Good fishing for reds, snook and trout already is developing where tidal flow was restored recently at Fort DeSoto Park in Tampa Bay.

Inside waters had been blocked off by causeways nearly 50 years ago, but now a bridge allows waters to flow again. The restored flow will foster all kinds of marine life in the small bays. Mackerel and mullet already have moved in, and a 33-inch snook was caught off the bridge.

Before the bridge was built, the inside waters were devoid of oxygen, full of muck and water temperatures would reach 106 degrees. The tidal restoration should serve as an important impetus to bring back natural flows in hundreds of developed areas in the state.

FS