The winds are blowing, tides are low, and the water is too cold for the fish to bite right now. Don’t lose hope, because thanks to the hot water runoff of the power plants, February can be a most productive month. Snook, Redfish, Pompano, Jacks, Trout, Sharks and Cobia are just a few of the species which invade the warm waters of the power plants.

Photos of a 67-inch Tarpon and a 45-inch Pike have made two anglers, Sean Riley of New Port Richey, FL, and Brian Papenhagen of Blissfield, MI, grand prize winners in the 2011 BoatUS Angler Catch of the Month fishing photo contest. Their grand prize includes a high quality fish replica from Mount This! Fish Company that specializes in hand-painted fiberglass replicas and a gift certificate from BoatNameGear.com.

We have some great catches going on right now and the weather is beautiful for this time of year. On Show Me The Fish Charters operating out of the Bradenton Beach Marina, fishing out of a custom 31 ft Morgan Sport fisherman, my parties are catching bone-bruising amberjack, red grouper, scamp, mangrove snappers, porgys, triggerfish, sea bass, bonita (little tunnys), blacktip sharks up to 5 ft, and an over-abundance of catch-and-release gag grouper. Best action is starting out about 115 ft offshore of Anna Maria and Longboat Key. Going out to 150 ft  to the deeper ledges and wrecks it gets even more wilder and crazy with larger fish. Extra large pinfish have been working magic this week for AJs and smaller baits for the mangrove snapper and other tasty reef fish. The red grouper are eating anything we put down. On a couple of trips I have seen red grouper come up with fried chicken bones in their mouths someone must have dropped overboard.

CCA Florida is partnering with Tampa Bay Watch to install a series of new oyster shell bars on the shoreline of Shultz Preserve in Tampa Bay and we are looking for volunteers.

On Show Me the Fish Charters running my custom 31 ft Morgan sport fisherman operating out of the Bradenton Beach marina—our parties are enjoying limit catches of great gulf amberjack, red grouper, scamp, mangrove snappers and porgy's to fill up the coolers for the meat hunters.

A cold-related die-off of manatees in early 2011 set the stage for a third straight year with high numbers of deaths for the species. Biologists with the research arm of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) documented 453 manatee carcasses in state waters in 2011.

Beavertail Skiffs has been quietly building some of the best flats boats on the market for several years.  Their newest model, the BT3, has come closer to perfection than almost any other 18 footer I’ve ever seen. 

Beavertail actually started out building duck hunting boats in Minnesota before jumping into the saltwater market.  I bought one of their ultra-light B2 models in 2007 and considered it the best possible rig for the type of shallow water fishing that I do here on Pine Island and after more than 600 charters I had no intention of giving it up for something new.

John Domagal, John Broke, Paul Brown, Hemant Kapadia, and Glenn Poole began 2012 with a limit catch of Amberjacks. They were fishing in 125 ft offshore of Anna Maria Island using pinfish. The happy anglers also caught more amberjacks, grouper, and snapper fishing with capt Larry McGuire Show Me The Fish Charters, operating out of the Bradenton Beach Marina.

 “About Boating Safely” is a beginner boating course offered by the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary (Flotilla 75-Ruskin). The course will be held at the Tampa Sailing Squadron clubhouse on Apollo Beach Blvd. in Apollo Beach .

A few days either side of the full moon can be a great time to fish on the low tides, but navigation can be tough and even hazardous at times unless you know the waters well. This past weekend’s full moon along with some winds from the northeast blew Tampa Bay waters out to negative lows greater than the predicted levels, forcing fish into potholes and into channel edges.