Using Artificial Lures for Trout in Tampa Bay Winter

Well, the winter just keeps coming, but the fishing is still good. We are still in our winter patterns, but the trout we have caught have been a little bigger. The trick has been to slow down your retrieve. Artificial lures have been the best bait for trout, but we have caught a few on live select-size shrimp. Cold weather has brought better cobia fishing as well. Sight casting on the shallow water sand flats in Tampa Bay has been great. A 10-inch black eel has been the ticket for artificial baits. We should expect to see warmer weather going into the latter part of this week. That will start to put us into our spring fishing patterns and Florida as we know it.