Trout fishing south of the Anclote River was on one day and off the next. The potholes on the grass flats close to the shoreline and adjacent to the barrier islands in that area produced quantity and quality fish one day. And were barren the next. If the "spot fishing" didn’t produce, we drift fished the open flats in 3 to 6 feet. We managed a few keepers and plenty of action with shorts, bluefish, ladyfish, and flounder. Cotee grub tails in the motor oil series got the nod.

The Anclote steamplant has been putting out some hot water since the big front 10 days ago. This has been the longest I’ve seen the plant pump it out this year. Surprisingly, the fishing action in that area was so-so at best. I’ve stopped by the plant each day for the past week. I have not caught or seen any pompano or permit in some time now. We lost a cobia there last week and a local guide claimed he hooked a handful prior to the weekend. The jacks have been plentiful. For the most part they have been first graders, however, a client bagged a 20-minute fish on Sunday.

The good news is that warm water raised water temperatures for several miles in radius. This led reason for me to throw the ol’ net for some white candy. Snook, redfish, trout and jacks all responded to the scaled sardines on structure north and south of the ditch. Again, jacks made up most of the bag.

I had a unique experience along a shoreline break just south of the Pithlachascotee River. We were fishing a series of submerged rocks for redfish. When a guest decided to throw his motor oil jig opposite of the bars. After a few minutes of this I suggested that if we were gonna catch fish…you’ve got to fish those rocks. It was about that time the rod went double. A flash of a mirror glazed our eyes. Pompano!!! A quick cast by the fellow quest had the same result and the bite was on. What a bonus for the day. What a bonus for the year. You’d da man Eddie (AKA Pompano Eddie)!!! As I promised, here is your 15 minutes of fame. You guys were a pleasure!

I never stop learning about fish. While I was so happy for "Pompano" Eddie and his business client Jimmy "Jack", they taught me a lesson that we all need every once in a while. There are no rules in fishing. We would have not found that school unless "Pompano" Eddy’s jig was in the "wrong" spot. Lessons like this make good guides better…. Thank you!

We’ve been fishing jigs, plugs, shrimp, and whitebait all week. While fishing away from the warm waters and surrounding distances from the power plant, artificials and especially jigs, have been very effective in the cool shallows. Had we’d been in the whitebait Trans frame of mind, we would have never had this most special flats meow.

Trout will open in the Northwest zone on the 1^st. The FMP had their sting operation in Anclote Park over the weekend again. Do not bring any trout into Pasco or north till March 1.

The fishing has been great; the catching of the glamour fish has been slow. Let’s look forward to a warmed and a building full moon. It won’t be long now.

Screaming drags and tired arms!!!