Tampa Bay Florida Fishing Reports
February
27, 2011 Spotted Sea Trout remains my main target fish throughout February. The shallow grass flats from Clearwater north to Tarpon Springs have been abundant with
Speckled Trout this month. My favorite artificial bait has been the Mister Twister
Exude Dart or Gulp’s three inch shrimp on 1/8th. oz. Mission
jigs. Although trout love live shrimp, you can out fish someone using shrimp with one of these jigs. You can cover more water
and find more fish fan casting as you slowly drift the near shore flats. Speckled
Trout is my favorite inshore fish to take home for a fish fry.
Next
month I will be turning my attention back to Redfish. The deeper residential docks with oysters and shells underneath will
be a gathering place for larger fish. I have done entire fishing trips around
a few docks in the Clearwater area.
The
Scaled Sardines will also be showing up inshore in March. It’s been several months since I’ve thrown the net and
I am ready to get started. See you on the water.
Oct. 15, 2010 was a great day for fishing the shallow waters of Clearwater
FL. Bait was plentiful on the grass
flats just inside of the barrier islands passes. I was targeting Redfish on the
edges of the flats in 1 to 2 feet of water. The fish were not schooled up but
scattered about the edge waiting for the incoming water. All three anglers today
caught Redfish: the largest at 29 inches. Mike, from Tampa, got the Inshore Slam consisting of a large Snook, Redfish and several Speckled Trout.
With the lower water temps. the Snook have been migrating further inshore away from the beaches. A few Spanish Mackerel were also mixed in with today’s catch.
This month and through November should bring excellent catches of these fast swimmers.
May
2010 was a great month for fishing in the Tampa Bay area! Tarpon, Redfish, Spotted Trout,
Spanish Mackerel and Grouper were biting well through-out the month. Mackerel
and Grouper were nice by-catches while fishing for Tarpon around the bridges of the bay.
A large Cobia was also caught this month by my good friend, Art, while visiting from California.
Tarpon were feeding mostly on Threadfin Hearing and Pass Crabs, drifting with the current, near the bridge structure. The strong tides during the new moon phase had the best bite for Tarpon. When the current slacked up a bit, the Grouper came up to feed. Pulling
the Grouper off the bottom and out of their rocky holes was a bit of a challenge when using spinning gear. Therefore, give the fish a little slack line, within a few minutes the fish will swim out of the rocks
and the fight will resume. Sharks were also out in abundance on the shallow flats. If you would enjoy catching sharks and watching them take your bait near the boat,
reserve a fishing trip this summer.
July 18, 2010 Spotted Sea Trout remains a decent catch throughout June and July
with several large fish being landed. Miss Lydia,
visiting with her father, from Alabama caught a nice 25
inch fish using a Scaled Sardine for bait. Lydia also had a blast catching several Black-Tip sharks. While several sharks were swimming around the boat, she would just lower her sardine to the nearest one
and the fight would begin. Many Tarpon were seen on this fishing trip in a deep
cut near the Islands of Tampa Bay. We had a few bites but no solid Tarpon hook-ups
on this trip.
Shark
fishing should be excellent all summer long. Late afternoon trips ending around
9 or 10pm can be scheduled in order to avoid the heat of the day. Rock piles
along the beaches will hold Redfish, Black Drum and Flounder through-out August and September.
