January 21st
Weedon Island Preserve is one of our club’s favorite outing locations so it’s back on the schedule for January. It’s a good month for Weedon. Big spotted seatrout are on the flats and they are hungry.
The Suncoast Fly Fisher catching the longest speckled trout will earn a $10 gift certificate to a local fly shop. Measure it. Take a picture of it. Show it to one of the outing committee members at the picnic. The picnic is at the pavilion (the only one) on the north side of the main parking lot. Fat juicy burgers and hot dogs are on the menu. Hot coffee, too. And chips. And cookies. You know the thing.
Check out the visitor’s map and other details on the Weedon website. There’s a kayak launch and many places to wade in and start fishing from the preserve.
Wade fishers often meet up in the main parking lot at 7 to 7:30 am. Some will probably hike to and wade fish the Riviera Bay shoreline. Some like to wade in at the kayak launching area. And some will take the 10- 15 minute hike down Lookout Point Trail and wade into Tampa Bay. You can also rent a kayak at the Sweetwater Kayaks station on Weedon Drive. Master’s Bayou (Snug Harbor) also is a great spot to fish but you’ll need to launch a kayak at one of the access points on the south side of Gandy Boulevard.
It’s a negative low tide day. The tide bottoms out about 9:15 then starts to come in fast. Low tides like that force spotted seatrout into deeper holes.
