Yes, you can find stacked up fish at the power plant outflows but, in February, two fish that like the cooler water are sheepshead and trout. With the water cooling off, larger sheepshead and gator trout have moved into the Tampa Bay area. This can make for some great action and table fair to boot.
The sheepshead is very structure oriented and likes to eat a variety of baits. They love barnacles, which is why you will find them around most structures that have barnacles growing on it. Places to look are rock piles, docks, bridge pilings, sea walls, rock jetties and along the mangroves to name a few places. There are places inland that will hold some really nice size sheepshead averaging 12 to 20 inches, but many of the larger sheepshead will be in 10 to 20 feet of water on rockpiles or the larger bridges that Tampa Bay has.
Sheepshead have an unbelievable set of humanlike teeth with front incisor-like teeth and back molar teeth. Each has its purpose. The front teeth are made for picking and pulling while the back molars can crack open shells to get to the meat of things. Their teeth are how they got their name, since they are so similar to sheep. Those teeth come in handy, since their main diet consists of crabs and crustaceans. They will eat barnacles, shrimp, oysters, muscles, clams, fiddler crabs and mud crabs, to name a few things they like. Crabs and muscles seem to work the best or tube worms, but that is a secret bait guarded by the old timers on where to catch them, lol.
Their nickname, the convict fish, is up for grabs on how they got that. Some say it is because of their ability to steal your bait, while others think it is because their stripes look like prison bars; or, it could be the combo of both. Sheepshead have seven stripes no matter what size they are, unless you have a deformed one.
I like to use a 1/0 hook with 4 to 5 feet of 25-pound test fluorocarbon leader and 10 to15-pound Fins Wind Tamer. I like to use as little weight as needed to keep the bait on the bottom, especially when rock pile fishing. Regarding inshore dock fishing, if the current isn’t too strong, I like to free line my bait, so there is no resistance when they grab your bait.
Now, the other fish that is great to target in January and February is the larger gator trout. They can be in totally different terrains this time of year. You can find them in shallow 2 to 3 feet of water on very sunny days where the water heats up. This will usually be near a drop off or deeper hole where they will also be. Some of the areas that have a good shell bottom mixed with grass patches and coral will also hold large trout. These areas are deeper, like 7 to 10 feet. Residential canals with good bottoms will also hold trout in the 5 to 8 feet of water. Trout will eat shrimp and scaled sardines but, this time of year, soft plastic like Saltwater Assassins Sea Shad or lit’l P&V in chicken on a chain or opening nite colors both with chartreuse tails will get the job done.
Good Luck and Catch Them Up!