Freshwater invades our local waters, but doesn’t dampen fishing
Despite our waters being a dark tannic color resembling Coca Cola, as a result of the millions of gallons of freshwater draining from Lake Manatee, fishing is still productive.
Snook fishing is proving prosperous if you know where to look. Hundreds, if not thousands of juvenile snook have been pushed out of the Manatee River with all of the fresh water. Redfish are following suit although I wouldn’t say in the thousands. I’m finding decent numbers of mangrove snapper and flounder around residential docks and canals as well as on nearshore structure.
Finally, spotted seatrout are present, although they seem to be slightly apprehensive on taking a bait. Mixed in with the trout are hungry jack crevalle and ladyfish which helps fill the void in between trout bites. Ultimately, the water may not be that beautiful shade of translucent green that we are used to, but if you can get over that it worth getting out and doing some fishing.
