couple of sail cats to put in the cooler would be nice to. I guess the word of the year is PATIENCE.

[fishsci]

All that Carlf wrote is reasonable and likely true. However that does not seem to be anywhere the complete answer to why the fishing in the last year has seemed to be so much worse than in years past. However, there has seemed to be a declining trend over the last few yeas as well. As FishfinderBill mentioned, it seems like it is not just the macks that are so much fewer. The guys who fish for pompano near the beginning of the SSP say that they have caught far fewer pompano during the same time period that the macks seem to be fewer. I, like Bill have noticed that there are far fewer predators like jacks, blue runners, bluefish and lady fish during the last year or so. I have not seen big schools of any of them tearing up the surface and chasing bait, like was common previously. In the past it seemed like you could not put a live bait out or cast a jig during the lasth 45 min before sunset -- without almost immediately hooking a ladyfish. So it seems there are things going on even beyond what carlf mentioned. As for the mackerel this year (and it is looking like the same is holding true for the normal April run of king mackerel), there might be one likely contributing cause. The red tide has been holding but shifting all along the lower Gulf coast for many months, It is likely that the mackerels encounter red tide as they travel north on their normal early-spring migration to the upper Gulf Coast. Perhaps they move offshore to avoid it...and then just continue their migration farther offshore and never come close enough to our shore to enter Tampa Bay. Normally some of the Spanish mackerel that enter Tampa Bay during the spring migration remain in the Bay for months. However, if they never enter the bay, that resident population is never established in the bay. Pompano might do some of the same thing, although I do not believe there is any scientific evidence to show that they ever move very far off the beaches. The same applies to blue runners, jacks, bluefish and ladyfish. However, it is possible that after encountering a red tide patch or two, they do not move offshore, but instead hustle through the area not lingering and mostly not entering Tampa Bay. Finally, there is another factor -- that of angler perception and behavior. There are far fewer experienced fishermen going out onto the piers than was the case up until the last year or so. That results in fewer good catch reports, and in turn makes even fewer experienced fishermen go out onto the piers. I have had a couple of reasonably good days catching more than just a couple of mackerel, and seen almost none of the guys who normally specialize in fishing for macks. So, some of the appearance of smaller or negative catches are due to almost nobody out there trying during all times of the day and tide when there might have been good fishing, but no fishermen were fishing.

Finally, I would like to know if fishermen who fish the other parts of the bay (e.g., Old Tampa Bay, Hillsborough Bay, and the South shore) have perceived similarly reduced catches/abundance in those areas. Please reply if you can shed some light on that.

[carlf]

I think that there probably is a correlation with red tide and local reduction in Mac and other predator fish catch. They probably are avoiding it. I would.

Last summer at the Gandy, I had the best season for snapper, macs and other bottom fish since summer of 2019. Macs were thick up there from late June to the last time I went in August. Caught mangroves, lanes, grunts and Black Sea bass too

[inoeatfish]

I fished the NSP this afternoon. Bait was super thick. The macs are there but you’re going to have to work for them. They will hit the spoon but not so much the bait as I hope. All in all, I think I’m done for the spring season. Maybe I’ll try them in the fall.

[carlf]

Some good news on flounder:
www.outdooralabama.com/articles/apparent-flounder-rebound-has-gulf-coast-encouraged

[tears143]

To me. Red tide affects the fish for sure.

Pompano due move offshore and back in during cold spell, so I am guessing they would do the same thing for red tide. Remembering one year during fall, red tide was just south of us blocking the fish from traveling south. Ssp and the area around there kill the pompano.

As for lesser post from experienced fishermen on catching is true. To me a lot of time, people just don't want to put in the time to go out there and fish when they don't see that people r killing it or catching fish. People just don't feel like posting anymore due to not making a different. People tries to teach other about how to catch and just to go out and have fun but it isn't getting anywhere. Just like the old saying, you can lead the horse to water but u cannot drink it for them. A lot of us just give up.

Honestly I still see people catching tons of mack off and on. They are out there but hit or miss and will never be reported on here. If they are usually report, the run is usually already over. When it is silently, usually mean it is time to strike.
When one fish isn't biting try for another one. Had a few situations like that when I went to ssp. Mack wasn't running, switch over to catching snappers or pompano. Saved the trip.

[calcolater]

I’m on the nsp right now. Bait is deep. No birds And no fish.
I may stick around for another hour or 2