Good Morning Frank—Did you used to work in the Houston, Tx. area as a sports writer? Your name sounds very familiar to me. I’m new to Tampa from the Texas Gulf Coast area and am looking for easily accessible spots to wade fish. You’ve written several articles on it, but I’ve not had much luck locating the exact points of entry into the water. Any help you could give me would be appreciated. I’m interested in Cockroach Bay, Simmons Park, and either end of Sunshine Skyway Bridge and Courtney Campbell Parkway (which restaurants are you referring too?). Sincerely, Ted Bishop

Ted: I used to work for Southern Outdoors and a number of other BASS publications, which is probably where you’ve heard my name. In any case, Cockroach Bay is at the west end of Cockroach Bay Road off U.S. 41 south of Ruskin. The trick here is to wade along the north shore until you round the mangrove point--then, you have miles of shallow water flats where you’ll find reds and snook. At Simmons Park north of Ruskin, it’s tougher--you have to wade or swim across the canal that’s on the northeast side, and then you gain access to more than a mile of mangrove shoreline--very good snook area. At the Skyway, you can park on the south end and wade either side--the farther you go from the parking area, the better the fishing. And at Courtney Campbell, I like the rocks out in front of the Rusty Pelican. Tricky wading in there--it’s easy to fall. But there are plenty of reds and the occasional snook. The east end of the bay here near the big hotel is also a good redfish wading area. Hope this helps. FS