heyitskirby

I'm not sure about bass there, but you can catch reds and snook depending on the time of year. Since its brackish you may not have to worry about pinfish, so just using live shrimp on a circle hook with some weight or gulp on a jighead should produce results. Snook fishing will best at night if there is a light on that bridge. Best fishing in general will be in the fall. I've also heard you can catch keeper reds from Lowry Park. In the five years I lived right by there I never fished the Hillsborough, just sharing information I was given from the natives.

You'll get pecked to death by pinfish if you use shrimp, but if you can manage to snag one you can turn them into bait as well. Get some gulp shrimp for those jigheads.

Sold my boat when I moved back up this way from Florida, so its the bank for me. Thanks!

On the Occoquan - are you fishing from the bank? Is the park near the Ox Road bridge a good spot to try?

I used to fish this every year when I lived in Richmond. May try this year as I'll be down there the first weekend of April. My favorite time I ever did it was on Easter Sunday, I had the rocks down by the Mayo Bridge d**n near to myself. Get some shad darts to go with the spoons and get several color options to mix and match for both darts and spoons.

Even if you are using saltwater gear, you should always rinse after fishing in salt. I wash down my rods, reels, certain tackle, tackle bag, coolers, everything. Salt will ruin anything with metal on it.

Man, the one thing I will say is, you are missing out. If you come back down here during a better time of year our inshore/flats/light tackle salt fishing can't be beat. I understand you love bass fishing, but you will change your mind about salt after you hook your first red or snook. Do as the locals do, there is a reason we don't do a lot of bass fishing in the Tampa Bay area. (Not to mention you can bass fish at home, try vacation fishing).

As was mentioned above, it's hot down here right now. Like hot enough even the FloGrowners are complaining. Probably not what you are looking for, but I would suggest checking out the Skyway Bridge Pier if you want to get some fishing in. Bottom fishing may be productive and there is a tackle shop on the pier.

Good to know I didn't miss out! We have a pond in my neighborhood (Hampton Terrace) that is posted that I've been tempted to fish anyways. I've seen a ton of tilapia in there, so I don't think I'll bother with it either.

You could probably get away with fishing the ponds over at Babe Zaharias after/before hours. It's a wide open, public course in the middle of a neighborhood. I lived near there for a couple of months when we first moved to Tampa and we would walk through the golf course in the evening all the time. I never fished it for some reason (worked out of town for a good bit during those months), but I did see a few people on occasion do so. Be mindful that some of the ponds in that area are NOT part of the golf course and fishing them would require trespassing.

I usually just go with the Penn Battle combos nowadays. And like someone else said, I wouldn't go medium heavy for trout or redfish, but I also wouldn't go with a light rod for trout (assuming you're talking salt).

Where in Florida? Gulf and Atlantic fish way differently.

I agree with everything said here, Tampa Bay is excellent for inshore fishing. Just wanted to add, it IS red snapper season in the gulf until July 31st. It's a long run (4 hours or so) to get to big ones, but even a limit (bycatch includes grouper) will fill the freezer. All bottom fishing and if the winds would finally die down you should have decent conditions. The gulf is usually dead flat in the summer unless there is a storm.

I hung an oyster the other day while fishing a flat and a little mud crab hopped out into the boat. I grabbed it to try and use it for bait and that tiny little crab pinched down hard enough to hurt and it took me a second to get him off. I expected it to get me, but even the little ones have a lot of pressure in their claws.

Tampa resident here. We live in the city, but in Seminole Heights (and not on the river) so we will never face an evacuation for storm surge. Wind forecasts are still around 60mph at its peak. We have not decided on window shutters yet (I pre-built them, but waiting to see what our neighbors do, opinions are welcome). If we evacuate we have family in Sarasota that, while not in a safer position, they have a safer house. At the same time our house is almost 100 years old, so its been through some stuff. Boat is stuck in the marina in Tierra Verde, but it's a high and dry, so hopefully it will be safe. If not, it's not the end of the world. Their forecast has been worse all weekend, but they shut down early for storm prep and I was not going to bother them. My little 20' boat was probably the least of their problems.